Artist’s rendering of settlements on the Moon. Credits: Taylor Herring/Samsung via Futurism.com
A melding of multiple disciplines is required for creating a positive human space future that will enable space settlement. In addition to aerospace engineering, architecture and the traditional physical sciences we associate with space exploration, the fields of sociology, philosophy, art, space law and may others will be needed. A method for integrating these fields and coordinating them across the private sector, universities and government has been developed in The Interplanetary Initiative, a pan-university venture created at Arizona State University. The innovative research model is described in a paper in the September 2020 issue of New Space. The program turns students into team leaders and collaborators, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to solve problems anticipated to be encountered as humans expand out into the solar system.
Artist’s impression of a lunar settlement. Credit: ESA/Foster + Partners via universetoday.com
The 2020 virtual event sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics held in August brought together 200 space industry leaders from all over the world to discuss and respond to NASA’s ARTEMIS Plan. The event was summarized in a proceedings report that captured the group’s consensus on the technological and economic conditions needed for a sustained and economically viable lunar settlement. The attendees discussed the role of national space agencies, governments, and industry in addressing those conditions. The report defined a sustained lunar settlement as meeting the test of continuous survival and operation over time, and an economically viable settlement as one for which the long-term cost of maintenance is sustained by private capital.
When polled on the key technologies needed for a long term permanent presence on the Moon, the group identified the gaps in the chart below as those areas needing higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) to enable a permanent lunar settlement.
Technology areas needing further development. Credits: Jessica Todd et al.* / AIAA
The authors* then summarized the economic conditions identified at the workshop conducive to sustained lunar settlements, information needed to close the technology gaps and the roles of government space agencies as well as non-aerospace industries (e.g. healthcare, agriculture, food processing, utilities, mining and construction). _________________________________________________________________________________
* Authors of the ASCEND Ensuring Economically Viable Lunar Settlements Proceedings Report 2020 include:
Jessica Todd, Graduate Research Assistant, Aerospace Engineering in Autonomous Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institute George Lordos, Ph.D. Candidate, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Becca Browder, Graduate Research Assistant, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Benjamin Martell, Graduate Research Assistant, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cormac O’Neill, Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Artist depiction of Moon Town settlement in Lalande crater. Credits: Kim Holder / Moonwards.com
At some point in the future there will be settlements on the Moon. What will daily life be like in them? How will the architecture be designed? What crops and animals will be there? Will it be safe? What will the tech and culture be like?
Now you can virtually experience a realistic and sensible facsimile of such a town at Moonwards. The settlement is envisioned to be a multination facility that is based on sound technical and economic principles. Located in Lalande crater, Moon Town beckons with an immersive experience temping you to be a part of the development of its culture by helping to building the settlement, making your own home and attending events. Everything is set up for you with scientific accuracy: ships, rovers, habitats, machines and more. You can enjoy lunar parks, garden in the farm atriums, drive around and participate in all sorts of lunar life activities. Moonwards’ founder Kim Holder says:
“It’s all open source and you can use it however you like. It’s as open-ended as our future is right now. There are no cliches here, no fantasies. The day is nearly here when real ships will launch to really settle another world. There is a great deal we need to think about before then. Be a part of Moonwards.”
Artist’s depiction of an interior space of Moon Town. Credits: Kim Holder / Moonwards.com
Illustration of SPEAR (Swarm Probe Enabling ATEG Reactor), an affordable nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft using a custom designed fission reactor. Credits: Troy Howe, Howe Industries LLC
The 2020 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium just rapped up it’s virtual event. The NAIC Program supports early studies of visionary concepts in space and aeronautics that develop and assess revolutionary, yet credible, aerospace architecture, mission, and system concepts. These studies showcase ideas that will enable far-term capabilities, and spawn exciting innovations to radically improve aerospace exploration, science, and operations.
There were a wealth of new ideas presented at this year’s meeting with Phase I, II, and III posters and presentations available as PDFs on the NAIC Symposium website. To give you a taste, above is an illustration of Howe Industries’ Phase II concept for a small, affordable nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft using a custom designed fission reactor with advanced thermoelectric generators (ATEGs). The innovative design would allow private entities, universities, or other interested parties to carry out missions across the solar system at relatively low cost.
Another favorite of ours was Trans Astronautica’s Mini Bee asteroid capture concept in which they will deploy, then chase down and “swallow” a test object in LEO as a precursor to an asteroid mining mission.
