Mercury Before Mars Equals Space Faring Civilization?

Orbiting a little over one light second away from the surface of Earth, the Moon is an obvious choice in our quest to revisit the stars.

Harboring helium-3 withing its crust, the Moon could help "jump start" our journey into the cosmos financially, if not pay for itself by selling future space stations oxygen via its lunar rocks.

Even though the Moon may benefit our species tremendously, visiting Mars may be harder to justify economically.

For corporations, stock holders may not see the value in visiting the red planet for short term gains (or profits). Meanwhile tax payers may grumble at politicians spending money on another world without seeing any immediate benefits towards Earth.

Such a scenario could easily lead towards humanity delaying (or even skipping) Mars, opting instead to visit the asteroid belt in order to harvest its precious metals.

While mining the asteroid belt would benefit humanity financially, it may not motivate our species to choose a second home en mass outside of the gravitational influence of Earth.

In order to justify Mars, our species may have to look towards the first "rock" from the sun, Mercury.

Described by some as "A Mini-Earth in Moon's Clothing," the planet Mercury shares a few similarities with Earth's Moon.

Orbiting "recklessly close" towards the surface of the Sun, solar energy on Mercury is about 6 ¹/₂ times greater than that on the Moon (or Earth), making the world a prime location for solar powered satellites.

Its close proximity towards the Sun has a few scientists predicting that its crust may be loaded with helium-3, which would make it an ideal "next step" after humanity is done depleting reserves on the Moon.

Mercury may also have an abundance of metals within its crust as well, which could make it an attractive location for future mining corporations (who may consider asteroid mining too dangerous for their employees).

Despite the fact that this world has a global magnetic field, this sun baked world may not attract a large population due to the fact that it lacks an abundance of water.

While lunar colonists would probably be able to import water from Earth, Mercurian settlers may have to look elsewhere as Earthen gravity could make importing water (not to mention food) from the homeworld very expensive.

Since Mars has an abundance of water (in the form of ice), future Mercurian corporations could easily contract explorers to filter and export this precious liquid "sun-ward," launching a whole new industry on Mars.

This could make Mars economically attractive to future Earthlings, who may consider settling the planet en mass in order to reap the benefits of interplanetary trade.

This ultimately could help push our species towards other promising worlds (such as Callisto, Ganymede and Titan), enabling our species to become a space faring civilization.

Note: Due to lack of time, images will be added later on.

Update: Images inserted.

GPS For Lunar Astronauts

(Image: Drawing of a communications/navigation satellite in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA / Pat Rawlings)

With NASA planning on sending astronauts to live lunar side for six month sessions, the agency is attempting to figure out the best way to establish a communication network upon that eggshell colored world.

While establishing radio towers may be effective if one is constantly facing Earth, creating a GPS network is probably more ideal.

(Space.com) Getting radio signals to these hard-to-reach places is going to require a go-between that can cope with the constant gravitational nudges from the Earth, moon and sun.

One potential path a lunar communication satellite (com-sat) could take is by following a "frozen orbit" around the moon. In such an orbit the satellite's orbital characteristics remain constant despite prods from the moon's lumpy gravity field.

This uneven gravity field is due to mascons, large concentrations of mass in the lunar crust.

"You can think of it [a frozen orbit] as a roller coaster ride over the lunar mascons. If you pick the path just right, the tugs and pulls of the mascons will end up cancelling each other out. At the end, the spacecraft will be right back where it started in the orbit," Hill told SPACE.com.

NASA is also considering placing satellites within the Moon's Lagrange point (Lagrange two and two to be exact) as a communications satellite would be able to remain in a safe "fixed" position.

This would give greater flexibility for astronauts as they could establish lunar bases on the "dark side" of the Moon. This would also benefit astronauts if they decided to roam the moonscape in search of resources or to satisfy scientific curiosities.

Video: Space Elevator Invades Conan O'Brien Show

(Hat Tip: The Space Elevator Blog)

The Space Elevator, a future technology that has the potential to revolutionize how humanity ventures beyond the sky was able to gain more public exposure thanks in part to the Kansas City Space Pirates (a team competing in the Elevator 2010 competition).

Congrats to Brian Turner for presenting the concept in a humerous, yet understandable manner (although it appears as if O'Brien did his homework regarding the space elevator).

