Category Archives: Space Settlement

Activism, Space books, Space Settlement

Space Studies Institute giving away Kindle versions of Gerard K. O’Neill’s ‘2081’ and ‘The High Frontier’

The late Princeton physics professor Gerard K. O’Neill was a major influence on many space development activists and entrepreneurs. For example, as O’Neill advocated, Jeff Bezos sees millions of people living in large in-space colonies and heavy industries moved off earth and into space: Jeff Bezos blue origin calls for a dynamic entrepreneurial space – CNBC

“The Stanford Torus – This space habitat design resulted from a NASA-Ames/Stanford University summer study. It’s a wheel 1.1 miles in diameter.” More space colony artwork.

The Space Studies Institute was founded by O’Neill and this week is offering free Kindle versions of two of O’Neill’s books:

** Right Now 2081 and The High Frontier are FREE | Space Studies Institute:

We broke the news yesterday for SSI Associates to get their jump start and now it’s open for everyone:

For a limited time The Space Studies Institute is giving away the Kindle editions of Gerard K. O’Neill’s 2081 and The High Frontier for free!

2081, an amazing look at the future rising around us, and The High Frontier, the cornerstone book of the NewSpace generation, are both regularly priced at $6.99 USD but right now they are  online around the planet for free download from the Amazon.com websites and Kindle stores.

SSI President Gary C Hudson shows the evolution of reading… as predicted in the book 2081

For details on 2081, just jump down to the previous SSI Blog postand as for The High Frontier, well, if you haven’t heard of it then it’s time you laid the right foundation in your Space education.

Gerard K. O’Neill’s The High Frontier is a landmark book.  A stunning, readable treatise.

Space is the place where there are no limits  and where benefits to ALL of Humanity – everywhere – are free for the using with no need to harm anyone.

Sound far fetched? Sound naively Utopian and absolutely unachievable? Until a person actually reads The High Frontier for themselves, they should be careful about jumping to conclusions.

In The High Frontier, Princeton Nuclear Physicist Gerard K. O’Neill asks the famous question:

“Is a planetary surface, any planetary surface,
really the best place for an expanding technological civilization?”

And then he systematically looks at what it means for a civilization to expand, what such a civilization truly needs for real positive growth, and finds that all of those requirements and more are in no way out of reach.

Professor O’Neill makes this book of real science and real technology readable by most everyone by using fascinating “Letters From Space” followed by clear explanations of the hows and whys.  O’Neill was a world-renowned scientist but he had the gift to make even the most technical information completely understandable.

If you’ve never personally read 2081 and The High Frontier, you are in for a truly amazing experience. If you haven’t read them in a while then now is a great time to refresh your memories!

To get your free copies, log into your Amazon.com account using your web browser or start the Kindle Store in your Kindle app or device to search for the “O’Neill Kindle 2081″ and “O’Neill Kindle The High Frontier”

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Read on your Android, iOS or Windows Phone while in line at the grocery then pick up where you left off while relaxing at home with your tablet then start right up again on your Kindle Fire, Voyager or DX and even steal a few minutes at work using the Kindle program on your full Mac or Windows PC.

Pass the word!

The Space Studies Institute is giving away the Kindle editions of Gerard K. O’Neill’s 2081 and The High Frontier.

Twitter the news, Blog it, Facebook it, email it, spread the word and do it today!

** Gerard K. O’Neill’s 2081 is now an SSI Kindle Book! | Space Studies Institute:

Gerard K. O’Neill’s hopeful book of the human future, 2081, is now an SSI Kindle release!

What is 2081?

Gerard K. O’Neill’s The High Frontier is a classic of the Space Industry. World famous, it has been called “the book that launched a thousand Space careers.” 2081 may be lesser known but, believe us, it is no less fascinating or important. Here is the description we have put on the Kindle edition Amazon page:

E Ink slate tablets instead of paper books, grocery stores that let you check out without stopping for a cashier, instant as-needed delivery of any item by intelligent systems, electric cars that go where you tell them without your having to pay attention, super-fast and silent underground public transportation that people actually enjoy riding, whole communities enjoying island climates in the middle of snowy winters, working from home with all of the human interaction of going to a job, carts that politely follow you carrying your loads and ready to guide you when you’ve lost your way, houses that listen and are always ready to answer any question or organize any part of your life, cheap energy to fuel every device without adding to the carbon, heat or disposal issues of fossil and nuclear fuels. This is your world in 2081.

Princeton Nuclear Physicist Gerard K. O’Neill, most famous for revolutionizing high energy physics labs and particle accelerators with his invention of Storage Ring technologies, and for his view of the potential for thousands of regular people to enjoy satisfying and productive jobs and lives in Space, looked back at the history of looking forward, looked at the realities of where we were in 1981 and envisioned, logically, how regular people would be living in the year 2081. Some of the gadgets and infrastructure that he thought would take a hundred years are with us already, others are in the news today as being right around the corner and some are just waiting for smart people to understand the need for them and make them real parts of our daily lives.

