[SpaceProgram] DARPA-RA-11-70 100YSS Notification

[Alex Cureton-Griffiths]

I'm a fan of the one man closed habitat idea - once we achieve that
it's something we could scale to larger habitats, plus it's something
that the average person (i.e. non-hacker) can relate to and thus more
likely to find funds via kickstarter, etc

On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 12:08 PM, cole santos <cksantos85 at gmail.com> wrote:
> JP Aerospace is a perfect example of hackerspace possible projects.
>
> I have some ideas for near term projects that can generate cashflow
> with productization,
>
> 1. Magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) generator for extracting power from
> rocket exhaust. (help out JP, not much cash here though)
> 2. One man closed habitat - Pressurized co2 enriched algae tanks to
> process co2 and provide food. Biogas to process waste and create
> rocket fuel. Also methane for power using solid oxide fuel cells
> 3. Using hydrogen sulfide from biogas to leach ore. (used for asteroid
> mining with human waste by products)
> 4. Electrostatic confinement fusion (see project promethius)
> 5. Mini chloralkali electrolysis as well as mini haber-bosch for
> in-situ chemical synthesis
> 6. Aeroponic Aquaponics using biogas effluent as a nutrient source.
>
> Long term projects should center around mining asteroids for platinum
> everything else is just science and misplaced dreams. Going down a
> gravity well for no apparent reason besides exploration seems silly to
> me.
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Atrus <atrus6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Except, there really isn't that much difference in gravity from the surface
>> of the earth, 10km or in orbit.
>>
>> g on the
>> surface: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+%5Bg+%3D+%286.67*10%5E-11+*+5.9442*10%5E24%29+%2F+%286378100%29%5E2%2C+g%5D
>>
>> g 10km
>> up: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+%5Bg+%3D+%286.67*10%5E-11+*+5.9442*10%5E24%29+%2F+%286378100%2B10000%29%5E2%2C+g%5D
>>
>> ISS orbit (410 km up)
>> : http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=solve+%5Bg+%3D+%286.67*10%5E-11+*+5.9442*10%5E24%29+%2F+%286378100%2B410000%29%5E2%2C+g%5D
>>
>> This is why launching rockets on a platform will only make the actual launch
>> more difficult. You still have to reach escape velocity to obtain orbit, the
>> only thing you would be doing by launching a rocket at a higher altitude
>> would be the face that you would have to hit that velocity in a shorter
>> distance.
>>
>> Tim Butram
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Stuart Young <cefiar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Jan 3, 2012 11:27 AM, "Atrus" <atrus6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > What exactly is the benefit of having a high altitude launch platform?
>>> > You would still need to reach essentially the same escape velocity, but only
>>> > have ~half the distance to achieve that velocity. That seems like a worse
>>> > trade off (assuming that your perceived benefit is less air resistance).
>>>
>>> Benefits (apart from air resistance):
>>>
>>> 1. Less gravity to escape (inverse square law).
>>> 2. Less fuel to carry in the actual rocket (less mass to move to get a
>>> payload to escape velocity), which should make things simpler (no need for
>>> multiple stages, simpler avionics).
>>> 3. Less differences in engine design (high/low atmospheric pressure
>>> compensation in design not necessary) which simplifies engine and avionics
>>> design.
>>>
>>> And that is just the ones that I can think off of the top of my head.
>>>
>>> Btw: Written from my phone, while on site at a client, so pls excuse any
>>> errors in the text.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cef
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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