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Proposal for Water Tower Rain GeneratorThe engineering firm of Schlaich-Bergermann designed and built a “Solar Power Tower” in Manzanares, Spain, in the 1980s. The concept was to build a large area greenhouse and use sunlight to heat up the contained air and direct it up a tall chimney, where a wind power generator would […] PROLOGUE All the best stories are hunting stories. The tribe sits around the fire and asks an accounting by its hunters. If it was a successful hunt, they listen while they eat, while the hunters tell of each detail: how the earth smelled, and the crows heckled; the clues they followed, the search, the […] The damage of the ‘success’ mythology is apparent when you look at the disasters in the space program. Challenger – when engineers were protesting they shouldn’t launch, and the managers overruled them. And Columbia, when engineers brought up the concept that maybe some damage had been done by the piece of foam, and they should […] Every organism, organization, or system must bring in more resources and energy than they use up in their daily activities in order to thrive and grow. In order for exploration and development of the Moon and other space resources to be promoted, exploration and development needs to be rewarded. The explorers must bring in more […] The Advanced Design group has been parading models of “Suit Locks” lately. The concept is that the outside of the suit stays outside and connects to the outside of the habitat or rover, and the life support pack unhooks, and the astronaut climbs into and out of the suit through the backpack opening. They are […] I have been hit by the blast wave from an exploding meteorite. The universe keeps throwing rocks at us. The dinosaurs died out because they did not have a robust space program. They were busy “being who they were…” All other natural disasters we prepare for – hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, droughts – none of […] In order to develop a large space station most rapidly, and minimize the amount astronauts will have to spend working in space suits, the easiest solution would be to loft a large inflatable balloon type membrane into orbit, and work inside that, once it hardens from an internal coating of epoxy. It would still be […] An alternate proposal for a manned Mars Mission The minimum Mars Mission is going to require: 1. A group of people 2. Travel for 8 1/2 months from earth to Mars through space 3. Taking all the supplies and materials necessary for the trip there, the 10 month stay on Mars and the 8 1/2 […] Sometime soon, in the next decade or two, the earth will be hit by a sizeable meteorite that does significant damage. Something on the order of the Tungaska hit. The Tungaska meteorite hit thousands of miles from any population center, and devastated ten thousand square miles of Siberian wilderness. The next big meteorite may very […] Map of the Moon You need to remember two things in order to remember the parts of the Moon. 1. …The almost circular blotch over towards the right side, is the Sea of Crises. and 2. The guy that named the parts of the Moon had WAY too much fun… To remember the […] Ownership of Property on the Moon Our current situation virtually prohibits anyone owning any property on the Moon, practically ensuring that no one will invest any resources into developing any of the resources or energy available on the Moon. Countries have, and possibly will continue to devote huge sums in exploring the Moon, but there […] Cost of a Tourist ticket to Space We’ve all studied the real number system in math class, and most of us have studied the imaginary numbers, and the irrational numbers. Today, I’d like to talk about almost-real numbers. The reported cost of a tourist to ISS is in the neighborhood of 35 million dollars. The […] Design Design is driven by narrative – by the story we tell about what the situation, requirements, circumstances, environment, materials that will be used. The technical specifications are just part of the narrative. The story we tell ourselves about what needs to be designed, how it needs to work, what it needs to do, that […] Paul Spudis has a great comment about exploration over at airspace: http://blogs.airspacemag.com/moon/2010/01/25/have-we-forgotten-what-exploration-means Here is my reply: Every organism, organization, or system must bring in more resources and energy than it expends, in order to thrive and grow. Exploration needs to contribute to society in order to be sustained. Unfortunately, the US signed the 1967 Space […] Part of my definition of beauty is that the work not be perfectly symmetrical. Michelangelo talked about it also. The most important question in physics for the past half century has been why the original big bang was not exactly symmetrical – why, when according to all we know and theorize, the big bang should […] |