Illustration of Trans Astronautica Corporation’s Mini Bee spacecraft chasing down and capturing an artificial asteroid in LEO. Credits: Joel Sercel / Trans Astronautica Corporation
Artist’s concept of solar power satellite. Credits: John Mankins / Forbes
The European Space Agency is soliciting submission of abstracts on ideas for development of space-based solar power that would address some of the technological bottlenecks preventing feasible realization. In a campaign for new ideas under its Open Space Innovation Platform, the Agency is seeking novel proposals for space-based solar power systems for applications on the Earth, Moon or Mars. They also are seeking methods of scaling and integrating space-based solar power into energy grids, in-space construction techniques and early in-space demonstration concepts.
Awards of 90,000€, 100,000€ or 175,000€ are being offered for ideas that would be implemented as co-funded research, system studies or early technology demonstrations, respectively.
Artist’s concept of an O’Neill space colony. Credits: Blue Origin
In a thread on Twitter Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida, updates his bootstrapping vision from a few years back in which he and colleagues at NASA published a paper on how robotics, 3D printing and in situ resource utilization could be leveraged to accelerate a solar system civilization. In a series of 9 Tweets, Metzger makes the case for his “Rapid Bootstrapping Scenario” as the preferred course out of three possible alternatives to get us there faster.
Many space enthusiasts, including Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos, advocate for what Metzger calls a solar system “Civilization Fully Revolutionized”. This is a future where most industrial manufacturing is done sustainably in space and Earth is preserved as a beautiful natural environment.
If we continue on the current path, down what Metzger calls “The Slow Growth Scenario”, space agencies like NASA will continue paving the technological highway for private entities to slowly develop their profitable enterprises. But because space exploration and development is difficult, a different approach is needed to prime the pump. Metzger suggests the preferred course of action is intentional pre-economic bootstrapping in which “…visionary individuals with means, citizen-led movements, or governments that see the long-term benefit of getting beyond our planetary limit…create a coalition of likeminded citizen movements and enlightened governments committed to a good future so we reach the ‘ignition’ point first by being fast”.
Source: Philip Metzger/UCF. @DrPhiltill. www.philipmetzger.com
The Pathfinders’ Guide to the Space Enterprise. Credits: The Aerospace Corporation.
The Aerospace Corporation has created a visually stunning chart called “Pathfinders’ Guide to the Space Enterprise” in which they provide a glimpse into the nascent space economy based on hundreds of ideas from over 70 world-class space experts condensed into seven core themes about how the future could unfold. The analysis, which is both deep and thought provoking, identified two critical uncertainties shaping the the future of space development:
1. The degree in which space will be “commercialized.” How much will space exploration and exploitation be designed to seed the commercial ecosystem?
2. The evolution and potential transformation of global power states. What space-based leverage points could change the terrestrial power balance?
Their hope is to “…inspire your internal adventurer to think about how space can and will play a role in the future and how we get there.”
Diagram of modular exploration system: pressure vessel, tertiary structures, power systems, EVA, and mobility. Credits: A. Scott Howe, Phd
At the 45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, A. Scott Howe, PhD presented a paper on a novel modular system for human habitation to support planetary and space exploration. The paper addresses the design requirements including mass and volume constraints to enable a variety of missions and environments. The concept was developed as recommended by NASA’s Evolvable Mars Campaign for a compact modular system and was assumed to be launched using the Space Launch System currently in the final stages of development. Howe settled on a horizontal module as the most appropriate with a single small diameter solution for fixed-sized habitats, expandable habitats, small rover cabins and a variety of other applications for both in-space and planetary surface operations.
In the July Issue of Planetary and Space Science there is a summary of research on beneficiation, the process used for separation of minerals from waste in lunar regolith to prepare feedstock for chemical reactions to produce oxygen. One of the most commonly studied processes is hydrogen reduction of ilmenite (FeTiO3), a mineral abundant in the lunar maria. This type of research is critical to prepare for situ resource utilization (ISRU) needed for lunar settlements.
Benefication processes use differences in physical properties (e.g., density, electromagnetic characteristics) to manipulate materials, most commonly (especially on Earth) with water to facilitate separation. This is not practical in space environments where large scale water use will be more challenging then on Earth. On the Moon, dry techniques such as magnetic or electrostatic process are better suited to this application. The authors describe the physics behind the beneficiation process for ISRU in the lunar environment and survey the research performed thus far on these methods with interesting recommendations for further studies.
Artists rendering of the LIFE™ Habitat. Credits: Sierra Nevada Corporation
In a press release on August 10, Sierra Nevada Corporation announced it is continuing to advance it’s Large Inflatable Fabric Environment (LIFE) habitat under Phase 3 of NASA’s Next Step-2 public-private partnership to further commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities.
The company’s CEO, Fatih Ozmen, said “Our habitat design is so unlike any other that it truly demonstrates SNC’s technology ingenuity and innovation. We are excited to continue our support of human exploration in low-Earth orbit, for the Artemis lunar missions, and eventually missions to Mars, making space accessible and affordable.”
