NYT - NEWS Sun. Times Magazine: A Space Station? Big Deal!

From: Larry Klaes (lklaes@bbn.com)
Date: Wed Dec 01 1999 - 12:29:56 MST


Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 00:23:49 -0500
From: JAY RESPLER <jrespler@superlink.net>
Organization: SkyViews Astronomy & Space information Web Site
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I)
To: jrespler@superlink.net
Subject: NEWS . Sun. Times Magazine

A Space Station? Big Deal!

            How about a space hotel connected to Earth by elevator? Or a
mining
            camp on the Moon? An adventurous approach to the final frontier
needn't
            be confined to science fiction. By TIMOTHY FERRIS Illustrations
by BOB McCALL

            Orbiting Resort Hotel . A low-gravity swimming pool ranks high
among the attractions of a hypothetical
            resort in low-Earth orbit. Fashioned as a giant spinning wheel
-- its centrifugal force generating gravity so
            that ''up'' is always toward the hub -- the hotel offers zero-G
medical facilities and honeymoon suites at its
            center, and a more earthly one-G environment in the suites and
dining facilities along the rim. Space tourism
            is being taken seriously by hotel industry professionals, some
of whom have recently been turning up at
            conferences studying commercial uses for space. With Las Vegas
hotels costing billions, the start-up costs of
            such a venture are no longer regarded as impossibly high.
Indeed, NASA itself has offered 2017 as a possible
            completion date for the first space hotel.

              Fifty years ago, the rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and
several of his
                 colleagues charted a course for space exploration that
envisioned using
                 winged shuttles to construct a space station in Earth's
orbit, from which
            astronauts would venture forth to establish a Moon base and,
ultimately, a colony
            on Mars. Vividly illustrated by the space artist Chesley
Bonestell -- first in Collier's
            magazine and then in various books and films -- the von Braun
plan imprinted itself
            on Americans as the way to space.

            A lot has changed since then. At John F. Kennedy's urging, the
Apollo program
            landed men on the Moon in a hurry, without first stopping to
build von Braun's
            stepping stones. Unforeseen advances in computer technology
resulted in a
            robust unmanned space program that sent robotic probes to
search for life on
            Mars, map the cloud-shrouded surface of Venus and take close-up
photos of the
            giant outer planets and their many moons. Private industry got
into the act,
            deploying billions of dollars worth of communications
satellites that wired up the
            world.

                                      Yet as the century draws to a close,
NASA's
                                      manned program remains frozen in the
                                      headlights of von Braun's old plan.
The Moon
                                      rockets have come and gone -- an
astonishing
                                      and unanticipated development -- but the
            agency is still launching shuttles to build a space station,
which hardly improves
            the prospect of getting to Mars. Suddenly, it's 1950.

            Frustrated by what they perceive to be a stagnation in American
space policy, a
            growing number of visionaries are proposing new ways of
exploring (and
            exploiting) the final frontier. Scientists want to learn a lot
more about our cosmic
            surroundings, at less cost, than can be accomplished by
spending billions on the
            space station. Engineers are experimenting with propulsion
systems that could
            orbit payloads more cheaply than the shuttle can. Entrepreneurs
are betting on
            space tourism, asteroid mining and other profit-seeking
endeavors. (Nor is this all
            pie in the sky; "space markets" are expected to approach $200
billion in annual
            sales in the next 10 years.)

            These pages present a few new ideas that promise to get space
exploration out of
            a rut and on toward the stars. Some, like sending probes to
Europa and mining the
            Moon, are relatively practical. Others, like biologically
engineered spaceships and
            interstellar missions, are highly speculative. Objections can
be raised against them
            all, but that's not necessarily discouraging: an argument often
bruited about the
            von Braun blueprint was that humans could not endure the stress
of being
            launched into Earth orbit.

            Many prospective missions are missing from this brief sampling,
notably
            small-scale robotic endeavors -- like reconnaissance balloons
on Mars or space
            telescopes designed to search for signs of life on the planets
of other stars -- that
            could add more to the sum of human knowledge than all the big,
flashy manned
            space missions combined. Nor is there much left here of von
Braun's passion for
            methodical order. Rather, this is a bouquet of creative
imaginings -- prospects, not
            predictions, of things that may be, if we can summon the means
and the motivation
            to make them so.

            Cruise to the Moon
            To arrive at a space hotel in style,
            high rollers might travel aboard
            second-generation shuttles like the
            one seen here. Once they've
            checked in, guests needn't stay put
            (though they might want to, given
            the spectacular views and a sunrise
            every 90 minutes). One idea being
            bandied about is equipping an
            orbiting hotel with a "cruise liner"
            shuttle that would circle the Moon
            and return weekly, capping off one of the most memorable --
and, presumably,
            most expensive --vacations in the history of human leisure.

            Mars Colony
            Making Mars a home
            for humankind would
            double the land area
            available for future
            generations and provide
            them with an insurance
            policy by making ours a
            two-planet species. In
            the approach depicted
            here, Mars has been
            explored from the start
            by colonists who came
            to stay. (Safety rockets
            are standing by to
            return them to Earth
            only if the colony fails.) Life on the Martian frontier is
harsh at the outset but
            improves as farming and industry take root. The long-term goal
is to "terraform"
            the red planet, by resurrecting its atmosphere and defrosting
the surface so that
            the great-grandchildren of the original settlers might breathe
freely under the blue
            skies of a renewed world. That's if Mars proves to be lifeless;
if instead there turns
            out to be indigenous Martian life, many will argue on ethical
grounds that the
            planet ought to be left alone.

