Science Updates

[Super Nova]

Good to see China in the space race now. This may spur the Us to get off it's arse.... eventually.

If it's a "race" then they're way behind. They're sending their first probe to the moon, meanwhile we've sent up probe #17 (I think it's 17, have to go look up the number to be sure, but pretty sure it's around there), along with landing twelve human beings on the lunar surface for walkies. In the next 8 to 10 years we'll be resuming manned lunar exploration shortly after the new world's heaviest lift rocket come into man-rated service (We pretty much own the "heaviest lift launch system" category of rocketry). Meanwhile the PRC is still struggling to even get people into low Earth orbit and has yet to set up a regular launch schedule for even that. This is before we get into things like the ISS.

Seriously not worried about a "space race" when we're already over forty years in the lead.

Well there are the next round of the race. Race 2 or 3. Man on Mars for starters.

[Chard]

Well there are the next round of the race. Race 2 or 3. Man on Mars for starters.

They're just now putting men into low earth orbit, we've been doing that for over half a century now. They're just now putting a probe on the moon, we've sent twelve men to it with 1960s era technology. We've been operating a fucking space station longer than they've had a viable space program, for fuck's sake.

It's like putting a Special Olympic basketball player on a court with Lebron James. It's not a contest, it's a war crime.

[Super Nova]

Well there are the next round of the race. Race 2 or 3. Man on Mars for starters.

They're just now putting men into low earth orbit, we've been doing that for over half a century now. They're just now putting a probe on the moon, we've sent twelve men to it with 1960s era technology. We've been operating a fucking space station longer than they've had a viable space program, for fuck's sake.

It's like putting a Special Olympic basketball player on a court with Lebron James. It's not a contest, it's a war crime.

I like that. That's funny.

It is time for the US to stop resting on it's past achievements which are many.

The Us needs to get back to pushing limits and lead mankind into space or the Us will begin to lose it's lead.

[Chard]

It is time for the US to stop resting on it's past achievements which are many.

No, what we need to do is drop the nationalism aspect of space exploration entirely. Hence all the work we've been doing with Roskosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA on the International Space Station. Really getting out there into space, establishing humanity out there is going to require effort on everyone's part, not just the US.

The Us needs to get back to pushing limits and lead mankind into space or the Us will begin to lose it's lead.

We can only push so hard. It about time the rest of you slackers started pulling your own weight.

[Rorschach]

Love this idea... but how to do it economically?

Japanese company wants to build a giant solar ring on the Moon
* by: James Billington Technology Reporter
* From: news.com.au
* 2 hours ago November 29, 2013 9:26AM

IN WHAT could be the most audacious idea of all time, Japanese engineers have revealed plans showing how they want to build a giant solar panel belt around the moon using robots.

As reported by The Independent (UK) , civil construction company Shimizu wants to install a Luna Ring - a belt of solar cells that stretch 11,000km around the moon's equator and is 400km in width - in a bid to solve Earth's finite energy sources.

The vision sees construction being carried out by a number of robots on the moon's surface supported by a team of astronauts.

As the moon's equator is exposed to a constant amount of sunlight there's a "virtually inexhaustible, nonpolluting solar energy is the ultimate source of green energy that brings prosperity to nature as well as our lives," says Shimizu.

The Luna Ring would collect energy from the sun's light and send it back to conversion facilities floating in our oceans here on Earth in the form of microwaves and lasers where it would then be turned into electricity for us all to enjoy. According to Shimizu's calculations it could yield as much energy as a nuclear reactor.

Despite sounding like a grand plan, scientists don't think so. One professor at the University of Liverpool said: "doing this in space is not a good idea because it is fantastically expensive and you probably never recover the energy you have to invest."

But this hasn't put Shimizu off as it plans to have a demonstration by 2020 and to start construction by 2035. The cost of this project hasn't been revealed but you can safely assume it will be out-of-this-world.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/scien ... 6771103850" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chard]

The cost of this project hasn't been revealed but you can safely assume it will be out-of-this-world.

HA! Not even technologically feasible in the near future is more like it. A 2035 start date for construction is hilariouslly optimistic for a project of that scope and scale. They're talking about getting several hundred millions of tons all the way out to luna orbit and assembling it in a Lunar orbit. Good luck with that considering the heaviest lift launch system for the next ten to twenty years is only going to be able to throw around 25,000kg-35,000kg to lunar orbit.

Then there's the rediculously retarded idea of beaming the energy back via microwave and/or laser. Given the size of the collector they're talking about, that's going to be multiple multiple gigiwatt to terawatt scale beams points that the planet from an object that does not maintain a stationary position over the Earth's surface. Think about hat for a second and you'll figure out why that's possibly the dumbest fucking idea in human history.

[Rorschach]

They'd assemble it on the surface wouldn't they?

[Chard]

They'd assemble it on the surface wouldn't they?

You could do that, only then you'd have the added expense and effort of not just hauling all that material to a lunar orbit, but landing it on the moon. Then there's the fun involved with the logistics of supporting a massive fucking construction crew on the moon.

Yeah, the whole idea is a non-starter for aType One Civilisation.

[Rorschach]

They'd assemble it on the surface wouldn't they?

You could do that, only then you'd have the added expense and effort of not just hauling all that material to a lunar orbit, but landing it on the moon. Then there's the fun involved with the logistics of supporting a massive fucking construction crew on the moon.

Yeah, the whole idea is a non-starter for aType One Civilisation.

I'd expect that eventually we would have "working colonies" on the moon and this project is a great reason to start them.

[Chard]

I'd expect that eventually we would have "working colonies" on the moon and this project is a great reason to start them.

We're on the way towards that. My point is that there's a huge difference between installing habitats for a handful of trained astronauts and building the literal cities that would be required for the work force Shimizu's project would require. We're talking about what would be simultaneously the largest construction project in human history and the largest manned space mission in human history.

Here's some perspective. Next time you see a solar panel take a good look at it, paying attention to its dimensions estimated mass. Now imagine building a series of those wide enough to go from Sydney to Canberra and long enough to Melbourne to New York City. Only you're going to first have to lift every single one of those panels up to the moon, along with all the personnel you need to assemble this and the collection and transmission systems, all the tools you'll need for everyone, food, fuel, water, oxygen, etc.

This all ignores the fact that in order to get the power back to Earth where we can use it you'll be aiming a series of extreme high output MASER/LASER systems at the earth from a moving body that isn't in geosynchronous and is over a light second off. Seriously, have you not seen Star Wars?

That's the kind of thing a type two civilization might try. A type one civilization like what we have here on Earth it's out of the question in the foreseeable future.