Moving cities, countries, and planets

Moving can be difficult, especially if we move to a different country. We have to say goodbye to friends, families, jobs, the environment, and perhaps language. Now imagine moving to an entirely new planet. Mars is perhaps our best shot at making life multi-planetary. Venus is too hot and Jupiter’s moons are too far and cold. Although Mars may not look like a 5 star resort , Mars is bearable. Its average temperature is about -81F, which although may seem chillingly cold, is a lot warmer than the emptiness of space. Temperatures in Antarctica have been recorded at -128.6F, which means that our Earth has seen these temperatures before. Mars also has a close to 24 hour day and ice at its poles that can be melted into water. All that we have to do now is get there.

Our current technology allows humans to get to Mars. The International Space Station has demonstrated that humans can survive long term in space. We have also sent various rovers and orbiters to the red planet. In fact, there are already people signed up to be the first colonists of Mars, meaning that the first Martian has already been born. The Mars One organization has selected 100 people to be the first Martians. Every 18 months starting from 2026, when the planets align, they will send people in groups of 4 at a time. They will live in small pods and have a larger structure for growing food and conducting research.

However, although the first Martian may have already been born, they may not travel through Mars One or during the year 2026. Sending a group of 4 people on a one way trip will likely have disastrous outcomes. They would be starting from nothing, have no reinforcements, and no resources, at least for 18 more months. What if famine spreads? What if people get claustrophobic? What if people anger each other? They wont even be able to step outside for some fresh air since the atmosphere isn’t breathable. And when they do step outside, they have to risk high radiation doses.

Sending a group of 4 is definitely possible, but will likely have disastrous consequences. Another company, SpaceX, also has the goal of sending humans to Mars. However, they realize that in order to create a colony, they have to send hundreds if not thousands of people. Sending people is pointless if Earth has to continuously supply everything.The only way to create a self sustaining colony is by sending more people. But even with a million people, every person would have to be incredibly productive because they have to recreate the workforce of an entire planet. 1 million people is not even 1% of the almost 8 billion we have on Earth today.

Although the launch provider is uncertain, it is safe to say that humanity will leave Earth within the next 50 years. As rocket technology and life systems become more and more advanced, the first Martians will come in groups of hundreds or more. Who knows, maybe you, your friend, or I may be one of those first Martians.

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015 by russellphd Categories: ExplorationTags: exploration, life, progress Leave a comment

What is Energy?

Energy is the capacity to do work. Scientifically, there are two main categories of energy: potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy is the energy you get from the mass of the object and height. The higher you go, the more potential energy you have. Likewise, the heavier an object, the more energy it carries. For example, if you drop a rock on your foot from 6 inches, it wont hurt that bad. But if you drop it from 6 feet, you will probably break your foot. This is because the 6 foot rock had more energy to break your foot. What about when we move? This is what kinetic energy is: the energy from moving. If a car hits you going 1 mile per hour, you can probably walk away just fine. However, if that same car hits you going 100 miles per hour, you will probably die. Likewise, heavier moving objects also carry more energy. If I throw a pebble at a window, it probably wont break. If I throw a heavy rock at it at the same speed, it will probably break.

For something to get to space, it has to sit on top of a rocket. This rocket will of course end up traveling very fast at thousands of miles per hour very high in space. Of course, this means that we would have to use a lot of energy to get anything to space. Depending on how you calculate it, getting 1kg into low earth orbit(LEO) takes about 100MJ of energy. To compare, this is about $3 of electricity. But wait, if it only takes $3 worth of energy to put 1kg in LEO, why does space travel still cost millions of dollars? This is because the have to launch the weight of the rocket itself, which is extremely heavy. Typically, what makes it to orbit is less than 10% of the weight of the rocket!

September 8, 2015September 8, 2015 by russellphd Categories: LearningTags: energy, rocket science Leave a comment

The Perfect Rocket (Calculus based)

Over 100 years ago, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, father of modern rocketry, derived an equation that would help lift humanity into the heavens. This is his famous rocket equation.

