Space based VLBI - next steps beyond Hubble

Space sensing, long distance communications over interplanetary and
interstellar distances, and large scale use of solar energy across the
solar system and beyond, all make use of similar technology and skill
sets - as well as the same locations in the solar system. So, as the
interplanetary and later interstellar internet is developed, these
techniques, called very long baseline interferometry, will be further
developed and used with greater and greater interoperability, between
remote sensing, remote communications, and remote power beaming.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/98/spacevlbi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Lo...Interferometry
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008A&A...477..781F
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...4b55e8e843623d

Imagine a trio of optical and radio telescopes arrayed in GEO above
the Earth with their sensors highly correlated in time - so that they
can synthesize a baseline over 70,000 km across.

Instead of a single telescope at each location looking at a single
spot in the sky, imagine inflatable optics that form a golf-ball like
structure dozens of km in diameter for radio and infrared telescopes,
and hundreds of meters in diameter for optical telescopes. Each
dimple in the sphere thus formed is a large mirror collecting
information from a region of space. Each region overlaps its
neighbor, thus all the entire sky is imaged - simultaneously.

Further, all the detectors in all of the telescopes in each spherical
satellite are highly correlated with the other two detectors by the
exchange of open optical signals between all three satellites. Pulses
exchanged in this way synchronize a femto-second timing laser on board
each satellite - these timing signals are streamed along with precise
position and orientation data from each sensor set - and the resulting
stream is correlated in massive computing platforms on each satellite
to obtain detailed information from each pixel of resolved sky - a
life high resolution version - complete with history of updates of the
entire universe.

http://www.google.com/sky/

and a convenient way to organize all the information published on each
location and object in the sky.

The streaming data set is available via the interplanetary internet
gateway - forming an interstellar internet for points beyond the solar
system as they become available.

These Earth orbiting satellites not only gather scientific quality
data from throughout the universe, they also are capable of sending
out radio pulses and looking at their reflection in real time, forming
an advanced doppler radar - and lidar pulses- as well as an advanced
communications capability with all vehicles within hailing distance of
the network. So, older spacecraft as well as newer spaceraft can be
monitored and even sent messages and messages are received.

In this way, there is a housekeeping function these satellites may
play as a gateway to an interplanetary internet, that pays for their
continued operation and expansion and use as scientific instruments.

Beyond GEO a similar network of three satellites, built as a second
generation, once we cut our teeth on the first generation satellite,
is orbited in the Lagrange Points in Earth Orbit around the sun - 150
million km from the Sun. These satellites are larger more capable and
more sensitive - forming an effective telescope size 300 million km
across - giving increased sensitivity 25 million times as capable - as
well as broadband and navigation throughout the inner solar system.

Beyond Earth's orbit around the sun there is Jupiter's orbit - where 3
third generation VOT/VLBI telescope arrays may be located forming an
effective sensor - 1,500 million km in diameter - further increasing
sensitivity and providing broadband communications throughout the
outer solar system - and 25x the sensitivity.

Beyond the Kuiper Belt - satellites may be located to use the sun's
gravity itself to focus signals arriving from deep space, or focus
signals bound for deep space

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979Sci...205.1133E

An array of 60 or more satellites 550 astronomical units from the sun,
or more (82,500 million km or more) uses the sun's gravity to gather
or focus information from or to any direction in the sky with a high
degree of precision. This forms the final layer in the interstellar
internet - 6,600x as sensitive as the Jovian Orbital system.

POWER NET

I have developed ultra-low-cost solar panels.

http://www.usoal.com
http://www.mokindustries.com

these panels are best used in sunny locations with little or no
cloud. Such locations are generally far from areas where people use
industry. Despite their low cost, it makes sense to use them where
there is plenty of sun, and send the energy to where its needed, in
places where there is less sun. Methods of transmission include,
hydrogen pipeline, HVDC transmission, and ground based laser or
microwave transmission of energy. These elements form the beginning
of a solar power network, similar to the communications intensive
internet.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogen...echnology.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/artic...html?id=245124

Satellites in GEO that gather sunlight 24/7 and beam bandgap matched
laser energy efficiently to terrestrial solar panels - increse the
value and energy level of terrestrial systems 16x their native level,
more than paying for a space based extension of the phase 1 power net
described above.

