tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post3732683750795573357..comments2024-03-28T06:22:23.961-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: End Times? Glimpses from Jon Stewart to Limbaugh...David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-71882691743083759372010-10-02T20:38:33.846-07:002010-10-02T20:38:33.846-07:00The link from "Cosmic Accidents: ten lucky br...The link from "Cosmic Accidents: ten lucky breaks that may have enabled humans to exist…" goes to a page with links to ten subsidiary pages.<br /><br />None of the subsidiary pages can be read properly without a login.<br /><br />Do not link to members-only content. If there is another link at which any random Joe can view the full text of this article, please provide it. If not, please do not tease everyone with a link that will act as a bait and switch and then demand money from people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91120721128808363592010-10-01T16:34:10.858-07:002010-10-01T16:34:10.858-07:00You mentioned your wonderful novel "Earth&quo...You mentioned your wonderful novel "Earth"... perhaps you can save us Kindle-format readers from your publisher? :-)<br /><br />We're in typo purgatory here.<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/review/R137TSV0QF59TMVirtual JMillshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15610229216516859792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5286580970455250582010-09-30T17:12:58.804-07:002010-09-30T17:12:58.804-07:00@ian and robert
I get simply great mental picture...@ian and robert<br /><br />I get simply great mental pictures of giant magnetized tethers sweeping through space like a giant swiffer mop, collecting valuable metals in orbit and clearing LEO. Thanks for the mental movie.matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757867868731829206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-398817096048904562010-09-30T16:39:53.170-07:002010-09-30T16:39:53.170-07:00Heh! The steampunk crowd are going to love that co...Heh! The steampunk crowd are going to love that concept!<br /><br /><i>Either that, or we'll need to pull a decent-sized asteroid from the asteroid belt, use gravitational slingshots to ... impart momentum onto our wee little world to push its orbit slowly away from the Sun.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://randomised.blogspot.com/2004/08/geek-musings-ii-on-bootstraps.html" title="(...and just as practical! ;-)" rel="nofollow">My take on what to do</a>.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79394382238515309082010-09-30T15:28:52.883-07:002010-09-30T15:28:52.883-07:00How about wrapping a mostly-ice-but-some-rock come...How about wrapping a mostly-ice-but-some-rock comet in plastic (transparent to visible light, opaque to heat), with radio-controlled valves here-and-there. As the sun heats the comet as usual, the valves control the direction of outgassing, yielding a steam-powered comet to steer into earth orbit for mining (...or, in the made-for-TV-movie, the Ultimate Weapon...).rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-74134372043146370102010-09-30T14:00:06.422-07:002010-09-30T14:00:06.422-07:00How do we get those satellites out of orbit? If yo...How do we get those satellites out of orbit? If you're talking about orbital manufacturing, then yes, those satellites might be of use... but there's legal issues such as ownership. And when you add up all of the material we've put in orbit combined, one small asteroid would give us more material than tracking down and harvesting the materials in LEO.<br /><br />Though I must admit some amusement to the thought of creating a tethered electromagnet attached to a decent-sized solar array and have it orbit the Earth constantly on... and pulling small debris toward it. The problem being, of course, that the stronger the current the faster it'll accelerate objects toward it... if the objects miss then they may be slung into an erratic orbit that could damage other satellites and increase the debris field, the electromagnetic field could disrupt local satellites, and once enough damage has happened to the solar array, the magnetism fades and all that debris floats free and becomes a shotgun cloud of debris.<br /><br />It would be more logical to have a decent-powered laser in orbit powered by solar panels and join it to a radar array so it can effectively target small debris, calculate trajectories that heating and vaping bits of it will cause, and then hitting the debris just right to knock out of orbit. The problem being that this is against international space law.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-89326652427086365342010-09-30T13:39:39.174-07:002010-09-30T13:39:39.174-07:00Are there practical advantages to mining a singe l...Are there practical advantages to mining a singe large asteroid as opposed to harvesting sub-metre bodies or even suing some sort of magnetic or electrostatic system to attract dust?<br /><br />I think the size distribution for meteors follows a power law meaning the sub-metre and sub-centimetre objects are vastly more common.<br /><br />For that matter, in the short term, wouldn't it make sense to harvest and re-use defunct satellites?<br /><br />You eliminate the space junk problem and you get a supply of semi-refined material with a relatively low Delta V relative to a base in Earth orbit.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65002817758759114162010-09-30T11:53:00.955-07:002010-09-30T11:53:00.955-07:00^^ Sorry, I'm on autopilot. You're talking...^^ Sorry, I'm on autopilot. You're talking long-term. :)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17774230311169357530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43707113349848038092010-09-30T11:48:21.681-07:002010-09-30T11:48:21.681-07:00For less effort than putting a solar shield in orb...For less effort than putting a solar shield in orbit, we could cover part of the Earth's surface with mylar sheets, or just dye it white.