Category Archives: Space Settlement

NSS to present a roadmap to space settlement

The NSS will rollout its Roadmap to Space Settlement this month in association with the International Space Development Conference (ISDC 2013) in San Diego, California, May 23-27:

National Space Society Presents
Milestones to Space Settlement:  An NSS Roadmap  

When:          
May 24, 2013, 10:00 am   (Programming follows 11:00 am to 4:50 pm)

Where:  
International Space Development Conference
San Diego, California, at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine

What:
A Press Conference featuring the National Space Society’s (NSS) Roadmap to Space Settlement will be presented to the world.  A panel of space experts and NSS members will discuss the path towards humankind’s future in space.  The press conference will also highlight previews of some of the afternoon’s talks, a visually stunning Luncheon Presentation, and a programming track that covers some of the exciting topics in (and evolved from) the Roadmap. Previously, only NSS members and Ad Astra magazine subscribers have been told about the Roadmap. Now, the world will know!

A space logistics base with a docking truss is assembled in Low Mars Orbit.   Art: Anna Nesterova
A space logistics base with a docking truss is assembled in Low Mars Orbit. Art: Anna Nesterova
With the impending breakthroughs in launch costs, attention is once more shifting to actual operations in space. We can now begin to dream big dreams again. The Roadmap Track will cover the future diverse paths to space development and the common and practical foundations for our impending economic breakout into space. The NSS Roadmap, approved by the NSS Board of Directors, attempts to lay out many of the space goals and identify Milestones and Barriers to those goals.

Track presentations will cover some legal issues surrounding space development, how space development can improve life on Earth, how you actually can build a two kilometer space colony with essentially current level technology, progress in the development of reusable launch systems, why a cis-lunar space transportation and logistics system is vital to reaching all of our space goals and destinations, how to achieve the ability to build space colonies, and how space settlement design competitions can augment and assist planning for future space colonies.

Roadmap text and images can be found here.

In addition to the presentations directly in the Roadmap track itself, many of the other tracks at the ISDC cover material directly related to the Roadmap, such as the Lunar, Mars and the Space Based Solar Power Tracks.

Featured Speakers:

  • Derek Weber:      Director: SpacePort Associates
  • Howard Bloom:   Author & Member: NSS Board of Directors
  • Stan Rosen:        Vice Chairman, NSS Board of Directors
  • Bruce Pittman:     NSS Senior Vice President/Senior Operating Officer
  • Anita Gale:          Member: NSS Board of Directors
  • Mark Hopkins:     Chairman NSS Executive Committee
  • Jeff Liss:             Member: NSS Board of Directors
  • John Strickland:  Member: NSS Board of Directors, Track Chair
  • Al Globus:           Member: NSS Board of Directors

Roadmap Track Sessions schedule:

  • 10:00 am  – Roadmap Rollout  – MEDIA PRESS CONFERENCE with panel
  • 11:00 am  – Jeff Liss               – Legal Issues of and Barriers to Roadmap Milestones
  • 11:20 am  – Stan Rosen          – Applications of Space Technology on and for Earth
  • 12:00 am  – Howard Bloom     – Space Visual Manifesto (LUNCH talk) invited speaker
  •   2:00 pm  – John Strickland     – How Does a Jig Factory Build a Space Colony?
  •   3:00 pm  – Bruce Pittman       – Economic & Technical Realities of Reusable Launch Systems
  •   3:15 pm  – Al Globus             – Paths to Space Settlement
  •   4:00 pm  – Derek Webber      – An Architecture for Survival
  •   4:25 pm  – Anita Gale            – Design Competition Scenarios: Ambitious Future Space Roadmap

Mars colony basics + 3-D printing a Moon base

A look at some of the ideas discussed at the recent Human to Mars Summit on how to create sustainable Mars colonies: How to build a Mars colony that lasts – forever – New Scientist

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One technology that looks very important for making things, both small and large, in space colonies, wherever they might be, is 3-D printing: 3-D Printing Could Build Moon Base In-Situ – Aviation Week

Buzz Aldrin on The Space Show

Buzz Aldrin was on The Space Show on Monday and discussed his Unified Space Vision, Mars settlement and his  book, Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration, which he just released:  Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Monday, 5-13-13 | Thespaceshow’s Blog.

Soyuz with ISS crew lands safely while Chris Hadfield’s video goes viral

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, US astronaut Thomas Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko returned safely to earth today: Soyuz capsule brings three-man crew to safe landing – SpaceflightNow.

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Hadfield’s “Space Oddity” music video (see Sunday posting) on the ISS has become viral sensation. It’s up to nearly 3.9 million views at the moment.

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Hadfield defends the ISS as a research station and sees the big picture for why humans are learning to live and work in space: Chris Hadfield says [NASA]’s job is not to ‘titillate’ – BBC

“We are leaving Earth permanently,” he said with zeal. “It is a huge historic step and we are trying to do it right and it takes time, it takes patience and it takes tenacity – and we’re going to do it.”

His argument is that the construction and utilisation of the ISS will lead to the development of technologies that will eventually enable humanity to leave Earth and settle on other worlds. But that process will be a slow and incremental one.

Darrell Romick, a nearly forgotten space visionary

This article describes the visionary rocket and space infrastructure concepts laid out in the 1950s by Goodyear Aircraft engineer Darrell C. Romick, who was eclipsed by Wernher von Braun: The Space City That Could Have Been, If Not For Wernher Von Braun –  io9.com

More about Romick:

Romick-Goodyear Meteor Junior