Cost savings in both systems are achieved by using ultra-high-
intensity PV that operate at 5,000 to 15,000x solar intensity. This
is achieved through a water filled lens in the first case, and a thin
film concentrator in the second case, but may also be achieved by
removing the satellites to within 1.22 million to 2.12 million km from
the solar surface. Since the concentrator is 95% or more of the costs
of terrestrial systems, value of the power net may be increased by
another factor of 20x - or 320x over terrestrial systems, which is 5x
the value of today's primary energy systems - i.e. phase 1 provides 5x
improvement in our energy situation, phase 2 - 80x improvement, phase
3 - 1,600x

Over this development period, learning curve effects provide another
factor of 3x improvement, allowing overall costs to drop to 1/5000th
the cost of today's energy and usage rates to rise 25 million times.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7081584.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0185713.html

Such systems may be used to power the entire worlds as well as provide
broadband communications. They may also be used to power propulsion
systems ranging from laser thermal, laser pulse and laser mirror
technology. These systems are immediately applicable for all manner
of interplanetary and interstellar travel. Including the use of solar
gravity lensing to efficiently project laser energy gathered near the
solar surface, from an emitter beyond 550 AU from the sun.

Similar satellite networks orbiting nearby stars, not only provide
broadband communications capability in remote star systems, but also
provide a means to power arriving starship's propulsion systems to
slow down without staging.

Bob Forward working with others, proposed a multi-stage light sail to
slow an ariving starship with light arriving from Earth

http://www.calphysics.org/articles/merc2000a.html
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m27n87553425u391/

but once a payload is operating in the remote star system, a counter-
propagating beam set may be established to slow arriving payloads, and
return material and payloads to Sol - vastly reducing the size and
complexity of a starship for a given payload mass - or increasing
payload mass for a given sail area.

LINKING IN ROBOT PROBES

I describe in another link, the potential of even near term robotic
explorers of the outer planets. These data streams are easily
detected by any of the satellite networks described above, and even
supplied power from some of the more advanced power beaming systems.
These too, may be extended by use of solar sails to interstellar
ranges.

INTERSTELLAR VLBI

Accurate digital communications from probes between stars provide the
opportunity to correlate observations from different star systems.
Data once exchanged and synchronized, using the gravitational lensing
around other stars, may be analyzed anywhere on the interstellar
internet to provide interstellar VLBI capable of expanding our
capabilities beyond anything possible in the solar system.

SUPERMASSIVE PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

The ability to send objects at 1/3 light speed or more beyond Sol, and
send objects from the stars to Sol at similar speeds, not only opens
up the nearby galactic arm to the possiblity of interstellar commerce,
but also opens up the possibility of a new sort of supermassive
particle accelerator capable of producing on an experimental basis,
black holes.

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/122/mar13/bhform.html
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/02...uk-laboratory/

Imagine a day when interstellar laser light sails support commerce
cheaply between the stars as previously described. Now imagine the
debris field around the sun and other stars is mined for Iron-56.
Large cone-like bodies of iron-56 are formed at a dozen nearby star
systems. These systems are all accelerated using the laser light sail
system - toward a common point in space - near a small Kuiper belt
object - in such a way so as to collide and implode - forming a
macroscopic black hole. Charging the iron-56 charges the resulting
black hole. Changing the timing and center of the collision of parts
- imparts spin to the collapsing dodecahedron.

