EnterSpace

Space S&T as an innovation pathway for Earth sustainability

PISCES will be posting our presentations on their website shortly, but in the meantime here's a link to the presentation I gave last week at the PISCES 2012 conference on the Big Island.

Btw, Buzz Aldrin was in the house and gave a great presentation on his Mars Cycler concept. I think Buzz can talk orbital mechanics all day long. It was an honor to have him there, and a pleasure to have several good conversations with him (mostly about scuba diving in New Guinea and Fiji!).

Download Burnett-PISCES_Presentation_Nov2012_v2 (PDF version)

 

International space S&T research as an innovation pathway for Earth sustainability

I have been a traveling madman for the last several months (Fiji, Florida, Texas) and haven't had time to post much lately, and likely won't for another couple of weeks. But in the meantime, here is the abstract of a presentation I will give at the 2012 PISCES (Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems) conference "Pioneering Planetary Surface Systems Technologies and Capabilities" that will meet on the Big Island of Hawaii next week.

International space S&T research as an innovation pathway for Earth sustainability

Burke Burnett
Executive Secretary
Pacific Science Association
burnett@pacificscience.org

Abstract:

The 21^st Century will see the planet warm, human populations rise toward 10b, and escalating stresses on food, water, and energy resources. As governments rise to face a series of serious and interconnected environmental, demographic, and humanitarian threats, increasingly constrained public budgets may challenge current rationales for government space programs. This need not be the case. Only through major technological advances will an expanding human population that is able to enjoy modest levels of prosperity be consistent with economic systems that do not exceed so-called “planetary boundaries”. Given the unique problem set of space exploration as well as the inherently multidisciplinary, collaborative nature of such efforts, space S&T research is one of the critical innovation pathways that can significantly advance sustainability technologies. For example, the pursuit of new and more effective technologies to keep a crew safely housed with reliable food supplies and access to energy, telemedicine, sanitation, and communication on the ultimate resource-poor “island” of the moon will surely help drive innovations that facilitate sustainability solutions for not only the island states of the Pacific, but the world. In addition, the future of science and technology research increasingly lies in cross-disciplinary collaborations that link various research networks both within and among countries. International space-related research, of which PISCES and ILRP are exemplary examples, is an important endeavor worthy of greater public appreciation and support.

Image credit: PISCES

Space agriculture and the coming famines

The world faces looming food production problems, and - strange as it may sound off the bat - space settlement research may be one of the keys to addressing it.

Check out this short essay from David Frum, my favorite conservative thinker, on what he sees as likely agricultural crises next year. Food being rather important to people, Frum expects such crises to have serious political implications especially in the developing world. As you may remember, the Tahrir Square revolution in Egypt began with popular discontent over the high price of bread. 

I don't know if Frum's prediction for 2013 will turn out to be accurate or not, but with climate change impacts, loss of agricultural land to urbanization, soil loss, resource constraints, and a global population increase of 40% or more in the next couple of decades (which will require global agricultural output to double), you can bet that it will be in coming years and decades. I would definitely bet on low-cost, high-output sustainable agriculture being one of the major growth industries of the future. 

The impacts on agriculture from climate change driven droughts, floods, and heat stress are obvious. You're probably also aware of looming local and regional water shortages, soil loss, and soil salinization. But the biggest resource issue you've probably never heard of is the likely shortfall in phosphorus, one of the major elements of fertilizer. 

And here's where space comes in. Space-derived technologies are one of the ways we're going to be able to address agriculture production issues. I'm not suggesting this will be sufficient - there are lots of tedious drought/flood-resistant crop R&D, new irrigation technologies, and a myriad of other disciplinary approaches that are as or more important. Funding in those areas should be top priority - yes, even above space funding. But my bet is that space agriculture will turn out to make important contributions to the bigger puzzle of how to feed 10 billion people.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying we'd grow food off-world and ship it to Earth. I am saying that the technologies needed to figure out how to grow stuff up there have critical applications to solve sustainability problems on Earth. If we can figure out how to feed a crew of 6 or 8 in a self-sufficient manner on the surface of the moon or Mars, using only (very limited!) local ISRU inputs, we'll have also made significant contribution to solving food production constraints on Earth. Mine is a spinoff argument, not a colonization one.