Newtons second law is F=ma. This can also be written intFdt=ma=dp/dt. The final speed of the rocket will be determined by the initial mass of the rocket and fuel, final mass of the rocket, the exhaust velocity, and the gravitational losses.

We will write Newtons second law as -mg=mdv/dt+vedm/dt where m is the instantaneous mass of the rocket, ve is the exaust velocity, dv/dt is the acceleration. and dm/dt is the rate of consumption of fuel. We can now divide by m on each side and multiply by dt on each side. This will result in -gdt=dv-(ve/m)dm. Now set the bounds and integrate dt from 0 to tf, dv from v0 to tf, and dm from m0 to df. This will result in -gtf=deltav +veln(mf/m0) which we can re-arrange to deltav=-veln(mf/m0)-gtf.

Lets examine this. deltav will be the change in velocity, which should be positive. Since mf/m0 is a fraction less than 1, the ln of it will be negative. Multiplying a negative by -ve will yield a positive, which is what we want. Now we take this number and subtract the velocity losses from gravity, which is gtf. This is known as the ideal rocket equation which states that the change in velocity depends on the burn time, exhaust velocity, and mass ratio of an empty to fully fueled rocket. It is called ideal because it assumes no drag and that the rocket doesn’t change direction.

September 6, 2015September 6, 2015 by russellphd Categories: LearningTags: rocket science Leave a comment

The Commercialization of Space

Every method of transportation in history has had the ultimate goal of making it available for all. For example, the invention of the wheel revolutionized transportation . It was applied to wagons, carriages, locomotives, and now automobiles and aircraft. Now, all these methods of transportation are available to everyone. This was only due to commercialization. There is only so much that the government can provide for people. So now comes the question, will there ever be a commercialization of space?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. The past 15 years has seen a huge growth in aerospace startups. However, due to the complexity of space, progress is slow. Some companies are small, such as Masten Space Systems, and others are large, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. No matter the size of the company though, every single one shares the common goal of opening space to all. Another commonality is that they all stress the importance of reusabilty. Not a single company is planning to throw away any parts. This is the only way to make space cheap and fast enough for a commercial market.

Some notable companies are SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace, and Bigalow Aerospace. SpaceX is currently resupplying the International Space Station and will soon be ferrying astronauts to it.They have the ultimate goal of not just commercializing space, but moving life onto Mars. Other companies such Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace are offering sub-orbital flights with stunning views of the Earth and the zero-g experience. But once we get to space, wouldn’t it be nice to stay there? That’s exactly what Bigalow Aerospace doing. They are building expandable space habitats for both government and commercial purposes. Who knows, maybe in 20 years we’ll able to own property or vacation in space.

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 by russellphd Categories: Exploration, TechnologyTags: exploration, future, rocket science, space Leave a comment

The end of NASA

The Space Launch System, SLS is currently being developed by NASA as the biggest and most powerful rocket in history. Although this may be true, bigger and more powerful doesn’t necessarily mean better. The SLS is still missing the fundamental property that opens space to all: re-usability. In 2012, NASA made a goal to have each launch be $500 million. For the launch capability of the rocket, this is cheaper than the shuttle. However, it is still hopelessly expensive for the average person.

Lets take a look at the anatomy of this rocket. The main engines used on the core booster are 4 RS-25 engines. These are also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine(SSME) because they were used on the shuttle. The first 4 launches will literally burn up the 16 remaining SSME’s in storage at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Even worse, Chris Bergin of nasaspaceflight.com writes that it has been”confirmed that there will be a transition to the expendable version of the SSME, known as the RS-25E”. It seems like the “E” stands for expendable

The entire SLS is contradictory to NASA’s beliefs. In 1969, NASA’s Space Task Group stated that the future of space needed “low-cost, flexible, long-lived, highly reliable, operational space systems with a high degree of commonality and reusability”. On the NASA website they also acknowledge that reusability is key to accessible space. Whats worse is that they claim that their RS-25 engine is the “Ferrari of rocket engines” by being powerful, efficient, and complex.