“This book is in four parts. In the first, ‘The Art of Prophecy,’ we’ll explore in a pragmatic way the lessons that can be learned from the colorful history of earlier attempts at predicting the future. In the second, ‘The Drivers of Change,’ I’ll describe five developments that I believe will determine, alone and in combination, the course of the next hundred years. In the third part, ‘Life in 2081,’ I invite you to join me in a tour through the world in which our great-grandchildren will just be at their prime. In the fourth part, ‘Wild Cards,’ we’ll explore the most exciting developments of a century from now that are just at the limits of possibility – and some that are, perhaps, well beyond those limits.”

“It’s an exciting future that I’m predicting, even more different from the late twentieth-century than our own time is from 1881. Some people may be frightened rather than attracted by the prospect of so much change still to come. But we need not be afraid if we approach the future armed with understanding.”

“We have a responsibility beyond mere curiosity to learn as much about the future as we can, because we must choose those actions that will insure not only the survival of humanity, but an improvement in its condition.”

Gerard K. O’Neill

Education, Events, Space Settlement

“Cities in Space 2017” student competition at New Worlds Conference, Nov.10-11, 2017, Austin, TX

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An announcement from the STEAMSPACE™ Education Outreach program:

Future Space Pioneers Coming to Texas

Austin, Texas – July 5, 2017–More than seven hundred students and their teachers and mentors from around the world will come to Austin November 10th to present their innovative designs for off-world habitats and colonies.

It is the third annual “Cities in Space” competition and seminar that brings together tomorrow’s space colonists with NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts as well as NewSpace innovators and business leaders.

https://youtu.be/5Y5v_2PB_O0

The “Cities in Space 2017” seminar and competition marks the first day of an annual conference that includes a Space Settlement Symposium by “NewWorlds.org” where government and private sector leaders come together to discuss the human settlement of space.

“We are one important part of a larger effort to see humans settle off-world by 2030,” said Holly Melear, founder and Executive Director of STEAMSPACE™ Education Outreach. “Our role is to introduce tomorrow’s off-world leaders to the brightest lights in space exploration today.”

Students competing will present detailed engineering and concept papers for off-world human habitation. Winners will be recognized, meet with NASA leaders and private sector space entrepreneurs, and see their designs carried to the lunar surface in a future flight aboard a lunar-lander now under development by Astrobotic, Inc.

“These extraordinary students will compete with each other, learn from each other and gain entry into one of the most exclusive clubs on Earth—those determined to see humans prosper in space and on other worlds.” Said Amos Behana, Director of Operations for STEAMSPACE™

The New Worlds Conference and Space Settlement Seminar, which hosts the Cities in Space 2017 competition and conference, is a two day event held at the Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center in Austin, Texas on November 10 and 11th.

Media representative are welcome to attend and encouraged to get in touch in advance of the event.

Space Cowboy Ball 2017 | New Worlds 2017 Fair and Conference

Activism, Space Settlement, The Moon

Video: TMRO Orbit 10.20 – Paving the way to the Moon

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Here is the latest episode of TMRO.tv:

CEO of WayPaver Foundation Michael Mealling joins us to talk about what they are doing to remove obstacles in the way of lunar exploration and settlement.

Space news topics covered:

Rocket Lab launches 1st Electron rocket
Jupiter Surprises in First Juno Data Release
ISS News – A Spacewalk and a Homecoming
Third Detection of a Gravitational Wave
Spaceplane News – A Stratolaunch, A Dreamchaser, and a Unity

TMRO is viewer supported:

TMRO:Space is a crowd funded show. If you like this episode consider contributing to help us to continue to improve. Head over to http://www.patreon.com/tmro for information, goals and reward levels.

Activism, Space films and videos, Space Settlement

“Fight for Space” documentary film to be released on May 19th

A documentary will be released on May 19th to theaters and on demand about the decades long hiatus in human spaceflight beyond low earth orbit : Fight For Space – Where is your space program?  

“FIGHT FOR SPACE” is a documentary film that asks, why haven’t we gone back to the Moon, or sent humans to Mars? Weren’t we supposed to be there in the 80s? What lead to the decline of NASA’s budget and why is it stuck in low earth orbit?

Filmed over the course of 4 years, Fight for Space is the product of thousands of Kickstarter supporters who believed that the exploration of space is worth fighting for. Over 60 interviews were conducted with astronauts, politicians, educators, historians, scientists, former NASA officials, commercial space entrepreneurs, and many other experts in the space community. It is a film like no other that tackles issues no other documentary has touched, featuring newly restored 35mm and 16mm footage from the National Archives NASA collection.

