Category Archives: In Space Infrastructure

Asteroids & Comets, In Space Infrastructure, Space Policy

FISO: Small Bodies Assessment Group’s low assessment of the asteroid retrieval mission

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, “SBAG Findings on ARM – Is There a Role for NEOs in Human Exploration?”, Mark Sykes, Planetary Science Institute – Sept.4.13

Mark V. Sykes of the Planetary Science Institute reports on the negative review of NASA’s proposed Asteroid Retrieval/Redirect Mission (ARM) by the  Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG).

A sampling of his slides: Sykes_Summary_500x364

Sykes_Summary_ARM_HSF_500x296

Sykes_Summary_Objectives_500x366

In Space Infrastructure, Space Science, SpaceCasts

Video: SciShow on 3 Big Discoveries Made by the ISS

The SciShow‘s Hank Green talks about some benefits from the ISS:

We all know it’s awesome, and we could watch Chris Hadfield sing all day, but do you know about the awesome science that’s being done on the International Space Station? Hank explains three big discoveries made on the ISS that you should know about.

General, In Space Infrastructure, Space Systems

Video: HTV cargo module departs from Int. Space Station

After about a month attached to the ISS, the Japanese HTV-4 cargo vessel, dubbed “Kounotori”, was released today fromt he station. It will later burn up in the atmosphere on Sept.7th:

Asteroids & Comets, In Space Infrastructure

John Lewis lecture in Silicon Valley, Sept.10.13

If you are living in the Bay Area, you might want to attend this talk by Dr. John Lewis, the long time proponent of asteroid mining:

Title:        “To The Asteroids – and beyond!”
Speaker:   John Lewis (UAz)
When:      Tuesday, 10 September 7pm PDT, 2013
Where:     Colloquium Room, SETI Headquarters, 189 Bernardo Ave, Mountain View
Poster:      http://www.seti.org/sites/default/files/csc-Sep-13.pdf
Live link:  https://plus.google.com/events/cfij418phv10tocljpb2dp56630
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Abstract:

Tsiolkovsii and Goddard dreamed of the day when we would have access to the resources
of the asteroids.  Today, with an enormous and rapidly growing body of data on meteorites,
the Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and their more distant counterparts, we can envision the
propulsion systems, transportation system architectures, ores, processing schemes and
markets for products made from materials sourced in nearby space.  Most of these products
are of greatest value and significance in space; some, such as platinum-group metals and
energy, would be worth returning to Earth.

The resources of the NEAs also provide the propellants and structural materials for a broad
expansion of human presence in space.

Dr. John Lewis is the author of the 1997 book “Mining the Sky” and is an Emeritis Professor
of Planetary Science at University of Arizona. This talk will survey the what, where, how and
why of space resource utilization– and raise the timely question of when.

In Space Infrastructure, Space Settlement, Space Systems

Building really big structures in space

5 Comments

In the 1970s when gigantic in-space colonies similar to the one depicted in the recent movie Elysium were proposed, the obvious question was how could such behemoths possibly be affordable when it had cost billions just to send a handful of people to the Moon. That question still remains up front today for anyone proposing such free flying islands in space.
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Those who were working on such colony designs in the 70s were quite aware of that question and were counting on three factors to make the colonies affordable:

  1. A big drop in space transport costs once the Space Shuttle started flying
  2. Get most materials from the Moon whose low gravity allows for relatively easy launch into space, e.g. can literally throw material into orbit with a mass driver
  3. Earn income from solar power stations built by colonists to supply power to earth.

Unfortunately, the Shuttle, which was far from the robust and fully reusable vehicle initially proposed, failed to lower the cost of getting to orbit by even a modest amount.

Without low cost launch, it has been impossible get back to the Moon in an affordable manner and to build up an infrastructure there that could one day support construction of habitats in orbit.

Space based Solar Power remains a popular cause among many space advocates but it also remains a distant dream as long as space transport costs are so high. (I also expect that it’s more likely that space settlers will earn their keep via other commercial services such as off-shored digital services (e.g. software development) and space tourism, which is what many island economies on earth rely on.)

Fortunately, launch costs may finally start to fall significantly as NewSpace companies like SpaceX begin to make progress towards fully and rapidly reusable launch vehicles. (E.g. see a SpaceX design here and a prototype here.)  The propellant cost for a typical expendable rocket are less than half a percent of the total cost of putting an object into orbit. The rest comes from throwing away the rocket each time. So cost reductions of a factor of 50 to 100 are not out of the question.

However, even such huge reductions in launch costs leave tremendous challenges to creating a construction infrastructure in space that can build something as big as a habitat to provide a comfortable environment for thousands of people. Another factor is essential to making large scale space construction feasible – advanced robotics.

It just isn’t practical due to radiation, logistics, and other issues to expect to see crews of humans assembling large structures in space. Most such work will have to be done by robots working autonomously as well as via  teleoperation by humans who could reside nearby in radiation protected habitats.

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Rapid progress is being made in robotics in general and specifically for space as well. See, for example, the satellite servicing demonstrations on the ISS of teleoperated robotic systems. And just last week, the company Tethers Unlimited won a NASA grant to continue development of the SpiderFab, a robotic system that also employs 3D printing to build kilometer size structures in space.

SpiderFab_MOST[1]SpiderFab here assembles a large solar panel. (Tethers Unlimited)

(See as well this discussion of using a system like SpiderFab to build large space structures: Inflatable space stations, Reusable rockets and Spiderfab for the 2020s – NextBigFuture.com.)

It can be amazing to watch a construction project go from a muddy foundation to a brilliant tower reaching the sky. On a given day the progress looks so meager. Yet over a finite time we see that it really is possible to build a gigantic structure just by many small incremental steps by a lot of workers.

Similarly, it is in fact possible for hundreds or thousands of robots working 24/7 to build a really big structure in space in a finite time. Once such an infrastructure of robotic construction is established, we could see rapid development of the Moon and the whole cislunar system.