Note: The Kansas City Space Pirates are looking for a few good sponsors, so if you have deep pockets (or just feel like helping them out) feel free to invest in their project.

Recyling Trash Into Energy (Future Colonies Take Note)

(Hat Tip: IsraGood, Image: TGE Tech's device converting garbage into energy. Credit: Israel 21^st Century)

One item that seems to follow humanity no matter where they go is trash. While we often have glorious visions of future settlements operating perfectly efficient space bases, the reality is that as colonies begin to grow, so will the need for a place to throw our garbage.

Instead of our species repeating "the sin" of polluting yet another world, why not instead turn our "useless leftovers" into useful energy?

(Israel 21^st Century) Some of the biggest mountains aren't made out of stone; they're built out of garbage. It's a sad fact of life that the human race generates a lot of byproducts. If they can't be recycled - and about 70 percent of our trash can't - then it gets dumped, in what is euphemistically called a "landfill."

But hold on a second: There may be gold, or at least electricity, in those dumps. So says Jean Claude Ohayon, CEO of Israeli startup TGE Tech, which has developed and patented a system whereby unrecycled refuse can be converted into fuel with a special patented device that turns garbage into gas - syngas, a well-known element that has some of the properties of gas, oil and coal. [...]

Syngas is not as effective as oil or coal, Ohayon realizes; it only has about 15% of the calorie (energy) power of its authentic siblings. However, Ohayon explains, that level of energy is more than enough to power the gasifier, the waste treatment plant, and probably all the streetlights and traffic lights in a city on any particular day.

Even though syngas will not be the end all solution for every type of waste, it could help humanity reduce the cost of powering off world colonies significantly, making them more attractive towards politicians--not to mention tax payers as well.

Saturn: Titan Colonists May Loathe The Moon's Sand

(Hat Tip: The Space Fellowship, Image Credit: NASA)

Located approximately 1.5 billion kilometers away from the Sun, Saturn's Titan may prove to be one of the more interesting worlds to live upon in our solar system.

While it would not be surprising to see cites constructed upon the moon due to its methane lakes, future colonists may find its sand to be "slightly irritating."

(NASA) On Earth, sand grains form by breaking things down, but on Titan, the opposite may be true - with much of the sand a product of building things up.

That's one theory Cassini scientists are considering after studying Titan's massive sand dunes with the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini Saturn orbiter. The new observations raise the possibility that much of the sand grows from hydrocarbon particulates fallen from the sky that, once on the ground, join together and become sand grain-size particles. [...]

In the May 2008 issue of the journal Icarus Cassini scientists report that dunes contain less water ice than the rest of Titan. The dark brown sands appear to be made up of the same kind of complex organic chemicals that dominate Titan's smoggy atmosphere. If the dunes are made up of the same dark material on the inside as they have on the outside, then there's simply too much organic sand to have come from erosion alone.

The new findings may help explain how, once on the ground, hydrocarbon particulates the size of smoke particles might grow into sand grains through a process called "sintering" - a slight melting that welds particles together. It may be that sintering produces particles that are just the right size for sand grains - between 0.18-0.25 millimeters and no larger, perfect for blowing in the wind and drifting into dunes.

If humanity desires to ever live upon this world, they may have to find a way to counteract this sintering effect, as the last thing colonists need is to have these particles building up upon future spaceports, buildings and homes (not to mention rocket ships).

Carnival Of The Space Geeks! (Anniversary Edition)

A long, long time ago in a place not so far away (at least online), Henry Cate founded the very first Carnival of Space.

While blog carnivals are nothing new, this was the first time a group of scientists, engineers and space enthusiasts working at aerospace companies, labs, or simply posting from their computer gathered together online in order share their thoughts regarding the future of humanity--blog style.

The diversity of people publishing articles for all to see is truly amazing, and hopefully one day we will all be able to meet--whether in this world or on the next (note: as in the Moon or Mars--now wouldn't that be glorious?).

Without further delay, here are just a small sample of the articles that caught my eye from the Carnival of Space hosted by Henry, which you can see over at Why Homeschool.

• Jim Plaxco of Artsnova Digital Art and Space publishes his thoughts on how space art has played a role in helping humanity visualize themselves on other worlds, a scenario that may need to be repeated for today's world.


