colonization Archive

colonizationNear Term Moon Bases and Operations

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December 4, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
What will the moon be used for and how big could moon bases be? The main things that I can see as near-term uses for the moon are 1. Source of water for space operations that is many times cheaper …
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colonizationEquipment for Moon Mining Operations are Being Developed

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November 30, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
The technology needed for mining water ice on the moon and converting it into fuel is pretty straight forward. Various groups are already making the actual needed hardware. Paragon Space Development and Giner are already making key pieces of what …
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colonizationElon Musk Says Life on Mars Will Be Very Hard

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November 27, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
Elon Musk indicated that life on Mars will be very hard. It will like Shackelton’s expeditions to the Antarctic. It will not be an escape hatch for the wealthy. During the Heroic Age the Antarctic continent became the focus of …
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colonizationNASA’s blimp and cloud city plan for Venus exploration and colonization

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October 16, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
Where in the solar system do we have Earth-like gravity, atmospheric pressure, density and radiation protection? The place that is most like the Earth is Venus 50,000 meters. This means that we can blimps and build cloud cities for colonization …
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colonizationElon Musk estimates 2028 to realize Mars Base Alpha

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September 23, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
Elon Musk has tweeted out that he expects the rendered Mars Base Alpha with four BFS beside could be built by 2028. SpaceX is producing about 5 Merlin engines per week and has the factory capacity for 400 engines per …
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colonization6% of space fans willing to live in early smaller space stations

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September 21, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
The National Space Society conducted an Internet survey of 1,075 subjects to shed light on their views regarding the desirability of living in a small space settlement in orbit close to the Earth. This was motivated by studies suggesting that …
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colonizationMars-Moon Lava Tube habitation simulation in Iceland

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September 17, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
Mike Dunn talked about the use of lava tubes for the Moon and Mars habitats. Mike has worked on The Mars Lava Tube Pressurization Project’s (MLTPP). The lunar soil is 40% oxygen. Lunar cement could be made to block off …
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colonizationLunar railgun for super-cheap Mars missions and Giant Mars open atmosphere lasers

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September 17, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
A magnetic railgun that is only ten meters long can launch from the moon to Mars. It can have less than half the speed of the US Navy railgun. It only needs 3 kilometers per second versus 7 kilometers per …
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agricultureLong-term colonization of the solar system with 290,000 square feet per person

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September 16, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
A 5 km settlement radius corresponds roughly to the sweet design spot where earthlike radiation shielding is produced for free by the required structural mass. The paper is by Pekka Janhunen. Overall, the settlement concept satisfies the following generic requirements …
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colonizationDrilling and mining on the moon

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September 15, 2018 | Brian Wang |
 
Honeybee Robotics has two projects for near-term lunar ISRU-focused missions. Project one is developing a sampling drill for volatile-rich lunar regolith as part of NASA’s Lunar Resource Prospector. There is technology development required to reach TRL 6, as well as …
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