            Space Elevator
            Climbing into orbit on a lanky
            tether made of a strong, lightweight
            material -- possibly carbon
            nanotubes, spinoffs of the famous
            '"Buckyball" atom -- a space
            elevator could provide cheap
            access to orbit. In this conception,
            based in part on the ideas of Arthur
            C. Clarke, the elevator speeds
            24,500 miles from Earth's surface up
            to a geostationary terminal. (From
            this way station, a small shuttle
            could connect travelers to a space
            hotel.) Power for the elevator's
            electric engines comes from the
            terminal's solar arrays and from the
            tether itself. Carbon nanotubes conduct electricity, so the
tether could act as a
            dynamo as it moves through the Earth's magnetic field. One big
challenge is
            finding a way to produce nanotubes inexpensively. To date, only
small fragments
            have been synthesized, at costs of about $1,000 per gram.

            Lunar Mining Camp
            If nuclear fusion emerges as an
            important 21st-century energy
            source -- as it well may, given that
            fusion reactors would be far less
            dirty and dangerous than the
            fission power plants now in use --
            profitable mining camps could be
            established on the Moon, which
            has an abundance of the
            high-potency fusion fuel Helium-3.
            This camp is powered by the fusion
            reactor in the background. It uses
            electric catapults and a pair of cannons firing laser or
microwave beams to send
            ore carriers off toward Earth. Ordinary lunar soil is also
dispatched from this camp,
            for use in constructing large space stations and industrial
facilities anywhere in
            the vastness of sublunar space.

            Tiny Interstellar
            Probes
            Giant starships of the
            "Star Trek" class may
            use warp speed to leap
            across light-years in a
            single bound -- but,
            barring a tremendous
            breakthrough, the
            business of sending big
            ships to the stars will
            remain absurdly
            expensive and
            forbiddingly slow. Tiny
            instrumented probes are
            another matter. Low in
            mass, they can be
            accelerated to high velocity in reasonably short times, and
their minuscule cargo
            of electronics -- plus, perhaps, biological materials -- can
hibernate patiently
            throughout their long journey. A cluster of smart,
grapefruit-size probes is seen
            here landing on an asteroid in an extrasolar planetary system.
Using metals mined
            from the asteroid, they set up antennas to phone home, and
fashion sensors to
            expand reconnaissance of the planetary system in which they
have arrived.
            Eventually they can make copies of the propulsion system that
took them there,
            fuel it up from indigenous materials and launch new probes on
to other stars. But if
            it's really that easy, and if there are advanced civilizations
out there, why haven't
            they already sent a probe to our solar system? The answer is
that maybe they
            have. A tiny probe, embedded in one of the billions of
asteroids orbiting the sun
            and programmed to keep itself inconspicuous, could be out there
right now, and
            we probably wouldn't know it -- not now, or in the century to
come.

            Space Squid
            Bioengineering might one day
            create living creatures adapted to
            survival in space, their utility
            comparable to that of horses and
            mules in the winning of the West.
            Giant space birds could cruise the
            inner solar system, their wings
            sailing on sunlight. Farther out,
            where sunlight grows weak, "space
            squid" like those seen here live off
            the land, drawing volatile fuels from
            Jovian planets and water from
            comets to power their gentle but
            efficient propulsion systems. Such creatures would be welcome
companions out
            among the trillions of comets that some scientists have
envisioned as providing an
            inexhaustible supply of dwelling places for those humans
seeking the solitude --
            and lawlessness -- of abodes far from the madding crowds of the
inner solar
            system.

            Europa Probe
            An sea of liquid water is thought to lie
            beneath the global ice that sheathes
            Jupiter's satellite Europa -- an ocean that
            has been kept from freezing by thermal
            vents on the ocean floor. Such "black
            smokers" support abundant life in the icy,
            pitch-black depths of Earth's seas, so
            scientists speculate that there might be life
            on Europa too. Here, an instrumented probe
            has landed on Europa, melted a hole in the
            icecap -- no mean feat; the ice is probably
            more than two miles thick -- and dispatched
            a submarine to search the ocean floor. The
            pictures the sub sends back, distributed
            live on the Internet, offer to millions the
            chance of becoming the first to find
            extraterrestrial life.

            Table of Contents
            November 28, 1999

                           Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
------caption--

Orbiting Resort Hotel . A low-gravity swimming pool ranks high among the
attractions of a hypothetical
            resort in low-Earth orbit. Fashioned as a giant spinning wheel
-- its centrifugal force generating gravity so
            that ''up'' is always toward the hub -- the hotel offers zero-G
medical facilities and honeymoon suites at its
            center, and a more earthly one-G environment in the suites and
dining facilities along the rim. Space tourism
            is being taken seriously by hotel industry professionals, some
of whom have recently been turning up at
            conferences studying commercial uses for space. With Las Vegas
hotels costing billions, the start-up costs of
            such a venture are no longer regarded as impossibly high.
Indeed, NASA itself has offered 2017 as a possible
            completion date for the first space hotel.

---
-- 
Jay Respler
--
          JRespler@superlink.net 
SKY VIEWS: http://mars.superlink.net/jrespler/skyviews.htm
   Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector
           Freehold, New Jersey
        


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