Inflatable Future

The near future of human exploration or even colonization of space will be done via inflatable spacecraft. Like the Sundancer above (artist's representation). Don't be fooled by the apparent small size - inflatable craft will be much bigger than near term metallic spacecraft. Consider Bigelow's (the company behind inflatable spacecraft) BA 330 compared to the Destiny module on the ISS:

But wait, you say, how can inflatable craft survive the harsh climes of space? Check it:

Rather than balloon, think really thick tire, with multiple layers. Tough as hell, and superior to our current metal ships which are often no thicker than a heavy aluminum. The craft will launch in a folded arrangement which greatly saves space on the rocket, and then expands in space as compressed gas is used to inflate it. The resulting structure is stronger than our current metals and far better at shielding from radiation, while not weighing that much more. It's an ingenious solution to the constraints gravity places on what we can launch into space with our current rocket tech. And this inflatable future is close, as Bigelow is booked to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket in the near future for a big test to conclusively prove the technology to NASA and other space powers. Have a model!

The BA 330 is incredibly spacious as compared to even the relatively expansive ISS. But since these modules are also nodes that can link up into larger structures, perhaps now you see the full potential. A quick and cheap and large space station:

A mock up for muckety-mucks. Bigelow of course is a private company, and is poised to become the first real estate developer in space. The Space Hotel is nigh! Massive fortunes await. And of course this too is but a start. Witness the possibility of the EDE:

A realistic in the near term spacecraft that could comfortably transport people to Jupiter, Saturn, and if we're brave, beyond. It's huge and really not that complicated or expensive. The Bigelow modules make up the bulk of the craft, providing huge areas for storage and living - heck, one of the modules could be a farm with chickens and hydroponic vegetables and fish tanks. And enough space so a person can move about a bit - also note the centrifuge for 1G sessions. All it takes is a couple of hours a day of just riding in it and you have no worries about bone loss or muscle weakening - thus, all the conditions are right for people to travel long term in space.

Now, a bigger question is why you'd want to send folks to Jupiter and beyond, but I'll leave that for you to answer. Until then, let the inflatable future begin!

Floating in space

Some laughs on the ISS, floating above us right now some 230 miles straight up. There's almost always 6 people on board, who serve for several months before being replaced. Here's the current commander:

A Canadian! But then, that's really the main point of the ISS - international collaboration. And cool photos:

Here's an eclipse of the sun as viewed from the ISS:

Here comes the supply ship!

I'm not the biggest fan of the ISS in an analytical sense, since it consumed so much precious money and effort of the various world space agencies, and produces very little science. Besides cool pictures, there's not much going on there, and that will never change. We could have sent fleets of robots all over the solar system for the same money. But! I had my opinion modified slightly by this excellent tour of the station. If you have an hour to spare and are interested in the ISS, check this video out.

Also, if you want to see the ISS zooming overhead - and you should, it's wicked cool - go here and enter your location. There's a ton of cool things to track on that site, and I also highly recommend trying to see an Iridium flare.

If you do watch the video, the ISS seems like a pretty big place. But here it is to scale:

Big, but not really. Most of the size is solar panels too. Imagine living here for 3-6 months with 6 other people. Hope you passed your psych tests!

And ultimately, that's the main science being done on the ISS: Getting practice at staying in space. Let's hope we can use these lessons for worthier endeavors down the road. Until then, we float:

That's Italy's boot to the left, and Greece (SPARTA!) to the upper right.

To Date

 As always, click for big. This is, in the new, hip style, an infographic of every mission beyond Earth. You can see where we (humanity, meaning mostly the USA, USSR, and the EU) have collectively put our priorities, to date. My big takeaway is look how few missions to Saturn there have been, and yet one of them - Cassini - is incredible beyond belief. And still going!

Fret plenty, however, since as Russia has taken a nosedive, and America's looking to do the same, who knows how many future missions to space at all lie in our collective future. I fear perhaps we are on the edge of a rollback of human progress. Maybe China will save us all. Maybe not.

But, let us not worry about that now. Instead, behold, every single human rocket:

While impressive, collectively and each in their own way (think of the effort that went into every one), it's also mildly depressing. It takes so much effort to simply go the 60 or so miles (straight up) to get to the very edge of space. Alas! Such is the reality of living at the bottom of a gravity well.

And perhaps there's more hope for our future than I admit, at the moment. Private enterprise is blazing paths governments feared to tread. If the profit is there, and our infrastructure on Earth stays relatively stable, we might still have our space mining, asteroid living future. But then, it will be profit driven, and no doubt that asteroid will be owned by Yoyodyne or some such, and all the folks involved will be playing according to their dime. Which can be summarized in the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, and not in any kind of Utopian Trek "What's money, man?" Directive. And so we'll simply export our Dystopia to space.

Alas!

Lunar Coda

Luna and Venus - they're old friends in the sky. By David Cortner.

