Think, People, Think

Through the media we are bombarded by strife and the rumors of strife. Our leaders find it hard to focus on long term issues because of political turmoil, recessions, famine, nuclear proliferation, or civil wars. The very structure of our government and economy is such that problems are dealt with on an election by election or quarter by quarter basis, leaving little time for future planning. We seem to be in a constant state of flux. We should be doing better than this. We must do better than this.

Saving the world one bag at a time. This is recycling genius.

There are some that wax philosophical about the continued existence of the human race. They compare our existence to the dinosaurs and make the argument that all species have a “lifespan.” My argument is that we are smarter than the dinosaurs and, yet, it looks as though they will have lasted about 100,000 times as long as we will since their reign was 650 million years and it looks like our technological civilization is only going to make it about 6,500 years Okay, we don’t have armor, large teeth, tons of muscles, etc.; but we do have an obscenely large brain to weight ratio. Problem is we’re not using that for the long-range planning needed to give T-Rex a run for the money.

Except for the handrails near the top, this was a typical Earth scene for 160 million years. 

  © Copyright Hywel Williams and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

If humankind insists on keeping all its eggs in one basket (staying on Earth), the universe is bound to make an omelette someday. Whether it be an asteroid strike, a spray of high-energy gamma rays, or a super volcano eruption, the results will be the same. Civilization will go back to a handful of survivors living at a primitive level of existence.

Asteroid Strike

We should be striving now to develop the technologies we need to protect the planet, go beyond our cozy envelope of air, and start extracting resources and energy from the Solar System at large. I’m not talking about further development of rockets. We’ve got enough products of combustion to deal with. We need to develop a space elevator. It is the only way to get significant loads into space cheaply and often. I describe a seriously practical scheme for one in my book Transmat World.

And I’m not talking about a colony on the Moon as our next space project as Newt suggests. Actually, the the prospect of harvesting helium-3 from the Moon could be lucrative but, in general, we want to avoid gravity wells. They are expensive and there are too many alternatives. The asteroid belt contains the material we need to thrive in space and it floats there, waiting to be harvested. We have the technology to capture these asteroids, bring them back to Earth, and sculpt them into space habitats after mining them for useful metals and minerals. These technologies are also described in more detail in Transmat World and other blog posts: The Space Mirror Hack, Asteroid to Habitat: The Transformation Begins, and The Space Egg.

Use those bags again. Save money. Save the world. Here's how.

We have to use our huge brain anomaly to consider the simple solutions for major problems that could arise. For instance, a nuclear winter has several possible causes that have nothing to do with war. It can also be caused by volcanoes or an asteroid hit, making it one of the more likely doomsday scenarios. The weather conspires to destroy crops for several years in a row causing billions of people to starve. The solution? The emergency mushroom kit. Mushrooms, a good source of protein, can grow in very little light making it the perfect go-to crop for this disaster. Has anyone investigated the viability of this simple solution? Do our governments have mushroom spores for the multitude stored in vaults along with the Ark of the Covenant? Very doubtful, but it could be a simple, inexpensive thing that would save billions of lives if the worst happens.

Could mushrooms be the go-to crop?

  © Copyright Pam Brophy and licensed for reuse under thisCreative Commons Licence

This is the simple, mindful type of technology we need to be thinking of and developing for the future of mankind here on the planet and beyond the confines of Earth; a future that is not stark and limiting but boundless and full of energy and promise. So start thinking.


Thanks for your time. My name is Glen Hendrix and I invite you to comment on this blog.

Solution to the Problem of Orbital Debris

image of space debris courtesy Wikilimages

An article in Universe Today points out that space debris is a huge problem. The retired head of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, Donald Kessler, wrote a report on this describing the situation as bad and getting worse. Mr. Kessler originally predicted the scenario of orbital litter becoming a major problem for the advancement of the space program and a danger to satellites back in 1976. The situation he described has come to pass and is appropriately designated the Kessler Syndrome. 
A report from NASA makes two conclusions:

1. “The  current debris population in the LEO region has reached the point where the environment is unstable and collisions will become the most dominant debris generating mechanism in the future.”

2. “Only remediation of the near-Earth environment – the removal of existing large objects from orbit – can prevent future problems for research in and commercialization of space.”

Active Debris Removal (ADR) is recommended by NASA. A proposed solution to this problem is advanced in this article from Wired Science. It may have merit but it represents a lot of money to be spent just to see if it works. This is where the Space Mirror steps in to save the day.

My original Space Mirror concept (drawing shown) can be scaled up easily to perform the task of getting rid of orbital space debris. The Space Mirror consists of two disc-shaped membranes of sheet plastic approximately 8 mils thick. These are jam-up, jelly-tight next to each other. They are 1000 feet in diameter and keep their shape via an inner-tube-shaped, inflated toroid with a sectional diameter of 10 feet. The circular edges of these membranes are attached by airtight seal to the inside radius of the toroid. One of the membranes is transparent and and the other is mirrored on the inside surface. When gas is introduced between them they expand, deforming into spherical surfaces capable of focusing the sun’s rays on a small area. The focal length ranges from about a mile to almost 5,000 miles. A unit containing gas cylinders, computers, radar, and solar panels attached by a flexible umbilical provides the essentials for directing and focusing the mirror. The radar and other sensors work with the computer to fire small thrusters around the outer surface of the tubular frame keeping the device aimed and in the proper orbit. Small, semi-autonomous robots roam the cavities of the framing tube and the surfaces of the membranes looking for and repairing small punctures. It sounds like a big thing but it all folds up for one payload in the new spacecraft from SpaceX, the Falcon Heavy.

It takes 7 trucks to move the same number of paper bags as one truck moving plastic bags. 

This device was originally devised to facilitate the construction of space habitats, melting captured asteroids or meteors and then inflating them to create habitable spaces. Recently, other applications have come to mind. With its ability to direct and focus large amounts of energy, it makes a perfect mechanism to sweep from the littered skies of Earth the small debris that will eventually inhibit exploration of space and utilization of near-Earth orbits. It will simply focus the sun’s energy on these objects and they will vaporize. If you doubt this, look at the results of using just 22 square feet of concentrated sunlight. It will melt steel and even rock. Now imagine 800,000 square feet of sunlight (over 36,000 times that power) concentrated on a small area. Now double that energy because sunlight is twice as strong in space, unhindered by atmosphere. Material would not only melt, it would become a cloud of vapor almost instantly - exactly what you want orbital space debris to do. Another great thing about this concept is that it can be tested right here on the surface before installing it in orbit.

Debris strike simulation.

The 1500 pieces of large debris can also be taken care of by selectively zapping them, causing explosive reactions to decelerate them and bring them down to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
These represent 98% of space debris by mass and it is feared collisions between them will cause an increase in the threat of orbital debris to mankind's space aspirations.

The answer to the plastic bag problem is reuse. This new device makes it easy. 

Due to the implications for military applications, the Space Mirror would have to be an international effort, controlled by a committee made up by representatives of countries investing in the project. It could be set up for a specified period of time to do its job of cleaning debris from orbit and then be decommissioned. It is something that needs to be seriously considered if mankind is to advance into the frontier of space without tripping over its own trash.

Thanks,

Glen Hendrix

Look for my scifi novel Transmat World at Amazon.com