After a series of experiments, sufficient information may be generated
to allow black hole engineering - which may ultimately lead to further
developments in propulsion, communications, science and engineering.

wrote in message
...
Space sensing, long distance communications over interplanetary and
interstellar distances, and large scale use of solar energy across the
solar system and beyond, all make use of similar technology and skill
sets - as well as the same locations in the solar system. So, as the
interplanetary and later interstellar internet is developed, these

snip a lot of interesting stuff

This long piece illustrates why I'm saying, the place to
explore space from, is space. Hence my prioritizing choice
that *settlements now, research later* since we know enough
now to put those settlements out there and to begin building
the commercial networks and knowhow for the settlements to
support themselves *and* Terra back there at the bottom of
its gravity well. And Terra is going to need that support,
for it looks from here very like that without it, Terra is
going to crash hard. If we don't have those settlements
out there before that crash, then we'll never do it. So
my mantra is *Settlements Now, Research Later,* and Mookie
illustrates what some of that research could be.

In my guess of what's the future, I imagine an optical VLB
telescope shows us another blue world somewhere out there
with white clouds, like Terra seen from afar. Then we'll
know where to send that first interstellar probe.

And being out in space, propulsion technology will get an
immense boost. Nothing like practical immediate usefulness
to promote technical evolution. So by the time we can see
which is a blue world to visit, we'll have the technology
to do it. But not until the settlements are out there and
stabilized so eyes can look outward.

Titeotwaki -- mha [sci.space.policy 2008 Apr 18]

On 19 Apr, 01:40, "Martha Adams" wrote:
wrote in message

...

Space sensing, long distance communications over interplanetary and
interstellar distances, and large scale use of solar energy across the
solar system and beyond, all make use of similar technology and skill
sets - as well as the same locations in the solar system. *So, as the
interplanetary and later interstellar internet is developed, these

snip a lot of interesting stuff

This long piece illustrates why I'm saying, the place to
explore space from, is space. *Hence my prioritizing choice
that *settlements now, research later* since we know enough
now to put those settlements out there and to begin building
the commercial networks and knowhow for the settlements to
support themselves *and* Terra back there at the bottom of
its gravity well. *And Terra is going to need that support,
for it looks from here very like that without it, Terra is
going to crash hard. *If we don't have those settlements
out there before that crash, then we'll never do it. *So
my mantra is *Settlements Now, Research Later,* and Mookie
illustrates what some of that research could be.

At least in the short and medium term sdpace colonization is not a
cost effective way of "saving the Earth". The Earth should be "saved"
if you want to put it that way by terrestrially based policies. That
does not mean however that space and its resources are unimportant.

At the back of my mind is the fear that space colonies will induce
politicians and generals to take bigger risks. There is a logical
fallacy here. To "save the Earth" you need a colony which is
completely self supporting. Absolutely nothing made on Earth. I have
called this a "siege" colony. Economists talk about a siege economy as
being one which does not trade. A mining colony for example is a
trading economy and cannot therefore save the world. It will die with
Earth.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you look at it siege colonies
are a long way into the future.

In my guess of what's the future, I imagine an optical VLB
telescope shows us another blue world somewhere out there
with white clouds, like Terra seen from afar. *Then we'll
know where to send that first interstellar probe.

And being out in space, propulsion technology will get an
immense boost. *Nothing like practical immediate usefulness
to promote technical evolution. *So by the time we can see
which is a blue world to visit, we'll have the technology
to do it. *But not until the settlements are out there and
stabilized so eyes can look outward.

Titeotwaki -- mha *[sci.space.policy *2008 Apr 18]

LISA has an interferometer which will measure distances of 5 million
km to within the wavelength of light. There is no doubt about it, the
next telescope will be made in fragments, could be as much as a
kilometer across and each fragment will be positioned to sub
wavelength accuracy. The technology to do this is almost here.

Incidentally none of this will involve a manned presence. Indeed the
rapid development of AI will make a manned presence optional. As I
have stated many times there are reasons for manned space flight based
on adventure etc. There is however no compelling scientific or
commercial reason. Other than tourism of course.