• Robert Simpson from Orbiting Frog highlights the hazardous debris from China's Anti-Satellite Test (aka ASAT) using Google Earth, a "minor thorn" for future space stations orbiting Earth.


• Ian O'Neil via AstroEngine brings some startling news about solar flares erupting from the Sun without any sunspot activity. Sunspots can help act as an "early warning system," as solar flares can give future Martians (and Lunites) an unhealthy dose of radiation.


• Brian Wang on Next Big Future brings good tidings regarding the VASIMR System, which has the potential of reducing a Martian trip (one way) to as little as 39 days. Did I mention we could be a few years away from an actual flight test?


• P. J. Blount (from Res Communis) conducts an interesting interview with Mike Gold of Bigelow Aerospace regarding ITAR, and how it may be hindering the American space race.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to tune into the next Carnival of Space coming up this Thursday.

For those of you desiring to share your opinion regarding space, humanity and what lies "beyond the black," feel free to contact Fraser over at Universe Today and he will give you the necessary details on how your article can be posted upon the next Carnival of Space.

Conquering The Frozen Frontier (Kuiper Belt Objects)

(Image: Size comparison between largest Kuiper Belt Objects, sometimes called Trans-Neptunians, against Earth. Credit: NASA)

Whether it takes 50 years--or five thousand--humanity seems destined to expand beyond their earthen cradle and conquer the solar neighborhood around them.

Our species may in the distant future find ourselves settling on worlds ranging from the burning crust of Mercury, to the desert world of Mars. From conquering our own lunar body towards colonizing other moon worlds such as Ganymede, Callisto and Titan.

We may even venture as far as settling upon Neptune's Triton, but beyond that humanity may see little incentive on settling beyond the classical eight planets (sorry Pluto).

While some may see little value of going beyond the gas giants, they may not realize that the Kuiper Belt, located on the "outer frozen edges" of our solar system may play a vital role for humanity--especially if we become an interstellar species.

Imagine if you will you are traveling on a star ship heading towards Alpha Centauri from the Epsilon Eridani star system. You need to make a pit stop in order to not only pick up a few supplies, but to also power down your craft in order to fix a few engines that keep creating a weird pining sound.

If you were the captain of that interstellar vessel, would you rather take your ship deep inside the Sol star's gravity field, or would it make more sense to dock near a Kuiper Belt object located between 30 and 50 astronomical units away?

Unless a star ship desired to take a tour of the solar system it would probably be wiser if humanity established trade settlements upon these frozen worlds in order to help space craft traveling between the stars refuel (or repair) before heading towards another star system.

Since trade upon a Kuiper Belt Object would probably be sparse at best (considering the enormous distances between nearby stars), their main inhabitants will most likely be astronomers and astrophysicists (with space entrepreneurs probably in the minority).

Located far way from the major worlds that dance around our sun, the Kuiper Belt objects would find little appeal among the vast majority of people, who would probably prefer living upon a world with "some scenery" (i.e. an atmosphere or gas planet in the sky).

This would provide many scientists (such as radio astronomers) with the necessary isolation needed to conduct observations of the universe without great interference from radio noise and light pollution beaming from solar colonies.

Scientists could also conduct experiments that might be considered "too dangerous," to be carried out upon other worlds, with little fear of contaminating everybody else living nearby.

Last but not least Kuiper Belt objects may be of use to military bases in order to ward off future threats. Creating military outposts upon these distant worlds may help establish a perimeter around our star system, which could act as a first line of defense against invasive fleets from another star system (whether they be human, robotic or God-forbid "something else").

While the bulk of humanity will probably reside within the classical eight planets, it may not be surprising to see our species placing our fingerprints upon these frosty worlds in order to spread our presence from the inner system towards its frozen edges.

(Image Credit (second photo): Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute)

Carnival Of The Space Geeks! (51st Edition)

(Image: Neelix the chef of Star Trek Voyager, via Ex Astris Scientia)

The latest, (and perhaps largest) Carnival of Space was hosted by Ian O'Neill over at AstroEngine, who also writes for Universe Today (a site I highly recommend).

As far as the Carnival goes, there were many, many articles which explored topics ranging from our attempts at finding Martian life, whether or not light is slowing down to even why humanity needs to explore space before we exhaust our own resources.