Yet with all these statements about reusability, NASA is still throwing away a rocket that is over 300 feet tall powered by best engines in the world. The SLS is anything but “long lived….with a high degree of commonality and reusablity” and is quite literally burning up your tax dollars. With the expansion of commercial space companies such as Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic all stressing the importance of reusablity, this may be the end of NASA as we know it. After all, if you had a choice of building one rocket and reusing it or building a new one after every launch, which one would you choose?

September 2, 2015 by russellphd Categories: TechnologyTags: NASA, progress, rockets, Space Launch System Leave a comment

New Versus Old

The Apollo era was the golden age of space travel. We sent man to the moon multiple times, discovered new technologies, and were inspired to reach the heavens. In a 1969 report of the Space Task Group, they stated that the “establishment of a lunar orbit or surface base, a large 50-100 man earth-orbiting space base, and manned exploration of the planets” would be done by the end of the century.

Sadly, this inspiration didn’t last. In fact, we seem to have gone back in time, not forwards. Computers went from filling entire rooms to barely filling our pockets. But how much has rocket technology progressed? The Saturn V rocket which carried astronauts to the moon cost about $3.18 billion (including development) per launch in today’s dollars. However, the Saturn V could lift almost five times as much weight as the Space Shuttle, making the price about $18.4 million per metric ton as opposed to the shuttle, which costs about $65.6 million (including development) per metric ton. So although the shuttle could land on a runway, it also came at an extreme cost.

In the end, maybe new isn’t always better than old. This is an extreme disappointment for everyone. Many rocket launches use our tax dollars, which mean we are all paying more for less. It also means that normal people like you and me will never have the chance to access space. It simply costs too much for too little.

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015 by russellphd Categories: TechnologyTags: progress Leave a comment

50 Years of no Progress

50 years of human space flight and we are still in low Earth orbit. On July 20^th 1969, Apollo astronauts made one small step for mankind on the moon. During this era, space technology matured at an unimaginable rate. Even more amazing, this moon landing occurred only 12 years after the first artificial satellite. This meant that rocket technology was sophisticated and advanced enough back then to launch objects and people into orbit and beyond. This was over 46 years ago. In fact, a 1969 report from the Space Task Group stated that “NASA has outlined plans that would include a manned Mars mission in 1981” (hq.nasa.gov). But where are we now? We are just six scientists strong orbiting 250 miles above Earth. What happened to our space program? Why is space travel still so expensive? When are we going to be able to vacation on the moon and visit Mars? The answer is never, at least if we continue approaching space travel the way we do today.

Our current rockets are expendable, meaning that once they launch, we don’t get them back. This is something most people don’t think about because rockets have always been that way. Imagine driving a car and throwing it away after one use. Imagine flying a plane and then throwing it away after one use. That would be absurd. No one would be traveling anywhere if that were the case. Unless we suddenly discover a new technology, chemical rockets are the only things that produce enough thrust to get to space. However, if rockets became reusable, space would be revolutionized. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, states that with reusable rockets, “more than a 100-fold improvement in the cost of space flight is achievable. This ratio is comparable to that of aircraft, which are, of course, highly reusable”. Imagine a rocket launch every few minutes or hours instead of the current every few weeks/months.

This has unimaginable applications ranging from business to leisure to science. Imagine the stunning views on your space vacation. Imagine being the first life a planet has seen. Imagine all the job opportunities on literally a world. Even on Earth, everyone would benefit from cheaper rockets. Any launch involving the government would use your tax dollars more efficiently. Any satellite meant for the public such as television, weather, and communication would be cheaper too. Even if building rockets were free, building it still takes weeks or months. The engines are complex and the rocket itself is the height of a tower. Having it been over 46 years since the Apollo moon landings, us still throwing away rockets is a major concern. If we don’t change now, humans will never make it to space.