- Ian Parker

Ian Parker wrote:
:
:At the back of my mind is the fear that space colonies will induce
oliticians and generals to take bigger risks. There is a logical
:fallacy here.
:

There certainly is! You have to be loony to worry about that.

:
:LISA has an interferometer which will measure distances of 5 million
:km to within the wavelength of light. There is no doubt about it, the
:next telescope will be made in fragments, could be as much as a
:kilometer across and each fragment will be positioned to sub
:wavelength accuracy. The technology to do this is almost here.
:

People have repeatedly pointed out to you why that won't happen, not
the least of which is that you are, as usual, misinterpreting the
present in your extrapolations into the future.

:
:Incidentally none of this will involve a manned presence.
:

Then it won't get funded.

:
:Indeed the
:rapid development of AI will make a manned presence optional.
:

Sure it will.

:
:As I have stated many times ...
:

Your mistake is in thinking that you having stated it many times cuts
any ice at all.

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn

On 19 Apr, 14:50, Fred J. McCall wrote:
Ian Parker wrote:

:
:At the back of my mind is the fear that space colonies will induce
oliticians and generals to take bigger risks. There is a logical
:fallacy here.
:

There certainly is! *You have to be loony to worry about that.

:
:LISA has an interferometer which will measure distances of 5 million
:km to within the wavelength of light. There is no doubt about it, the
:next telescope will be made in fragments, could be as much as a
:kilometer across and each fragment will be positioned to sub
:wavelength accuracy. The technology to do this is almost here.
:

People have repeatedly pointed out to you why that won't happen, not
the least of which is that you are, as usual, misinterpreting the
present in your extrapolations into the future.

At present the main danger to the world is antropogenic, particularly
military. You are right in saying that the dangers are going to be
different in the future. If we had a world that was united in its aims
then talk about catastophes would be nonsense.

Is there any evidence that the world of the future is going to be more
peaceful? Evidence is ambiguous, there is less threat of a war between
major powers than was the case in the past, yet violence from sub
national groups has increased enormously. What is worrying me is the
way in which colonists would be selected. Einar seems to be thinking
of religious groups. This would really be the ultimate nightmare.
:
:Incidentally none of this will involve a manned presence.
:

Then it won't get funded.

I don't know. You may well be ma\king the same mistake you accuse me
of making. AI now appers to be a lot "sexier" than a manned presence
in space. Perhaps if David Levy is right about making love to robots,
literally as well! SF which is perhaps a fair barometer has AI as its
subject much more frequently than space.

:
:Indeed the
:rapid development of AI will make a manned presence optional.
:

Sure it will.

Of cource.
:
:As I have stated many times ...
:

- Ian Parker

I disagree with the comment that space colonization will not save
Earth in the short term. The same technology that allows us to
support large numbers of people off-world, will allow us to support
large numbers of people on THIS world, without destroying our
environment.

I tried to show that with the shipping numbers culled from the world's
trading system. Our industry currently ships about 1 on per person
per year on this planet over the oceans - not including oil and coal.
Americans use about 4 tons per person per year not including oil and
coal. Millionaires use about 20tons per person per year not including
oil and coal.

Our experience with nuclear submarines, and antarctica, ISS, the space
shuttle, and Mir, as well as Skylab, suggest that off-world you add
air and water and food to these totals, and add one ton per person per
year.

Now Peter Glaser first proposed solar power satellites to provide
energy on Earth back in 1968.

Glaser, Peter E.. "Power from the Sun: Its Future". Science Magazine,
22 November 1968 Vol 162, Issue 3856, Pages 857-861.

Glaser, Peter E.. "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING SOLAR RADIATION
TO ELECTRICAL POWER". United States Patent 3,781,647 December 25,
1973.

I have developed this concept a little further using some of my own
innovations to reduce terrestrial reciever costs by adapting solar
panel arrays to work as recievers, by reducing total mass on orbit
using thin film concentrators, and increasing system utility by
creating synthetic hydrocarbons, and hydrogen fuel from water as well
as electricity using the energy captured.

