The Man. On Space Review. [EDIT: About a month ago, but I only just read it.] This is just excellent. So many things I agree with, that go against the stupid myths of spaceflight and space policy. If you read one space policy interview this year, this should be it!
“NASA is an organization that is [...]
Archive for the ‘Colonization’ Category
Jeff Greason
Posted in Architecture, Colonization, Depot, ESA, JAXA, Motivation, NASA, RLV:s, Spacecraft, industry, tagged Augustine, Depot, Greason, NASA on Thursday 2009.11.05 | Leave a Comment »
Lunar Bases Must Be Buried
Posted in Architecture, Colonization, ISRU, Lunar, Motivation, Science, Spacecraft, tagged excavation, lunar base, NASA, regolith, whiskers on Wednesday 2009.04.22 | 4 Comments »
Concept art of lunar bases tends to show spherical or cylindrical structures, but they suffer from one problem: radiation. (Both of the gamma / particle and heat kinds). The lunar environment has lots of solar and cosmic radiation. Nights also last for two weeks, during which a badly insulated thing will freeze.
If you bury your [...]
Anarchy In The High Seas
Posted in Colonization, Demotivation, Global, Motivation, Uncategorized, tagged Anarchy, Environment, fisheries, Fishing, Regulation on Saturday 2008.12.20 | Leave a Comment »
Testing Quickpress (EDIT: it didn’t really work.)
Stuff like this happens when using a common resource not owned by anyone. In this case, fisheries.
Via Michael Tobis. Go read the post.
Living on a Finite Size Planet
Posted in Architecture, Climate, Colonization, Demotivation, Global, Models, Motivation, industry, tagged FAO, fisheries, global decision making, libertarianism, optimization on Thursday 2008.10.09 | 4 Comments »
FAO published some numbers on fishing today:
Global marine catches have been stagnant for over a decade, hovering at around 85 million tons per year. Meanwhile fisheries productivity — measured in terms of catch per fisher, or per fishing vessel — has declined, even though fishing technology has advanced and fishing effort increased.
Naturally, with a global [...]
Thorium MSR Design Possibilities
Posted in Architecture, Climate, Colonization, ISRU, Models, Motivation, Science, Thorium, tagged Bismuth, Blanket, Core, lftr, Moderation, msr, Protactinium, real and revolutionary, Single Fluid, Thorium, Two Fluid, Uranium on Monday 2008.09.01 | 2 Comments »
There are a huge array of design possibilities for a Thorium molten salt reactor / liquid fluoride thorium reactor, but this post takes a very simplified approach to map a small part of the fascinating and diverse landscape with a little rough drafting. We concentrate on thermal spectrum designs. I’m strictly an amateur in these [...]
European Lunar Program Alternatives
Posted in Architecture, Colonization, Depot, ESA, ISRU, Lunar, tagged AES, ESA on Tuesday 2008.03.11 | Leave a Comment »
ESA’s Architecture for Exploration Study (AES) is overviewed in Lunar Base Quarterly 1/2008 (EDIT: to be clear, the Quarterly was released in January):
Lots of Ariane 5, Angara and Soyuz launches with space docking, a space station in Earth-Lunar L1 and many new crewed and non-crewed craft and capabilities.
They had a red team / blue team [...]
A 3D Glue Gun Does Not Self-Replication Make
Posted in Colonization, ISRU, Science, tagged 3d printer, glue gun, raprep, self-replication on Monday 2008.01.07 | 2 Comments »
I’ve been wondering at this ever since the meme has been circulating. People make a printer that shoots glue, layer upon layer and thus it can print 3d objects.
But saying such 3d printers will replace factories and manufacturing is very clearly wrong. Take a look at almost anything you’re using or wearing right now. It’s [...]