A few articles of interest include:

• Brian Wang (of Next Big Future) updates everyone regarding the solar sail, which might be almost ripe for testing (which makes visiting the outer planets a whole lot easier).


• John Benac from Political Action for Space reports that NASA may be slowly warming up towards NewSpace (aka private sector).
  
  This is good news, as a partnership between the to may be America's best bet for returning lunar side.


• Ralph Buttigieg of The Discovery Enterprise has an interesting article regarding space cooks, and why their recipes could lead towards a successful mission.

There are numerous other articles not mentioned here, so be sure to read them all before the next carnival rolls around.

Speaking about the next Carnival of Space, this weeks will celebrate our one year anniversary! Yes, one year of scientists, engineers and space enthusiasts getting together (online that is) to entertain the world on the latest happenings from across the space blogosphere.

So instead of simply reading many of these fine articles online, you may want to consider submitting your post to be included within the next carnival. Details on how to enlist can be found over here.

Will Ants Replace Bees As The Solar Insect?

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

King Solomon, Proverbs 6:6-8

Bees--whether you love them or hate them are an important insect, contributing an enormous amount to our food supply.

Without them, many of the foods that we eat (and take for granted) would be in scarce supply, which would be devastating for millions of tummies (not to mention agricultural stock holders) around the world.

Like many creatures, bees are dependent upon Earth's magnetic field, which helps them navigate to and from their hive.

Unfortunately for humanity, global magnetic fields are a rarity throughout our solar system, as the only known "rocky" worlds hosting them belong to both Mercury and Jupiter's moon, Ganymede.

Unless humanity is able to create an artificial magnetic field that can cover the entire planet, future off world settlers will become heavily dependent on both Mercury and Ganymede to grow their "daily bread" (not to mention Earth as well).

In order to avoid this scenario, our species will probably have to look towards another creature to help us grow our fruits and flowers--which may mean that humanity may have to rely upon ants to help raise our food supply off world.

While colonists would probably object towards importing fire ants (or even those flesh eating kind), they may want to consider adopting ants as a means of pollinating their flower crops and trees.

Even though they lack "the buzz" of their black and yellow friends, ants nonetheless are known to pollinate flowers.

Since many fruit trees require pollination in order produce a crop, ants may be able to compliment off world outposts since these insects rely upon smell, and not magnetic fields to guide themselves across long distances.

Like their flying "cousins," some ant species are known to breed large colonies, which may make it easier for settlers to export numerous these creatures to other locations without the fear of depleting the original ant colony.

Despite the fact that when comparing apples to apples (note: no pun intended), bees far outstrip their dirt walkers when it comes to pollination (due to their flying ability), scientists may be able to train ants to aggressively pollinate plants grown off world, enabling future colonies to grow their own food supply instead of importing most of it from Earth.

Radiation Belt Study Could Unlock Outer Lunar Worlds

(Image: Illustration of two NASA probes set to explore Earth's radiation belts. Credit: NASA)

Even though there are approximately 83 colony worlds within our solar system, many of these worlds orbit gas giants who unfortunately bathe their lunar children in deadly radiation.

In an attempt to understand these radiation belts, NASA is launching probes in order to gain more information regarding Earth's radiation belt.

(Astrobiology Magazine) NASA will launch two identical probes into the radiation belts to provide unprecedented insight into the physical dynamics of near-Earth space, where violent space weather can affect astronauts, satellites and even ground-based technologies. Data collected by the probes will aid in the development of future space missions beyond Earth orbit. [...]

"The radiation belts were a scientific curiosity when they were discovered 50 years ago by James Van Allen, who was one of the founding members of APL," said Barry Mauk, project scientist for RBSP. "But the belts are becoming very important because we have people and machines operating in them. That region of space is now part of our technology infrastructure. If we can understand the radiation belt environment and its variability, we can apply this knowledge to improve our spacecraft operation and system design, mission planning and astronaut safety."

Understanding these radiation belts could aid in humanity establishing colonies upon Ganymede, Saturn's icy ring moons, and Neptune's Triton, who orbit within their respective planets radiation belts.

While future settlers would probably have to live within Aquarium homes (guarded by magnetic shields), this research could teach us how to survive upon these rugged spheres instead of limiting ourselves to living upon radiation safe worlds.