To those who say this undercuts the need to build a large human
presence beyond Earth, I reply this makes it economical for private
sector to invest heavily in post-Nova class (1,000 ton to LEO) fully
reusable multi-stage launchers. It also taps into the $4 trillion and
growing energy market for planet Earth while reducing and eventually
eliminating air pollution, and creating a strong basis for industrial
growth worldwide.

Even so we can do far far more than merely gather solar energy in
space.

In 1969 Gerard O'Neill taught a course in large vacuum chamber
design. O'Neill designed vacuum chambers that were miles in extent
for FermiLab, CERN and SSC. To make things interesting for his
students, following the moon landing, O'Neill reversed the signs on
the pressure equations and asked his students to solve the structural
requirements for large pressure vessels in space. Several
architectures were proposed by his students, and many felt that living
in space would be desireable. He created a continuing study group and
first published his findings in Physics Today in 1974, which created
quite a stir. He eventually wrote a book on the subject High
Frontiers.

Residential use of large pressure vessels on orbit is a low value
application. Higher value applications exist. These include,
encasing asteroids to assist in easy mining of materials in bulk,
processing materials in bulk on orbit in zero or micro gravity (little
or no spin) as well as growing food fiber and medicines on orbit in
quite modest pressure vessels built in large number from materials on
orbit.

In 1968, again during the Apollo era, MIT professor, L.A. Klieman led
a group of aerospace engineering students in the study of deflecting
the asteroid Icarus.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969Icar...10..447T

The group showed that it was possible to impart significant and highly
controllable velocity inputs to the asteroid using a variation of the
nuclear pulse technique - i.e. evaporating a well defined layer of
asteroidal material causing it to be deflagrated and ejected in a well
defined direction at high speed.

While most of the application of this technique in the modern context
has focused on avoiding another KT boundary event for humans, a more
interesting, compelling and near term use for this technology is to
CAPTURE rich asteroids and bring them into orbit around Earth.

Why bring them into Earth orbit. Two reasons;

proximity to market
proximity to labor

Within 1/5th light second of Earth, real time telerobotics is
feasible.

http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/
http://www.honda.com/asimo/?ef_id=10...20080419160816

For less cost than a space suit, and with Honda's Asimo, for less cost
than an automobile, a human being living anywhere on Earth may work
anywhere else at any job.

This includes MEO.

We are all familiar with GPS missile and bomb guidance technology that
can bring a warhead within inches of its desired target even JDAM
enabled dumb bombs. A variant of this same technology may be used to
precisely deliver to customers worldwide, products made on orbit and
launched by solar powered electromagnetic cannon or rail gun from an
orbiting satellite.

Finally in 1957 Stanislaw Ulam developed the idea of nuclear pulse
propulsion. Modern versions can be entirely free of fissionable
materials according to a now declassified 1968 air-force study. Even
so, I can imagine no higher better use for our weapons grade uranium
and plutonium than to enact an enhanced nuclear non proliferation
treaty, and convert all our inventory of nuclear weapons and nuclear
weapons stockpiles, into non-threatening fusion impulse unit triggers
to sustain an intense period of interplanetary expansion - sustained
by more advanced fission free units flying the same spacecraft.

The important thing to realize, is that;

these technologies are well defined and within our grasp today
they have immediate economic benefit
they have immediate environmental benefit
they have immediate geopolitical benefit.

So, with these ideas in mind, I submit that its not colonies on Mars
or the Moon that will save Earth short term, but it is moving our
industrial base off world and supporting Earth's burgeoning population
with off-world resources that will save Earth short term.

