Re: Mining the Moons of Mars

On Jan 5, 5:53 pm, willie.moo...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
We wouldn't need to invade other countries, and other countries would
view us as an asset to be friends with if we tapped into the resources
of the solar system.

But you're not going to do anything to benefit humanity, at least not
within your lifetime.


solar power arrives from the sun free of charge every day.  171,000x
more enegy strike earth than human industry uses.  Capturing that
energy at very low cost and make it available world wide would
dramatically shift our place in the world to that of major consumer
and taker, to that of major producer and contributor, and rapidly
shift the politics of the middle east.

http://www.ohiochamber.com/governmental/pdfs/William%20Mook_021308.pdf

Once terrestrial solar arrays are installed, solar pumped lasers are
orbited.  These involve large thin film concentrators that focus light
to 5,000x ambient intensity on high efficiency solar cells.  These
cells drive free electron lasers that beam band gap matched energy to
terrestrial solar arrays built in the first phase.  These thin film
concentrators are placed on orbit by the launchers described above;

http://www.algor.com/news_pub/cust_app/srs/images/prototyl.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_satellitehttp://video.gearlive.com/video/article/q108-powerbeam-laser-wireless...

This allows the 210,000 sq miles of solar collectors installed on the
surface in the USA to not only provide all the world's oil, but by
augmenting with beamed power also to provide all the world's energy -
through hydrogen, by beaming bandgap matched energy to the solar
collectors non-stop from a number of satellites hovering above the USA
at GEO.

A collection of 660 comsats interconnected by open optical data links,
and each possessing a large phased array antenna to paint virtual
cells throughout the Earth provide direct low cost broadband
communication throughout the Earth and cislunar space.

By these means the USA may provide the world with ALL of its oil with
UScoal and hydrogen, and replace all coal and natural gas with
hydrogen shipments.  Industrial growth to 16x today's levels may be
provided by hydrogen produced in the USA from the original solar panel
array.   This is 70 years of energy growth at 4% per annum.    Carbon
footprint is non-existant at that point.

With a doubling of efficiency over that period, economic output will
be 5% per annum over the same period.  Today's global income averages
$10,000 per person per year.  The USA averages $40,000 per person per
year.  In 2079 - according to this growth rate - global income will
average $320,000 per person per year, while US income from fuel sales
alone will total $210,000 per person per year - which when added to
the $320,000 average - totals $530,000 per person per year for the
USA.

Early over this period a piloted grand tour of the solar system using
nuclear pulse rockets, that allow the USA to take control of all the
world's nuclear materials, and convert them to non-threatening nuclear
pulse units - through an enhanced non proliferation treaty.  A dozen
mid range nuclear pulse ships - 2000 tons each

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

are built and flown throughout the solar system - completing a survey
of all the solar system's small bodies inside the Kuiper Belt.  This
technology is adapted to moving small bodies where desired in the
solar system.  This may be used to identify and deflect errant
asteroids from collision with Earth

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

and may also be used to bring RICH asteroids into orbit AROUND Earth
in medium Earth orbit - sun synchronous flying over the poles.  So the
factory flies over everyone's head twice every 24 hours.   Once the
asteroids are there remotely operated factories use abundant labor on
Earth, with energy beamed from GEO, process the asteroids into raw
materials, and finished goods.  Materials are deorbited using solar
powered rail guns on orbit, and the materials flown directly to end
users anywhere on Earth in minutes.  A ring of such stations provide
jobs for anyone anywhere, and income with which to buy the vast range
of products produced and delivered directly to users anywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleroboticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimo

Asteroidal feedstock and remotely operated solar powered factories on
Earth orbit, will also produce large pressure vessels on orbit.  These
are supplied with seeds and animals to create forests and farms on
orbit, to match the capacity of the factories on orbit.  In this way,
increasing quantities of food and fiber match and exceed the
quantities of machinery and raw materials available to humanity
everywhere - despite a continuing decline in humanity's impact on the
Earth's biosphere.

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

The earth becomes one vast nature preserve surrounding residential
parks and recycling centers supplied with energy, information, and
materials off-world.

MEMs based systems

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

provide a means to create tiny arrays of highly capable rockets

http://www.me.berkeley.edu/mrcl/rockets.html

assembled to create propulsive skins.  These skins, are similar to
plasma HDTV screens, except instead of plasma pixels, they consist of
arrays of highly controllable rockets.  Just as HDTV has 3 primary
colors, the surface consists of 3 principal directions - each
orthogonal to the other two - providing a range of directions from
every point on the surface.  A shaped surface can then produce thrust
in any direction - and that propulsive effect can be varied just as
quickly and with the same complexity as a HDTV color image.

Since MEMs based rockets scale favorably with size, and since very
tiny engines pose no explosion risk, and since millions of rockets
operating simultaneously are super reliable - such rockets turn rocket
propulsion into a commodity

http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMJPC2005_1177/PV2005_3650.pdf

that commodity can also be powered by lasers from space - achieving
very high performance

http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/897Kare.pdf

This technology will work with rail gun launchers on orbit to
efficiently deliver products to any point on Earth directly from
factories farms and forests on orbit.  As the technology develops, it
will be used to deliver packages from anyone to anyone else in
minutes.  Further development will allow people to travel anywhere
from anywhere in less than 40 minutes.  Finally, people will fly to
orbit as easily as they drive cross town today.  This technical
capabity when combined with telecherics and telerobotics and
telepresence will provide a seamless means for people to live in a
single global village.

Large collection of space stations built on orbit from orbiting
asteroids, fed by remotely operated factories, farms and forests,
accessed by propulsive skin spacecraft of tremendous capabilities, all
at very low cost - provide a means for people to move to orbit to live
at higher living standards.

Well before the 2070 date mentioned above, Artificial Intelligence
will allow humans to transcend biological evolution;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularity_is_near

which means a discontinuous leap in capabilities.  The teleoperated
robots of the first half of the 21st century, will grow ever more
capable, and operate at super-human intelligence levels in the last
half of the 21st century.  At this point, humanity will be very
wealthy indeed.  If half of all human workers by 2030 operate
telerobotic systems via a wireless global broadband internet - there
will be over 2 billion robots operating throughout human space.
Upgrading these robots with super human intelligence, increases their
output at least three and perhaps up to six times - increasing global
output from $175 trillion per year to $875 trillion per year - from a
global average of $25,000 per person per year to $125,000 per person
per year. (today's global product is $66 trillion per year)

By 2050 the exodus of humans from Earth will exceed population
growth.  By 2070 the world's population will have shifted to Earth
orbit.

The development of sun orbiting solar power satellites inside the
orbit of Mercury, will allow beaming of powerful laser beams to Earth
orbiting powersats - multiplying again the capacity of the beamed
power network.  Very large optical systems, driven by sunlight, will
not only power massive space stations and armies of robots to maintain
a very high living standard for the few humans who live and control
each station.  But, the energy will also be used to move the stations
far from Earth - first into the solar system, and then to the
interstellar voids beyond.

http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/4Landis.pdf

This is possible with near term technology.  Using this approach,
there is not need for greed or hunger.  We have the means, and for the
past 50 years we have always had the means, to make this world into a
paradise of plenty and wonder.  We have lacked only the will
imagination and courage to make it so.

Beyond this, there are even more interesting things.

Such as when Mook or Mok Industries actually delivers their first
commercial tonne of hydrogen. Perhaps by 2050?

~ BG

.

Relevant Pages

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