August 27, 2015August 30, 2015 by russellphd Categories: TechnologyTags: exploration, progress, rocket science Leave a comment

How Lucky are We?

Everyday we face the possibility of illness, fatigue, injury, and even death. When we drive a car, fly on a plane, or even walk, we assume the risk that nothing will happen to us. We hope that a car doesn’t hit us, a tree doesn’t fall on us, our pilot doesn’t nosedive into the ground. Yet with all these possibilities, we all still live our lives by risking it. Why? Because that is how we live.

We may be extremely lucky to make it to the next day, but we are even more lucky that we are here in the first place. Of all the planets and exoplanets we know, only Earth is known to sustain life. Even more lucky, the conditions are just right for space travel. Our current rockets can only deliver about 10% of their liftoff weight into orbit and even less to deep space. This is because our chemical rockets are just barely powerful enough to do so. The gravity on our planet is just weak enough to allow us to send small payloads to orbit and just strong enough to prevent us from launching like and X-Fighter.

This implies that we live on a borderline planet. Borderline from being stuck on the ground and borderline from being in a galaxy far far away. But hasn’t mankind always crossed borders? The ancients crossed the Siberian-Alaskan ice bridge thousands of years ago when they had the opportunity. The Mayflower left Europe to start the America we know today. Now it is our turn to cross borders. We are extremely lucky that our Earth gives us a chance at space travel. If we risk our lives living the way we do anyways, the idea of space travel isn’t that far fetched. Given that we have risked their lives for thousands of years, it would be extremely shameful if we didn’t migrate into space. Maybe it’s destiny.

August 27, 2015August 28, 2015 by russellphd Categories: ExplorationTags: exploration, life, space Leave a comment

Staging: Diet for Rockets

If you have ever watched a rocket launch either in person or online, then you have witnessed rocket staging. Staging is the only way to get the payload into orbit. Why? Even though rockets can generate millions of pounds of thrust, they also weigh millions of pounds. Our current rockets aren’t powerful enough to make it to space in one piece. Staging is really just stacking rockets on top of each other. Once the first stage uses up all its fuel, it just becomes extra weight. And when a rocket is usually a few hundred feet tall, that is a lot of weight. After the first stage separates, it falls back to Earth and the second stage ignites. This is advantageous because the upper stages already start out at a few thousand miles per hour. That’s all it is. Staging is just simply a way to get rid of extra weight.

August 26, 2015August 28, 2015 by russellphd Categories: LearningTags: rocket science, rockets Leave a comment

The New World

Space is an integral part of human nature. Even thousands of years ago, our ancestors gazed into the heavens in awe. Some were dreamers and some were explorers. Over time, we learned the patterns of the sky. We learned the phases of the moon, cycle of the seasons, and the time in a year. This of course paved the way to where we are now. As knowledge of the sky grew, great seafaring explorers came about and navigated by the stars. Perhaps the most famous of these explorers was Christopher Columbus. He discovered the Americas and brought information about the West. Without the stars to guide him, the West may not be as it is today.

Space exploration sounds right out of science fiction right? But really the idea isn’t new, nor is it that crazy. For Columbus and every other early explorer, the idea was the same. They had no idea where or how far they were going. They traveled well beyond the realms of the naked eye. They faced the possibility of death, which many did, starvation, thirst, famine, and more. Ships could only hold a limited amount of supplies and once they ran out, they were out. Who knew how far they were from land? Help was thousands of miles away by sailboat. Space exploration is similar, maybe even safer. With our naked eyes, we can see our destinations of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and other objects. We also have ways of communicating astronomical distances and have the tools necessary to survive. Our mathematics are advanced enough to calculate exactly how much supplies we need with room to spare. So why not? Why don’t we start the second revolution for the New World?

August 25, 2015August 26, 2015 by russellphd Categories: Exploration Leave a comment