|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Mars vs Belt
Sander Vesik wrote: Hop David wrote: I see three stages: 1) The first asteroid colonists will simulate gravity by spinning two small habs on the ends of a tether like a bolo. broadly agreed - though I think 'hab' might be a bit big for the initial versions, which probably be just two apartment sized 'things' at the ends of a tether. Does "hab" connote something large? I had in mind something like you describe. "stacked" tori have iirc quite a lot of drawbacks, I can't imagine wanting more than 3-5 stacked. What are the drawbacks? Some of the advantages: Smaller surface to volume ratio over time. (You could take down the walls separating the tori and use material elsewhere) As the torus lengthens you could have more open spaces. It would be less cramped and more comfortable. So I think step 3 will be: 3) peopel lkiving in the cluster of smaller tori build the scaffolding of a large torus, fill out only 4-5 sections and migrate from teh small tori to the large, continuing to build it. Of course, after some time you might get "tori building" toruses, with the picture changing a lot. Hop http://clowder.net/hop/index.html |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Mars vs Belt
In article ,
Hop David wrote: Minimal local "AI" (just enough to call for help when it hits trouble) and remote guidance. 4 lunar distances is an extremely close fly by as NEAs go. Realtime Teleoperation isn't possible. Not realtime. Basically, look around, order the mining package to crawl around a little, take seismic readings to find a good spot, and clamp down. Work out a drilling plan from seismic readings, and set the mine on autopilot. If the miner runs into something unexpected, stop and contact home base for instructions. Once you pick a place for the mine to clamp itself down to the surface and start drilling, it be almost entirely automated. Even drilling an ordinary well in nice earth conditions can be a pain in the butt. (My brother-in-law has a broken drill bit that's been sitting at the bottom of a hole for a few years. He still doesn't have his windmill). These mining packages will obviously have higher specifications and backup parts. And there would be multiple ones in operation at any one time. The odds are high some will fail, that has to be taken into account. An atmosphere processor also has ways to fail, though I admit it is an easier thing to engineer. Drilling down to frozen volatiles, melting them and sending them up is a much more complicated endeavor. How big is your drill bit? Is it's diameter larger than the nuclear reactor you hope to send down? A fully automated mission to do this would be very ambitious, in my opinion. Anything of this sort will be "ambitious". I think it's possible to do with current technology, though. Land a few mines, set them up, Would they be set up by humans? How long would it take? How long do you think they could stay on an asteroid and still have an affordable return to earth? They could be set up remotely. Maybe a few weeks, to crawl to a stable location and clamp down. They'd stay on the asteroid indefinitely, drill a few holes, and be abandoned when they ran out of tanks to contain volatiles or break down. Simple one-shot jobs, a half-dozen or so scattered around the asteroid, so it's no big deal if something goes wrong with some of them. Dissipation can take awhile. Comets can outgas for a long time before going extinct. When the Wilson Harrington comet stopped outgassing it was lost and later discovered as asteroid 1979 VA. It is thought that the dissipation leaves a tarry crust on the asteroid that insulates the interior. Liquid pressurized pockets within a tarry shell are conceivable during the asteroid's warmer times. A hydrocarbon pitch or tar could hold liquid or semiliquid substances... I'm talking about ices and hydrates in a stony-iron asteroid. Volatiles would be less abundant and more difficult to get from a stoney iron than a dead comet. And without volatiles above earth's gravity well, delta v would be cost prohibitive even if an asteroid is solid gold. You're going to need the delta v first. That is why 1979 VA, Nereus and other possible dead comets are more interesting. A dead comet would be ideal for harvesting volatiles, and easier to drill. However, I think its likely that most asteroids also contain a fair amount of volatiles. Those with less will need to bring more gas with them to blow stuff out of the hole. -- Christopher James Huff http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/ POV-Ray TAG: http://tag.povray.org/ |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Delta-Like Fan On Mars Suggests Ancient Rivers Were Persistent | Ron Baalke | Science | 0 | November 13th 03 09:06 PM |
If You Thought That Was a Close View of Mars, Just Wait (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) | Ron Baalke | Science | 0 | September 23rd 03 10:25 PM |
NASA Seeks Public Suggestions For Mars Photos | Ron Baalke | Science | 0 | August 20th 03 08:15 PM |
NASA Selects UA 'Phoenix' Mission To Mars | Ron Baalke | Science | 0 | August 4th 03 10:48 PM |
Students and Teachers to Explore Mars | Ron Baalke | Science | 0 | July 18th 03 07:18 PM |