Space based VLBI - next steps beyond Hubble
- From: Willie.Mookie@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:52:39 -0700 (PDT)
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_Long_Baseline_Interferometry
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008A&A...477..781F
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V1N-3TYMS00-S&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a27191b9635d52d79a4b55e8e843623d
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/hydrogenandfuelcells/delivery/current_technology.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVDC
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/article_display.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/2008/02/13/synthetic-black-hole-event-horizon-created-in-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.
.
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