This will become a big issue of the future. If not in 2013...then soon enough.

Read Frum's essay after the jump.

Image: Aerofarms

Rock on, Planetary Resources. (VIDEO)

Planetary Resources introductory promotional video below. Obviously there are lots of technical hurdles (as well as financial ones), but this is great stuff.

I wasn't sure until their announcement, but it seems that this endeavor will be solely robotic in nature. (In the Q&A, they did say they may collaborate with NASA on future manned asteroid missions. Indeed, the entire venture is proposed as a public/private partnership.) But if they are successful, Planetary Resources will establish the infrastructure that will enable a fuel depot strategy for human exploration of points beyond. Getting whatever metals they may be able to produce for the Earth market will be very costly to return given current technology. Billions of $$$ of platinum metals back on Earth would be phase two (and tricky). Harvesting water, electrolzying that into hydrogen and oxygen to create fuel depots is highly likely to be the major part of PR's initial phase of their business model. PR would be able to provide gas and water to NASA and others in cislunar space, and human spaceflight will become vastly more economic. 

Yes, this will be very technically challenging - and expensive. I recognize it's far easier said than done. But not only do we need this kind of can-do, get-big-stuff-done thinking - we need a hell of a lot more of it.

Rock on, Planetary Resources.

Neil Tyson: We Need New Arguments To Win Public Support for Space (SpaceNews.com)

By Jenny Deam

SpaceNews, 17 April 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — By doubling its investment in NASA, the U.S. government could recapture the public’s Apollo-era fascination with space travel while spurring new inventions that energize the economy, celebrity astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson said April 17.

In 1961, when then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy issued his bold challenge to land an American on the Moon by the end of the decade, the national appetite for science, invention and exploration was palpable. It seeped into nearly every corner of the culture, from sci-fi movies to car fins mimicking rocket ships. “Everybody was dreaming about tomorrow,” remembered Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, author and opening speaker of the 28th National Space Symposium here.

In the 40 years since the manned lunar exploration program ended, however, dreams shifted and the public’s enthusiasm waned. But it can be resurrected, Tyson insisted. The challenge for today’s space industry, amid deeply divisive politics, federal budgetary woes and an unconvinced public, is to try to recreate excitement but to also understand that not everyone is going to share the vision. “Non-space people don’t feel the same way [we do],” he acknowledged. “The old arguments are tired. We need new arguments.”

A crossover sensation of part science geek, part rock star, Tyson has carved out a unique place in today’s pop culture landscape as he spreads the message of space travel everywhere from “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” to a cameo on the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.”

In his signature fiery yet amiable style, Tyson firmly rejects the prevailing wisdom that the economy cannot support renewed space travel and that NASA is merely an outdated vanity special-interest project. That thinking needs to be combated at every turn, he said. “This is not a handout but an investment,” he said. The industry must do a better job of reminding the public how important space technology is to our everyday life, from GPS in our cars to weather forecasting. “You talk about ways that space matters to people who don’t care about space,” he said.

Human spaceflight is a critical technology pathway for Earth sustainability

Science journalist Chris Mooney has Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on his Point of Inquiry podcast today to
discuss Tyson's new book "Space Chronicles". Mooney called for questions for Dr. Tyson on his Facebook page, and a woman named Christine asked the (good) question: "Beyond helping spur a culture of innovation (although important), are there specific ways that space exploration can help us deal with the very big problems we are facing on this planet, like climate change and water scarcity?" Here is my reply:

Christine, yes - space exploration can incentivize and support the development of new technologies that will facilitate sustainable economies on Earth.

