random crap I sometimes think about

So here's some of what's been on my mind lately



So the first of the big NASA-sponsored millenium challenges took place. Two US$50,000 prizes were offered to teams that could build a carbon nanotube that could withstand a tremendous amount of force (the amount was not disclosed, but it's in the neighborhood of 10's of tons), or who could reach a predetermined (also, unposted) altitude using a space elevator on the previously mentioned nanotubes powered only by the light of a high-powered spotlight mounted on the ground. No one won this year, but one team made it a 1/3 of the way to space!!! That's freakin insane. So why is this cool? Well, if you sink about 10 billion dollars into this program, you can save the 2 billion per launch for the shuttle or 500 million per launch of the Russian rockets and instead power a measily spotlight. Next year the prize is 150,000 each and they expect that someone will likely succeed at both the second time around. No one was expected to pull it off the first year.

Inflatable spacecraft, made by Bigelow Aerospace, are going to have their first launches this coming year. The first two, to be launched next year are 1/3 scale test modules not meant to be habitable. Another two 1/2 scale models will be launched by the end of 2k7. By the end of 2k8, they will have launched the first full scale module, complete with life support. The benefit of these modules is that they weigh very little, but provide a full-sized living space about as roomy as a duplex house. They will be fully interchangeable, so users could couple two, four, 8, etc. together and even tie them together at 90 degree angles to make one huge multi-module complex in three dimensions. The other applications suggested are to strap a rocket on one side and make it a craft for interplanetary travel. Imagine if Niel Armstrong had Buzz Aldrin had a lunar lander big enough to run laps in that reconnected to a craft made of several modules big enough to house an entire science team in orbit. there they'd fuel up and shoot off to earth where they'd meet up with a similar station around Earth to rest up before re-entry in a standard splash-down module.

SpaceX will be testing the first heavy-lift booster on US soil in decades, the Falcon V, by the end of this year. What's more, these craft will be the first heavy lifters built by a private corporation. The current heavy lifters are the insanely reliable Ariane V (European Space Association), and the Dnepr (In the US it's the S-18 or 'Satan' because it used to be an ICBM) (Russia). They are planning to build super heavy lifters by 2010, but they haven't released any details.

SpaceShip II, Scaled Composites' follow-up to their record breaker, is set to start test flights either next year or the following.

Venus Express (ESA), the first comprehensive atmospheric probe sent to Venus, is already on it's way with an arrival date somewhere in April. It will study the sulfuric acid rains and dense cloud cover as well as volcanism and the potential for microorganism blooms in the Venusian atmosphere.

Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (NASA) - The newest of the orbiters sent to the red planet. This one has already broken records. It recently sent the most data in one day of any spacecraft in history. Keep in mind, it's only about half-way there so far.

And for some recent news - they've discovered the alternating magnetic bands on Mars indicative of past plate tectonics. These bands occur on Earth on the ocean floor when Earth's poles flip every few thousand years. Only big difference is that Mars has nothing even close to powerful enough to pull a subduction environment like Earth's, so these bands have been frozen there for somewhere around 4 billion years.



If you want to know what's going on in space, I'm your guy.



Okay, so I need to do some clarification:

oooh, I guess I didn't explain the nanotube thing too well. Carbon nanotubes are a super-strong fibrous material that can be braided over and over again to create a cable capable of resisting severe pressures. The propulsion is a matter of collecting light from the spotlight using standard photovoltaic cells. The elevator is not what most people expect. It is, in fact, a platform with a nanotube cable running through the center of the platform. It ultimately climbs the cable like a monkey climbing a vine.
The idea behind why the light source would be on Earth is that the elevator generates its power from the photovoltaic surfaces. Having the light source on board would ultimately be self-defeating.