Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- From: "Williamknowsbest" <William.Mook@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 Jan 2007 22:35:18 -0800
Using a large dichroic mirror 10% the diameter of the Earth (1,280 km
across) located at L1, 1.5 million km away from Earth, would intercept
1% of the radiation incident on the Earth - which will be sufficient
to reverse global warming.
A GBO film 50 microns thick,
http://www.3m.com/about3m/technologies/lightmgmt/learn/overview.html
would have a surface area of 1.2 million sq km. Each sq km masses 60
tons. So, the entire mirror masses 66 million tons.
A large Nova class launcher capable of putting up 660 tons per launch,
working in conjunction with a large Nerva class nuclear thermal rocket
to carry the 660 ton payload from LEO to L1 and return, would require
100,000 launches. Assuming 2 flights per hour from a fleet of 600
vehicles - such a mirror could be placed in six years of flights.
A portion of the GBO films are used to create IR laser beams operating
at 1,000 nm beam energy to Earth based receivers in deserts that
double as solar collectors. These reciever/collector/panels reduce
CO2 emissions by producing hydrogen on a massive scale from water,
which is then distributed by pipeline throughout the world.
1.2 milion sq km converting sunlight to laser energy at 20% efficiency
produces 324 TW of laser energy.
Coal fired plants represents 3.4 TW and oil usage represents 5.9 TW -
a total of 9.3 for humanity. If 10 billion people consumed energy at
the rate of the US per person rate there would be a demand for 50 TW
for oil displacement, and 30 TW for coal displacement. The balance
of 264 TW could be used to propel spacecraft throughout cislunar space
- including augmenting the nuclear thermal rocket fleet with solar
thermal, or solar electric, or solar sail technology.
The space vehicle fleet would also be available to place significant
payloads on the moon and mars during and after the construction
period..
One part of this missions would be the processing the 100,000 kg or
so, of weapons grade plutonium into 10 million non-threatening impulse
units, and flying them to orbit, along with spacecraft that use them,
using the nuclear thermal rockets to send them far from Earth before
startup - would allow us to rid ourselves of another long-term
difficulty facing humanity, while expanding human activity throughout
the solar system.
Imagine something that looks like the ET on the space shuttle, but
twice as big, and eight times as massive. At the tail is an aerospike
engine, made of a large number of combustion chambes made into a ring
- fed by RLX based LOX/LH engine components. The tail has a truncated
plugged nozzle shape, with a heat shield at the base. The tank also
has deployable swing wings like that of a cruise missle.
The tank is joined in clusters of 7 and each tank can be fed and
provide fuel to neighboring tanks. four of the 7 tanks feed all 7
engine arrays at lift off. Then, are dropped. The tanks slow to
subsonic speed, deploy their wings, and are captured by a modified
airliner- each - and towed back to launch center. Meanwhile, 3 tanks
coninue on, being fed by 2 of the 3 tanks. When those tanks are
empty , they separate, leaving 1 tank to propel the payload to LEO.
Each tank, fully loaded masses 5,680 metric tons. - The orbital
payload, which rests upon the central tank of 7 - is an outsized ET as
well, but it masses fully loaded only 4,000 metric tons. Carrying
1,400 metric tons of payload,and structure and 2,600 metric tons of
hydrogen. This stage docks with a nuclear thermal rocket tug -
capable of producing 250 tons of thrust - and massing 150 metric tons
empty.
The nuclear tug docks with the orbital stage, and uses the hydrogen on
board to propel the combined sytem, massing 4,250 to L1 to deposit the
payload, and return with the orbiting tank. An aerocapture maneuver
is performed, and both enter Earth orbit which the pair skips off.
The orbiting stage re-enters again, and this time descends to a
landing, while the nuclear stage having drained all propellant from
the orbital stage, uses it to circularize its orbit and connect with
the next orbiting stage.
660 tons of payload are deposited in this way at L1 every half hour.
600 launch vehicles and 400 nuclear thermal flight vehicles operate
around the clock to maintain this flight rate of 48 launches per day -
from 4 launch centers around the Earth. One in the US, one in South
America, one in China and one in Russia.
A lunar base is also constructed during this period, and nuclear pulse
units are placed there, along with components for a nuclear pulse
rocket fleet that is assembled there and operated from the moon
base.
The nuclear pulse rockets deploy payloads sent to the moon by the
spacecraft assembling the mirror, to Mars, which is basically a copy
of the moon base. Components of these bases are deployed throughout
the solar system in manned outposts tended by nuclear pulse rockets.
A complete survey of the small bodies of the solar system is
completed, and rich bodies are returned to Earth orbit. These bodies
are mined by robotic systems deployed on orbit by the large launchers,
and raw materials (about 10,000 tons per hour) is deployed on Earth to
various industrial centers built around the off-world power receivers.
American Desert, Atacama Desert, Gobi Desert, Sahara Desert.
As industrial capacities on orbit expand larger amounts of material
are dispatched to the moon and beyond. One use is the creation of
large pressure vessels for agriculture and forestry - producing food
and fiber for off-world as well as terrestrial use.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- From: Ian Parker
- Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- References:
- Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- From: Williamknowsbest
- Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- Prev by Date: Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- Next by Date: Re: The moon and Tom Hanks...'we don't need to go back there again.'
- Previous by thread: Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- Next by thread: Re: USA urges scientists to block out sun
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