One way to think about it is this: the technology innovation aspects of the space program of the 60s were in large degree about solving the problem of making electronics and other equipment smaller - much smaller - in order to get humans to the Moon. The Apollo program was thus enormously successful in (among other things) spurring the miniaturization of electronics and providing a critical boost for computing technologies that we are still benefiting from today. Miniaturization and computing technology got the boosts they needed and are now self-sustaining trends.

The technological problems we'd face in getting humans into deep space, or to the moon for extended periods is different than in the 60s. Think of it this way: if you can keep 4 or 5 humans alive on the Moon for months at a time, with a bare minimum of air/water/food resources, the technologies we would need to develop to do that successfully will help drive solutions to feeding, housing, and providing energy to 7 (or 9 or 12) billion people back on Earth. The Bloom Box fuel cell now used by Google, eBay, etc. to provide much of their electricity was first funded by NASA in order to solve the problem of generating electricity to astronauts on Mars.

As someone who works on conservation/climate issues, I think the conservation/Earth sustainability line of argument to support human spaceflight has not been sold as well as it could be. Yet.

Sometimes you gotta think non-linear to get to the solution you're looking for: if you want to solve sustainability problems on Earth, maybe we have to send people off the planet to do so.

via www.facebook.com

I'll be fleshing out this argument soon, which I think supports and extends Tyson's excellent argument. (Maybe he's already made the same point - I just bought his book but haven't yet read it.)

Japanese firm wants to transform the Moon into a giant solar power plant

Japanese construction firm The Shimizu Corporation is proposing to build the Luna Ring - a belt of solar cells around the Moon’s equator. The solar cells would convert the sun's electricity to powerful microwaves and lasers and beam it back to Earth where it would be converted back into electricity at terrestrial power stations. Shimizu claims that the Luna Ring could meet the entire world's energy needs.

My first reaction is to say that I'll start taking this seriously when Shimizu - which according to Wikipedia "has annual sales of approximately US $14 billion and has been widely recognized as one of the top 5 contractors in Japan and among the top 20 in the world" - puts up a sizeable amount of its own cash into not just a conceptual design, but starts building something and talking to SpaceX or MoonExpress.

Technological and financial issues aside, this not completely crazy. The Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 wasn't just about the initial trauma. It's turning into a series of rolling traumas, as neighborhoods even as far away as the Tokyo Metropolitan area are finding radioactive hotspots in parking lots and schoolyards. The food supply is partly contaminated - for God knows how long. This was a watershed event in Japanese consciousness, and there is an unmistakeable shift in popular opinion away from nuclear power, which has been main source of electricity since the 1960s.

Post-Fukushima Japan is likely to start making large and smart investments in non-nuclear sources of energy. Whether or not the Luna Ring is something that will ever get off the ground or not is another question. Stranger things have happened, but it's premature to take this as anything more than a concept at this point. However, for many reasons - most importantly the climate change-driven imperative to move towards zero-carbon sources of energy, I do think it is wise to start looking closely at space solar power. Collaborating with Japan would be a great place to start.

More details after the jump.

Food science challenges for NASA missions to Mars

NASA study concludes - as we kind of knew - that current food systems are inadequate for long-duration spaceflights without compromising crew members' health and performance. There was a good episode of Nova Science Now on this subject a month or two ago. Seems that blueberries are a magic food in helping to prevent DNA/cell damage from cosmic radiation.

But still:

"If we go to Mars, we need a five year shelf life of food and that means we need to start looking at new technologies to start preserving the food," said Michele Perchonok, Advanced Food Technology Manager at NASA and one of the study authors.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110305133527.htm

For long-duration missions like Mars, I don't see how there's any way around the need to grow some of the food in the spacecraft. And for that, we're going to need a much bigger capsule than Orion. Calling Bigelow...

What's also interesting is the potential spinoff health applications of this research for human health back on Earth.