From the ISS. Look how thin our atmosphere is! All it would take is a big gust of solar wind from the sun to blow it all away, and there's nothing we could do to prevent it. We'd know it's coming a few days in advance, so I suppose bunkers could be stocked and whatnot, but surely, t'would be our doom.

Hurricane Emily, also from the ISS. Wouldn't it be awesome to be the official photographer on board - like, that was your job? All the other astronauts gotta turn nobs and shit while you just snap sweet pics all day/night - which occur like every hour.

Behold the power of the storm - precisely the same form we theorize blackholes to possess, if you could imagine it in 3 dimensions rather than the 2 here (A sphere as opposed to a plane). All points rotate towards the center due to the enormous change in pressure - low pressure, man. Real low. The lowest - and so all things fall towards it, increasingly fast as you get closer to the center. Speed causes heat and heat is energy which does work. Or, in this case, flip a ton of shit over.

Also, yay President Barack Hussein Obama!

In the fight against insanity and outright nihilism, Bronco Bamz is our greatest fighter, and deserves all our support. As you can see, even Luna supports BHO - so should you! That is, if you stand against nihilism. Some don't. They suck. 27%

Knowing is half the battle

Click for big. I'm wrapping up our exploration of the Solar System's moons, and so I give you REDSHIRTS TOP TEN MOONS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM!

Based on coolness/interest/possible exploration potential.
10. Mimas - Death Star moon, y'all. Also reminds me of Mimosas, which I've only had like twice in my life, but gosh do I love the word.
9. Phobos - interesting example of captured asteroid, and will serve as an ideal staging base for trips down to Mars.
8. Triton - a captured planet, the other moon with an atmosphere and cyrovolcanoes
7.Ganymede - the biggest, but kinda boring.
6. Io - HELLFIRE!
5. Luna - boring, but we're married, and we love her so.
4. Enceladus - so much coolness
3. Europa - More water here than on Earth - by many factors. Probably home to weird ass alien whales too. We'll find out eventually.
2. Titan - just so exotic yet familiar. It's Earth, if you replaced oxygen with methane and lowered the temperature by 200 degrees C.
1. Calisto! - Big moon, with ice sitting on the surface, right at the edge of the asteroid belt, and out of the radiation field of Jupiter. It's got it all for a future truck stop.

For bonus reference:

Coda 1: Many moons ago, as they say, there was a dust up here on ye olde Redshirt's Lament about the perception that the moon seems bigger when rising/setting than when directly overhead. The common answer to this is it's an optical illusion, caused by the brain comparing objects on the horizon, whereas there is no such comparison available when it's high overhead. And while this is no doubt correct, it's not 100% correct. Witness:

Luna is not in a perfect orbit, and thus it is closer to us at some times. This closeness does translate to a perceived size difference, shown here. Also, more controversially:

From the ISS. You can see the changes in shape as the moon rises above the distorting affects of the atmosphere. Close up:

Also from the ISS. Conclusive proof the atmosphere does change the way we see Luna, stretching it out, making it seem bigger. So take that! Bonus Luna pic:

I knew the sun could show a "green flash" when setting, under certain conditions. I was unaware Luna could do the same - but here it is. All green flashy.

And now you know.

Fear and Terror

Almost a planet, Phobos (Fear) got deformed and twisted, multiple impacted, rent hither and sent yonder out from wherever it was formed. To be caught in Martian gravity, and become a moon. And so you now know the two types of moons: Planetoids, and captured asteroids.

Deimos (Terror) looks like an embryo, floating in the great yonder. Remarkably free of impact craters. But like Phobos, just a captured asteroid.

Click for big - the proportional size and distance of the two moons of Mars. These moons are asteroids, of course, captured somehow long ago by Martian gravity and in orbit ever since. But not forever - each satellite is destined to crash into Mars, and how cool will that be when Fear and Terror destroy the God of War? Peace.

Phobos - the logical home of any future man mission to Mars. For, it is far easier to launch craft from Phobos towards the surface of Mars than from Earth. And it is easy for craft from Earth to reach Phobos in orbit. Win-Win for everyone. Phobos, to the future!

Check out them striations! The fact is, these asteroids as moons make up most of the moon count in the solar system. Should they count? Or should only proper spheres? If spheres only, Saturn wins for most moons. And perhaps Jupiter has reason to worry...

9/11 2: Space Ship Terror

Ya always got to take it to the next level in the sequel. The crowd demands it.

But seriously, the retiring of the Shuttle was a historical moment in that it will be noted as "Signs of a declining country". The Republicans have strangled this nation over the last 30 years, and we'll be paying the price grievously for years to come. That said, the Shuttle was kind of a waste at this point though too. It cost waaay more to operate than ever forecast, and only got more expensive each year. It had little purpose other than satellite delivery/repair. The Shuttle was designed for operation with a space station, and so the last irony is when we finally have one, it's too fragile and expensive to run, given the climate of the day - SCIENCE MUST BE DESTROYED!