Here is a program that I am working on;

1) develop low-cost solar panel technology and use it to make
synthetic hydrocarbons.
2) build a nova-class reusable launcher to orbit a comsat network
providing global wireless internet
3) establish banking and telerobotic services for US based factorie
and mines
4) build 'super' nova-class reusable launcher to orbit powersat
network creating wireless powernet
5) beam bandgap matched laser energy to existing solar panel arrays
increasing output 16x
6) use spare capacity to put city on the moon and mars, and explore
outer solar system
7) develop nuclear pulse spacecraft to expand moon and mars
population
8) adapt nuclear pulse technology to capture rich small bodies,
bringing them to MEO
9) use nuclear pulse spacecraft to loft telerobotic factories to
captured small bodies
10) build up space based infrastructure
a) mines
b) smelting/processing
c) industrial goods
d) products
e) farms (food)
f) forests (fiber)
g) space homes
h) mobile space homes
i) grounded space homes (moon and mars)
11) adapt powersats for near solar surface operation
beam energy across the solar system to where its needed
12) laser powered MEMs based propulsive skins (spaceship in every
garage)

and so on and so forth..

At the point the mass flow rates increase to about 1% of the Earth's
atmosphere, the clear development arc breaks up into multiple flows of
equal value, as off-world development becomes as complex logistically
as any development on Earth.

The point is, that within 15 years - if we had the will to do so -we
could transform life on Earth creating on this world two billion high
quality homes spread across the Earth's entire surface wherever people
wanted to live, supported and connected by personal ballistic
transport, and off world infrastructure - all within a vast nature
preserve.

My game plan is to get this all done before I turn 75.

After that, who knows what we might do next?

The sad thing is, we could have done this already, and avoided much of
the turmoil and strife of the past 40 years.

Its not generally appreciated we've already built large pressure
vessels on Earth that are kilometers in size

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevatron

the engineering these large vacuum chambers, use the same technology
needed to build large pressure vessels in vacuo.

Also,

People don't generally realize, we've already contained nuclear
explosions

www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1989/8909/8909.PDF

Ian Parker wrote:

:On 19 Apr, 14:50, Fred J. McCall wrote:
: Ian Parker wrote:
:
: :
: :At the back of my mind is the fear that space colonies will induce
: oliticians and generals to take bigger risks. There is a logical
: :fallacy here.
: :
:
: There certainly is! *You have to be loony to worry about that.
:
: :
: :LISA has an interferometer which will measure distances of 5 million
: :km to within the wavelength of light. There is no doubt about it, the
: :next telescope will be made in fragments, could be as much as a
: :kilometer across and each fragment will be positioned to sub
: :wavelength accuracy. The technology to do this is almost here.
: :
:
: People have repeatedly pointed out to you why that won't happen, not
: the least of which is that you are, as usual, misinterpreting the
: present in your extrapolations into the future.
:
:
:At present the main danger to the world is antropogenic, particularly
:military. You are right in saying that the dangers are going to be
:different in the future.
:

I never said that.

:
:If we had a world that was united in its aims
:then talk about catastophes would be nonsense.
:

And if cows could fly we'd all carry umbrellas when we went out of
doors.

:
:Is there any evidence that the world of the future is going to be more
eaceful? Evidence is ambiguous, there is less threat of a war between
:major powers than was the case in the past, yet violence from sub
:national groups has increased enormously. What is worrying me is the
:way in which colonists would be selected. Einar seems to be thinking
f religious groups. This would really be the ultimate nightmare.
:

It's not 'selection', you git. Who's going to want to find someplace
away from everyone else?

: :
: :Incidentally none of this will involve a manned presence.
: :
:
: Then it won't get funded.
:
:I don't know.
:

I do.

:
:You may well be ma\king the same mistake you accuse me
f making. AI now appers to be a lot "sexier" than a manned presence
:in space.
:

Not to anyone who controls money or votes, it doesn't.

:
:Perhaps if David Levy is right about making love to robots,
:literally as well! SF which is perhaps a fair barometer has AI as its
:subject much more frequently than space.
:
: :
: :Indeed the
: :rapid development of AI will make a manned presence optional.
: :
:
: Sure it will.
:
:
:Of cource.
:

Yes, and everyone will live in peace and plenty...