See also Documentary Film Asks: Where Is Your Space Program? – Leonard David

Contests and Games, Living in Space, Space Settlement

NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge awards $100k to two teams in Phase 2: Level 1

NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge selects winners for the first level of the competition:

$100,000 Awarded in 1st Printing Stage of 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge 

Seven teams working on technology that could someday be used to create habitats from materials on other worlds have completed the first printing segment of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. NASA has awarded $100,000 to the two top-scoring teams from this stage, the Phase 2: Level 1 Compression Test Competition. Point-based awards were made to Foster + Partners | Branch Technology of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who earned $85,930, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, earning $14,070.

This cone was 3D-printed by the Foster + Partners | Branch Technology team for the Level 2, Phase 1 Compression Test Competition of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Competition. Foster + Partners scored the most points for this stage, and was awarded $85,930. Credits: Courtesy of Foster + Stearns | Branch Technology

The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is run through a partnership with NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program and Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. The goal of the challenge is to foster the development of technologies to manufacture a habitat using local indigenous materials with, or without, recyclable materials. The vision is that autonomous machines will someday be deployed in deep space destinations, including Mars, to construct shelters for human habitation. On Earth, these same capabilities could be used to produce affordable housing wherever it is needed or where access to conventional building materials and skills are limited.

“Seeing tangible, 3D-printed objects for this phase makes the goals of this challenge more conceivable than ever,” said Monsi Roman, program manager of Centennial Challenges. “This is the first step toward building an entire habitat structure, and the potential to use this technology to aid human exploration to new worlds is thrilling.”

The Level 1 Compression Test Competition is the first of three sub-competitions within Phase 2. For this stage, teams were tasked with developing 3D-printable materials, using a 3-D printer, and printing two samples: a truncated cone and a cylinder. Judges evaluated results from lab tests performed on the samples to determine a score.

A 3D printer created by the University of Alaska team prints a cone for their entry in the Level 2, Phase 1 Compression Test Competition of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Competition. The university was awarded $14,070 for this stage of the challenge. Credits: Courtesy of University of Alaska

“Innovation is a key focus of Bradley University which is one of the many reasons we are so very proud to be a part of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge with NASA,” said Bradley University President Gary Roberts. “The winners of Phase 1 and this first stage of Phase 2 are to be commended for their innovation in creating a solution that will fit not only in our world but beyond. I look forward to the next phase and seeing teams work to advance critical systems needed for human space exploration like never before.”

In addition to the two teams that earned prize money, the other teams participating were: Bubble Base of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Pennsylvania State University of University Park; CTL Group Mars of Skokie, Illinois; ROBOCON of Singapore; and Moon X Construction of Seoul, South Korea. The teams showcased a variety of approaches, ranging from traditional cement to exotic cellular structures.

Teams will now work toward the Level 2 Beam Member Competition, where they must print a beam to be tested. New teams may enter the competition if they can meet minimum requirements.

The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge comprises three phases: Phase 1, the Design Competition, was completed in 2015. Phase 2, the Structural Member Competition, which carries a $1.1 million prize purse and focuses on the material technologies needed to create structural components. Phase 3, the On-Site Habitat Competition, and has a $1.4 million prize purse and focuses on fabrication technologies.

NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program uses competitions to draw citizen inventors from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to push technology forward for the benefit of space exploration. The Centennial Challenges Program, managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Bradley University has partnered with sponsors Caterpillar, Bechtel and Brick & Mortar Ventures to run the competition.

For more information about the competition, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/3DPHab

To register for the competition and for official rules and documents, visit: http://bradley.edu/challenge/

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Here is the Foster & Partners release about the award:

Foster + Partners California | Branch Technology win first-prize
in Level 1 of NASA Centennial 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge 

Foster + Partners California | Branch Technology has been awarded first-place in the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, Phase 2: Level 1 Competition organized by NASA and Bradley University. The competition envisions a future where autonomous machines will help construct extra-terrestrial shelters for human habitation. This will also aid the development of technologies that advance fabrication capabilities on Earth.

While the final shelter will be a complex assembly of smaller building elements, the focus through the various stages of the challenge is to design and test individual prototypical building elements that can help demonstrate the suitability of the entire process from manufacture to construction and structural performance.

As part of this stage of the competition, teams were asked to use recycled mission materials and indigenous Martian regolith (soil) together to 3D-print a truncated cone and a cylinder, which were then subjected to compression testing to assess their suitability as structural components. Foster + Partners has been looking at the engineering geometry of the structures, while Branch Technology have brought their expertise with 3D-printing materials and methods to the project.

Developing optimized solutions that are specifically designed for the complexities of space travel, each of the proposals balances cost, weight, and structural performance against the stringent requirements of the long-term goal of extra-terrestrial habitation.

Having successfully completed Level 1, the team will now work toward the Level 2 Competition submission at the end of May, in which a beam will be printed to test spanning structures.