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17774230311169357530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-79970266731001406422010-09-30T11:09:56.455-07:002010-09-30T11:09:56.455-07:00Eventually, assuming humanity survives the next hu...Eventually, assuming humanity survives the next hundred thousand years without self-destructing, rendering the planet uninhabitable, or leaving entirely (galactic colonization), we're going to need to develop a solar shield to reduce radiation input from the sun. Either that, or we'll need to pull a decent-sized asteroid from the asteroid belt, use gravitational slingshots to send it around Jupiter and then toward Earth... and aim it just right so it doesn't smack the planet but does pass real close and impart momentum onto our wee little world to push its orbit slowly away from the Sun.<br /><br />Of the two, I suspect creating a solar shield would be safer. But the asteroid method would be useful to save our planet from the eventual red giant stage of the Sun in several billion years. (And then, once the sun's shed much of its atmosphere and started to shrink into white dwarf stage, we could always use the same method in reverse to push our orbit closer to our dead star and huddle around its cooling corpse.)<br /><br />Rob H.<br /><br />rxights - the rights of prescription medications to not be abusedAcacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58088420034112393902010-09-30T10:29:32.788-07:002010-09-30T10:29:32.788-07:00Shades of Niven & Cooper's Ice and Mirrors...Shades of Niven & Cooper's Ice and Mirrors. Make 'em so they can also augment sunlight in the event of an ice age, which may be in the realm of possibilities.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11275083429472767382010-09-30T08:20:09.365-07:002010-09-30T08:20:09.365-07:00"...: geoengineering. Create small discs and ...<i>"...: geoengineering. Create small discs and send them to the Lagrange points to reduce how much sunlight we receive..."</i><br /><br />I don't have the awesome math skilz to figure this out, but whittling a rotating asteroid sounds interesting. Pick an asteroid or other body with a suitable orbit and rotation such that when you slice off a tiny bit, it is flung toward our earth, converting a tiny bit of the rotation into the fleck's straight-line motion.<br /><br />The flecks must be small enough that the many who fall into our atmosphere just burn up. The majority would orbit ... and oops, mess up our satellites. Never mind. The asteroid shavings need to be big enough that we can attach a communications device and limited maneuvering capability, and those latter features get expensive. Maybe it'd be better just to rocket some mylar balloons from earth to LaGrange?rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-14997938365367631872010-09-30T05:53:18.966-07:002010-09-30T05:53:18.966-07:00And in some space-based news, Congress has approve...And in some space-based news, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/09/30/mars-asteroid-congress-approves-nasa-budget/" rel="nofollow">Congress has approved a budget for NASA that kills the Constellation Moon project and tentatively sends us to the asteroids in 2025</a>. The bill passed is the House bill which cut commercial space funding by half, but adds one last Space Shuttle mission and the design of a heavy lift rocket. (I have to wonder if SpaceX manages to get its own heavy lift design up and running before NASA does if we'll hear cries of how government programs are inefficient and that we need to privatize space and let commercial companies handle things. Basically everything the Republican Party is denying at the moment to save jobs at their home states.)<br /><br />As an aside, I do think it might be in America's best interest to mothball one of the Space Shuttles and keep it on hand, along with launch materials, in case we have a sudden need for it. Designing a new shuttle would take too long, compared to pulling the craft out of mothball and sending it back to space. But there's undoubtedly problems with such a plan and storing the shuttle alone would take up a significant amount of area that could be used for other launch systems I suppose.<br /><br />-------<br /><br />Also, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/Cool-Astronomy/2010/0929/Russian-companies-plan-to-construct-commercial-space-station" rel="nofollow">Russian private companies are planning on launching and building a Commercial Space Station (CSS).</a> The intent is for the CSS to be a hub for commercial activity, scientific research and development in low Earth orbit. Considering we already have Bigelow Aerospace with their inflatable space stations, we may actually see the commercialization of LEO in the next decade.<br /><br />Hopefully we'll have someone come up with an effective method of clearing the clutter out of LEO first; maybe an addendum to space laws prohibiting ground-based weapon-grade lasers from being used on satellites could be passed, allowing us to start "sweeping" the region of smaller debris?<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15596894489135533482010-09-30T05:04:22.843-07:002010-09-30T05:04:22.843-07:00The most practicable way to attack an space facili...The most practicable way to attack an space facility, assuming it's in Earth orbit would be to create a cloud of space junk on an intersecting orbit.<br /><br />You could do that by targeting other satellites with kinetic impactors (AKA ball bearings).<br /><br />A quite small rocket could deliver them if you had sufficient precision in where they were delivered.<br /><br />Or seeing as satellites now require regular course adjustments to avoid collisions you could try hacking the control systems of several com-sats and sending them on a collision course designed to put a ton of space junk in the same orbit as your target.<br /><br />Burn off their whole remaining supply of manouevring fuel in the process and it'd be next to impossible to prevent the collision.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-37906709346491354532010-09-30T04:58:13.416-07:002010-09-30T04:58:13.416-07:00This would also be the death-knell to the majority...This would also be the death-knell to the majority of conflicts in Africa - African ""rebels" often will mine or steal resources and sell them to companies in exchange for weapons or supplies. If that market is undercut by orbital supplies... then you'll see the African culture of violence lose a significant source of income. Within fifty years you could see violence naturally subside to a manageable level (compared to what it is now)."<br /><br />violence is already reducing rapidly across Africa and economic growth there averages something like 6% a year.<br /><br />This is largely due to the amssive demand for African resoruces from china and the rising commodity prices.<br /><br />Space-based mining would potentially undo all that.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88490954584423863112010-09-30T04:35:35.065-07:002010-09-30T04:35:35.065-07:00Have you guys seen this:
http://www.newscientist....Have you guys seen this:<br /><br />http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19519-found-first-rocky-exoplanet-that-could-host-life.html<br /><br />We have the first candidate for a habitable (to use the word loosely) exoplanet.Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01739671401151990700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61455910061948362702010-09-29T21:00:58.030-07:002010-09-29T21:00:58.030-07:00You'd need a damn good power source, and the e...You'd need a damn good power source, and the equipment to store and then quickly release that power as needed for laser shots. And how would they get a ground-to-orbit laser cannon in any event? The ability to build one isn't exactly commonplace, and we're talking thugs who kidnap children, arm them, brainwash them, and use them to continue fighting their wars.<br /><br />No. If I were to have anti-orbit actions, it would be through a rival corporation or a jealous nation-state with enough governmental and military power to allow them to build such a weapon.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31022516356851814962010-09-29T20:19:25.055-07:002010-09-29T20:19:25.055-07:00What about ground based lasers? I think they'd...What about ground based lasers? I think they'd be fairly mainstream on the timescale (a few decades) we're discussing here.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56695992728725874622010-09-29T20:11:26.521-07:002010-09-29T20:11:26.521-07:00When you consider you need what would basically be...When you consider you need what would basically be an intercontinental ballistic missile to get into space and an effective targeting system, there's little chance of these rebels managing to attack orbital facilities. And I doubt unless they joined together and pooled their resources that they could buy such a rocket from, say, Iran or North Korea.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49433337741993701432010-09-29T20:02:56.555-07:002010-09-29T20:02:56.555-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85622480085700122872010-09-29T20:02:26.930-07:002010-09-29T20:02:26.930-07:00BTW. for some background information, Marc Rayman ...BTW. for some background information, Marc Rayman gives a detailed (if rather whimsical and waffling) discussion of how <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002683/" title="putt-putt-putt..." rel="nofollow">Dawn is being set up to approach Vesta</a> next year.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41268523150711748482010-09-29T19:55:07.364-07:002010-09-29T19:55:07.364-07:00Playing along, it seems to me that processing the ...Playing along, it seems to me that processing the ore should be done on site for two reasons:<br />1. less mass to lug around the solar system<br />2. extracting and refining the ore would be messy, and would likely create lots of debris, which is becoming a real concern in LEO.<br /><br />Your reference to African/ME rebels makes me wonder whether they'd feel inclined to take a pop at orbiting factories/power stations to protect their 'livelihood'.<br /><br />Anyway, this is all daydream. Why not try your hand at the real competition I linked to above.<br /><br />dions: the residents of <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/earthlike-planet-could-be-habitable-astronomers-20100930-15xtq.html?autostart=1" rel="nofollow">Gliese 581g</a>Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-69595449158266134442010-09-29T19:03:37.621-07:002010-09-29T19:03:37.621-07:00It depends.
If the vast majority of humans are st...It depends.<br /><br />If the vast majority of humans are still on Earth, then you won't make as much profit keeping those resources in space. This is especially true if you happen to find a decent amount of precious metals such as gold, silver, or platinum. While it might be useful to build a manufacturing infrastructure in orbit, after the first few orbital solar panel facilities are constructed there is little else that can be done for profit. Thus returning that metal to Earth for use here is a useful thing.<br /><br />If you're able to create a self-replicating vessel (and remember to put in limits to how many craft it makes) you may very well have a small fleet of ships sending metals and other resources back to Earth orbit. At that point you can pick-and-choose what you do.<br /><br />This would also be the death-knell to the majority of conflicts in Africa - African "rebels" often will mine or steal resources and sell them to companies in exchange for weapons or supplies. If that market is undercut by orbital supplies... then you'll see the African culture of violence lose a significant source of income. Within fifty years you could see violence naturally subside to a manageable level (compared to what it is now).<br /><br />Oh. There is one last thing that space mining could be useful for: geoengineering. Create small discs and send them to the Lagrange points to reduce how much sunlight we receive; if we are able to block even just enough sunlight to drop temperatures one degree Celsius... that would likely lessen the effects of global warming; at least, enough so that we'd have a chance to wean ourselves off oil.<br /><br />Rob H.Acacia H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07678539067303911329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30062292286677946542010-09-29T18:45:23.894-07:002010-09-29T18:45:23.894-07:00If you were mining an asteroid, would you be *want...If you were mining an asteroid, would you be *wanting* to return the ore to Earth?<br /><br />noosine: a wave of human thought eg: Mexican (see also 'noosphere')Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78778366708045526182010-09-29T18:41:00.343-07:002010-09-29T18:41:00.343-07:00I think the aim is to get there first.
Small step...I think the aim is to get there first.<br /><br /><i>Small steps, Ellie...</i><br /><br />tingstie: a sound giving a level of authenticity.Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.com