--
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
only stupid."
-- Heinrich Heine

On 19 Apr, 17:30, wrote:
I disagree with the comment that space colonization will not save
Earth in the short term. *The same technology that allows us to
support large numbers of people off-world, will allow us to support
large numbers of people on THIS world, without destroying our
environment.

I think we should distinguish between space technology and
specifically space colonies. Technology of all descriptions will "save
the world" and space is included in this.

My argument about colonies in particular is that you do not work on
the assumption that colonists will survive with all the inhabitants of
Earth perishing. Cerainly the inhabitants of Earth need the resources
of space AND new technology. That is a completely different argument
though.

I tried to show that with the shipping numbers culled from the world's
trading system. *Our industry currently ships about 1 on per person
per year on this planet over the oceans - not including oil and coal.
Americans use about 4 tons per person per year not including oil and
coal. *Millionaires use about 20tons per person per year not including
oil and coal.

Our experience with nuclear submarines, and antarctica, ISS, the space
shuttle, and Mir, as well as Skylab, suggest that off-world you add
air and water and food to these totals, and add one ton per person per
year.

Now Peter Glaser first proposed solar power satellites to provide
energy on Earth back in 1968.

Glaser, Peter E.. "Power from the Sun: Its Future". Science Magazine,
22 November 1968 Vol 162, Issue 3856, Pages 857-861.

Glaser, Peter E.. "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONVERTING SOLAR RADIATION
TO ELECTRICAL POWER". United States Patent 3,781,647 December 25,
1973.

*I have developed this concept a little further using some of my own
innovations to reduce terrestrial reciever costs by adapting solar
panel arrays to work as recievers, by reducing total mass on orbit
using thin film concentrators, and increasing system utility by
creating synthetic hydrocarbons, and hydrogen fuel from water as well
as electricity using the energy captured.

To those who say this undercuts the need to build a large human
presence beyond Earth, I reply this makes it economical for private
sector to invest heavily in post-Nova class (1,000 ton to LEO) fully
reusable multi-stage launchers. *It also taps into the $4 trillion and
growing energy market for planet Earth while reducing and eventually
eliminating air pollution, and creating a strong basis for industrial
growth worldwide.

Even so we can do far far more than merely gather solar energy in
space.

In 1969 Gerard O'Neill taught a course in large vacuum chamber
design. *O'Neill designed vacuum chambers that were miles in extent
for FermiLab, CERN and SSC. *To make things interesting for his
students, following the moon landing, O'Neill reversed the signs on
the pressure equations and asked his students to solve the structural
requirements for large pressure vessels in space. *Several
architectures were proposed by his students, and many felt that living
in space would be desireable. *He created a continuing study group and
first published his findings in Physics Today in 1974, which created
quite a stir. *He eventually wrote a book on the subject High
Frontiers.

Residential use of large pressure vessels on orbit is a low value
application. *Higher value applications exist. *These include,
encasing asteroids to assist in easy mining of materials in bulk,
processing materials in bulk on orbit in zero or micro gravity (little
or no spin) as well as growing food fiber and medicines on orbit in
quite modest pressure vessels built in large number from materials on
orbit.

In 1968, again during the Apollo era, MIT professor, L.A. Klieman led
a group of aerospace engineering students in the study of deflecting
the asteroid Icarus.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969Icar...10..447T

The group showed that it was possible to impart significant and highly
controllable velocity inputs to the asteroid using a variation of the
nuclear pulse technique - i.e. evaporating a well defined layer of
asteroidal material causing it to be deflagrated and ejected in a well
defined direction at high speed.

While most of the application of this technique in the modern context
has focused on avoiding another KT boundary event for humans, a more
interesting, compelling and near term use for this technology is to
CAPTURE rich asteroids and bring them into orbit around Earth.