One party has become insanely anti-science - the Republican Party. A once proud group (Honest Abe) has turned into a monstrous ogre hellbent on killing all the Unfaithful. If you value science at all, if you value law and reason and respect, it's your DUTY to never vote for a Republican and make sure you give your all in defeating them at every step. DUTY!

I am 98% sure Obama will be re-elected this November, but FSM help us all if somehow the cravenly Mitt Romney wins. We'll be well and truly fucked then.

Vote Obama!

Upside down you're turning me

Pic from the ISS, our last bastion of space travel, and a near complete waste of time and resources - little will ever be accomplished on the ISS other than possibly space endurance records and the like. In most other regards, it's fairly useless. A symbol, pretty much.


Also, and I suspect I will be going on and on and on about this in the days to come, but here's a thought: Everything you see exists in the past. Everything - even if you look at your own hand. Why? Well, the only way we can see something is by light striking it (or coming from it) and then traveling to our eyes. In that travel, time passes. It's minuscule, microscopic to be sure, but real. And the effect gets more pronounced with more distance AND/OR less gravity. Gravity slows down time - weird, but true.


And thus, to conclude for now, quite literally, this guy floating around on the ISS playing with his beverages, is in THE FUTURE.... that is, his internal clock is going ever so slightly faster than ours.

Ponder that for awhile and let it sink in. It's a rather revolutionary concept.

T Minus 11:14, 11:13, 11:12...

These are scary days for the manned American space program. We are about to give up our access to space, and wait for private industry to get us back up there. Or Russians. I'm hoping for the Japanese or the Chinese since it seems without some breakthrough in technology, only a nationalistic based space race will get us into collective gear.

There's a lot of development in the private sector, and NASA will now act more like a venture capitalist/philanthropist, providing grants, funding, and for the best options, large purchases of services. And over many years I'm quite confident private space vehicles will be the norm, and far cheaper to build and fly than the current Shuttle. And I'm sure someone, someday well into the future, will make a go for an asteroid, since if one were able to capture a good size asteroid you would have more metal and other minerals than has ever been used by humanity, ever and for all of time. You'd be beyond rich. But that's well down the road.

Alas, since we seem to be motivated by greed and fear, then a good old profit motive/fear of the other doing it first will work, I'm sure, eventually. It's just a question of, how soon?

Could be years. And we - America - will be grounded on Earth. Sad state of affairs since Apollo and my childhood dreams of how freaking 2011 would be. But, we've got iPhones and iPads, so I guess it's all not so bad...

Also, and by way of apology, sorry! I'm in the final stages of the construction of my mountain Fastness, or Redoubt, if you will. New Gondolin rises! And soon shall be my abode. Till then, I remain, your's in Redshirtedness.

The Coolest Window in the Solar System

Coolest being a subjective term, I realize. Most expensive? Yes, I challenge anyone to find a more expensive window in the Solar System than this one - a recently added addition to the ISS. 

What a view! 

EDIT: After reflection, this is indeed the coolest window in the solar system, literally, since it's in space, and space is cold. So there!

A drone by any other name

Here's a possible replacement to the soon to be retired Space Shuttle, the X-37. It's a drone, like most planes/ships will soon be. The launch plane above is a neat concept with great potential - Burt Rutan's SpaceShipTwo. Basically, it flies wicked high with a small rocket attached in the middle, then drops the rocket, which zooms away into space. Much cheaper/easier/faster than a conventional chemical rocket.

So, a mixed bag. The SpaceShipTwo concept could be awesome, and really open up space to mass travel. On the other hand, drones. Ya can't trust 'em!

Not to be

I realized today I can no longer objectively support manned exploration of space. Shuttle missions, sure. Low orbit tourism, why not. But Mars? The Moon? Why? Either it is purely a ra-ra vanity mission, or there would have to be a pretty important reason to spend that kind of money to send people.

For a fraction of the cost, of course, we can send fleets of robots and landers, probes and satellites. And let's face it: America is broke. It''s hard to justify a vanity project when a debtor.

Now, China on the other hand - they've got the cash to consider a glory grab to the Moon. I hope they go for it, but does it make any sense for them to? I don't see it, other than pure national vanity.

Sadly, my childhood dreams of Moon bases and personal rocket ships will not come to pass in my lifetime, and maybe not for a long time, if ever. Alas, also.

Space Hotel Maitre'D

According to some PR flack, this here Space Hotel is slated to open up in the great year 2012. I would put the odds of that at 1%, but I'm rooting for you, Space Maitre'D!

It's a cool concept, and one I bet catches on in future space craft: Inflatables. You lift the deflated structure into space, then inflate it to full size. Given the hybrid rubber/plastic/nano materials available, it can actually be quite stronger than spaceships today, which are litterally as thick as a couple of soda cans.

Inflatables will be big on any Moon/Mars base... but who am I kidding? We have better odds of regressing to a Puritanical Luddite society than a space faring one, these days at least.