Cutting-edge technology enabling settlement of the solar system and beyond – Art by Rick Guidice / NASA
Mars bases, habitats and settlements
The newly formed nonprofit just issued their June 2020 BE Report outlining what steps need to be taken by government and industry in the areas of export controls, best practices and multilateral agreements to foster a future where millions of people will be living and working in space, while in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty.
In an interview by Stuart Clark in BBC Science Focus Magazine, Vice President for North American operations for the International Space University Gary Martin answers questions on how private enterprise is changing space exploration. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, through their own initiatives and public/private partnerships are opening up the final frontier, paving the way for space settlement.
In a thread on Twitter, Kevin Cannon suggests that suppliers for services that SpaceX will need to settle Mars such as sanitation, medical supplies, entertainment, finance and others, get started sooner rather then later laying out their plans if they want to be selected to help settle a new world.
Procure Space (Ticker symbol UFO) is a little known Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) available to average investors that is the only such vehicle focusing mainly on the space industry. Created by ProcureAM, LLC the ETF trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The objective of the fund is to track the S-Network Space Index which is designed to measure the performance of companies engaged in space-related industries. In the future, additional companies engaged in other space-related industries may emerge and be added to the index. These industries could include space colonization and infrastructure, among others.
Both fission and fusion nuclear power systems are in development for use in space in the near future. Kilopower, NASA’s fission nuclear reactor we reported on last March has now been renamed the Nuclear Fission Power Project. An update appeared recently in Chemical & Engineering News.
On the fusion front, a compact generator is under development by Magneto-Inertial Fusion Technologies, Inc. (MIFTI) a subsidiary of US Nuclear Corporation. In a recent press release the company claims that its staged Z-Pinch reactor may come on line within 5 years, which could potentially be providing power to lunar settlements by the end of this decade. The system may even have enough power to propel hypervelocity space ships shortening trips to Mars.
Schematic of staged Z-Pinch fusion system. Credits: MIFTI
Eric Berger chronicles the ten year history of SpaceX’s flagship launch vehicle. The versatile, reusable workhorse has been the proving ground for the technology that will make Elon Musk’s vision of low cost interplanetary space travel a reality in the near future.
A just released study published in the journal Plants documented the results of experiments to find the best ratio of compost to Martial soil simulant to effectively grow nutritious butter lettuce with the least amount of water while optimizing crop performance. Such findings will enable in situ resource utilization and reduce the mass of supplies needed to be transported to Mars to support farming in human settlements.
A stepwise strategy for the application of biotechnology to address four key challenges of Martian settlement is presented in a Comment in Nature Biotechnology. As settlement progresses, a phased developmental approach is proposed starting on Earth with gradual migration of industry to Mars for the production of food, materials, therapeutics and waste reclamation toward an efficient closed-loop life support system.
If we ever settle Mars, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is essential for sustainability of a Martian colony as dependence on Earth for resupply would be too expensive. UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab chemists are developing a biohybrid system which attaches bacteria to nanowires that when exposed to sunlight and locally available carbon dioxide and water, produce a useful organic compound called acetate. Acetate is a building block for a range of products including fuels, plastics, drugs or even yeast. A byproduct of the chemical reaction is oxygen, which could be used for breathable air. There is even a dual use on Earth for carbon capture.
Although somewhat dated this paper is still relevant and the technology is not only feasible, its open source and available for any startup company interested in capitalizing on the the resources available from asteroid mining. Be sure and catch the Ted Talk by Dr. Bruce Damer himself.