Why bring them into Earth orbit. *Two reasons;

* proximity to market
* proximity to labor

Within 1/5th light second of Earth, real time telerobotics is
feasible.

http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/http://...4ec32f4f3d99a8...

For less cost than a space suit, and with Honda's Asimo, for less cost
than an automobile, a human being living anywhere on Earth may work
anywhere else at any job.

This includes MEO.

This is exactly what I have always said. N&M EO can have telepresence
provided quite cheap;y.

We are all familiar with GPS missile and bomb guidance technology that
can bring a warhead within inches of its desired target even JDAM
enabled dumb bombs. *A variant of this same technology may be used to
precisely deliver to customers worldwide, products made on orbit and
launched by solar powered electromagnetic cannon or rail gun from an
orbiting satellite.

Finally in 1957 Stanislaw Ulam developed the idea of nuclear pulse
propulsion. *Modern versions can be entirely free of fissionable
materials according to a now declassified 1968 air-force study. *Even
so, I can imagine no higher better use for our weapons grade uranium
and plutonium than to enact an enhanced nuclear non proliferation
treaty, and convert all our inventory of nuclear weapons and nuclear
weapons stockpiles, into non-threatening fusion impulse unit triggers
to sustain an intense period of interplanetary expansion - sustained
by more advanced fission free units flying the same spacecraft.

The important thing to realize, is that;

* these technologies are well defined and within our grasp today
* they have immediate economic benefit
* they have immediate environmental benefit
* they have immediate geopolitical benefit.

I don't really think nuclear pulses are the way to go. A spacecraft of
the size envisaged is better propelled by a closed cycle nuclear
reactor giving an ion drive, or even better by thermonuclear
proplusion.

So, with these ideas in mind, I submit that its not colonies on Mars
or the Moon that will save Earth short term, but it is moving our
industrial base off world and supporting Earth's burgeoning population
with off-world resources that will save Earth short term.

Here is a program that I am working on;

* 1) develop low-cost solar panel technology and use it to make
synthetic hydrocarbons.
* 2) build a nova-class reusable launcher to orbit a comsat network
providing global wireless internet
* 3) establish banking and telerobotic services for US based factorie
and mines
* 4) build 'super' nova-class reusable launcher to orbit powersat
network creating wireless powernet
* 5) beam bandgap matched laser energy to existing solar panel arrays
increasing output 16x
* 6) use spare capacity to put city on the moon and mars, and explore
outer solar system
* 7) develop nuclear pulse spacecraft to expand moon and mars
population
* 8) adapt nuclear pulse technology to capture rich small bodies,
bringing them to MEO
* 9) use nuclear pulse spacecraft to loft telerobotic factories to
captured small bodies
*10) build up space based infrastructure
* * * * a) mines
* * * * b) smelting/processing
* * * * c) industrial goods
* * * * d) products
* * * * e) farms (food)
* * * * *f) forests (fiber)
* * * * *g) space homes
* * * * *h) mobile space homes
* * * * *i) grounded space homes (moon and mars)
* 11) adapt powersats for near solar surface operation
* * * * * beam energy across the solar system to where its needed
* *12) laser powered MEMs based propulsive skins (spaceship in every
garage)

and so on and so forth..

At the point the mass flow rates increase to about 1% of the Earth's
atmosphere, the clear development arc breaks up into multiple flows of
equal value, as off-world development becomes as complex logistically
as any development on Earth.

The point is, that within 15 years - if we had the will to do so -we
could transform life on Earth creating on this world two billion high
quality homes spread across the Earth's entire surface wherever people
wanted to live, supported and connected by personal ballistic
transport, and off world infrastructure - all within a vast nature
preserve.

My game plan is to get this all done before I turn 75.

After that, who knows what we might do next?

The sad thing is, we could have done this already, and avoided much of
the turmoil and strife of the past 40 years.

Yes but this does not involve colonies.


- Ian Parker