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2004-06-14 Home Front: Tech

Moon-to-Mars Commission Recommends Major Changes at NASA

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Posted by Zenster 2004-06-14 12:36:40 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I'm still awaiting microgravity made anything. It's pretty much a bust so far.

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-14 7:15:28 AM|| 2004-06-14 7:15:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Shipman, I have an killer product requiring micro-gravity and need somewhere to test it. Any suggestions?

Sorry to pick on you. While I am in favor of space exploration, I think trying to justify it through economic spinoffs is very questionable. Its like scientific research. It develops knowledge and that is its justification. The economic benefits will result, but there is no direct linkage and the relationship is complex.

Posted by Phil B 2004-06-14 9:44:10 AM|| 2004-06-14 9:44:10 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 We are in 100 percent agreement Phil B. But don't try to sell it with zero gravity cancer cures or alloys from the far side. Sell it as pure basic science and exploration and adventure.

I'll sign off on that in a heart beat. Lets put a 350 inch telescope on the lunar surface starting tomorrow.

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-14 10:26:49 AM|| 2004-06-14 10:26:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Currently you can't build anything in any quantity, we've never really gotten passed the testing stage. That's why its a bust so far.

If someone put up a spacestation/business park that companies could attach their own modules to I think you'd see massive growth in space industry.

I bet Intel and IBM wouldn't mind having the cleanest clean room available. I bet microgravity would remove the imperfections in the wafers and give better yields all around. That's not even counting the pharmacuticals and metallurgical companies.

And don't forget to put the small hotel on the end of the business park to pick up some of the tourist dollars.

Posted by Ruprecht 2004-06-14 10:56:38 AM|| [politicaljunky.blogspot.com] 2004-06-14 10:56:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 My point being the Government monopoly has been unhelpful. I think the current plan is heading in the right direction.

Posted by Ruprecht 2004-06-14 10:57:18 AM|| [politicaljunky.blogspot.com] 2004-06-14 10:57:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 I bet Intel and IBM wouldn't mind having the cleanest clean room available. I bet microgravity would remove the imperfections in the wafers and give better yields all around. That's not even counting the pharmacuticals and metallurgical companies.

How much would they bet?

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-14 11:01:06 AM|| 2004-06-14 11:01:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 If there is a sudden chip shortage I expect Intel and IBM to divy right up and commence cranking out the purest of chip sets. I'll bet they make a fortune doing it.
:)

Mean while back at the ranch efficiencies of scale are more likely to reduce cost.

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-14 11:04:09 AM|| 2004-06-14 11:04:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Space is and will be a big BUST as long as its open only to governments. Thats why I have a lot of interest in Scaled Composits. Its the first private space flight scheduled to take place June21.

The "space race" is dead. Now its time to let business in to really get it moving.

Posted by Anonymous5211 2004-06-14 11:27:14 AM|| 2004-06-14 11:27:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 damn - lost my ID again.

Anonymous5211 = Yosemite Sam

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2004-06-14 11:33:06 AM|| 2004-06-14 11:33:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Sam,
June 21st is my birthday (55, yikes!) and I used to live right down the road from Burt and the SC facility, so I am really pulling for the big one to come off as expected.
Burt Rutan and SC have what is probably the most remarkable record in the history of aviation, a string of unbroken successes and spectacular innovations without a single fatality.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2004-06-14 1:12:39 PM|| 2004-06-14 1:12:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 I am hopeful for SC too. But for awhile big space is going to require big government so lets do big science even though it cost big bucks. :)

More bigger telescopes!

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-14 1:31:33 PM|| 2004-06-14 1:31:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 #4 Currently you can't build anything in any quantity ...

Au contraire, electrophoresis of special pharmaceuticals worth hundred or thousands of dollars per gram could easily be performed in a small orbital laboratory.

I bet Intel and IBM wouldn't mind having the cleanest clean room available.

Unless we have a space elevator, don't bet on any orbiting silicon foundries too soon. The immense launch cost for a fab line would outweigh the short pumpdown times. Contamination issues would still be a problem, especially lattice damage and soft errors due to hard radiation.

Here is a primer on orbital fabrication processes. As I mention in the OP, there are certain alloys and other materials that will only form in microgravity conditions.

The problem is that current materials available do not have the requisite structure and high enough quality to attain predicted performance levels. To improve their quality, materials can be grown as crystalline thin films in a vacuum chamber - but this technique, known as epitaxy, is limited by vacuum conditions in Earth-based chambers. A key to improving semiconductor materials, therefore, is to improve the vacuum environment for thin film growth.

That is the purpose of the Wake Shield Facility (WSF) program being conducted by the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center (SVEC) of the University of Houston, one of NASA's Centers for the Commercial Development of Space, in cooperation with a consortium of industrial partners led by Space Industries, Inc. (Sll), Houston, Texas. The aim of the program is to demonstrate that low Earth orbit (LEO) offers an "ultravacuum" for growing electronics materials of significantly higher quality than can be produced on Earth, and that these materials can be processed in situ, pointing the way toward future orbital manufacturing facilities producing increasingly sophisticated materials.

A good example of such materials is REAL (Rare Earth ALuminum oxide) glass. Produced under levitation conditions in terran laboratories, an orbital facility could crank out this material in bulk. It's application in fiber-optic communications and laser optics are more than a little promising.

Weber said that the new glass is currently being put through its paces for applications in high-density lasers and low-cost, compact broadband devices.

Such fabrication methods fall under the aegis of "containerless" processing. The absence of containment in the form of a crucible during the melt and solidification phase avoids contamination and other eutectic related processing issues.

Rest assured that I am vigorously cheering on Scaled Composities as they begin to open space for commercial purposes. Privatization of orbital ventures and facilities are a top priority for America to retain its technological pre-eminence.

Posted by Zenster 2004-06-14 3:04:30 PM|| 2004-06-14 3:04:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Hey - Happy B-Day AC! There will be on helluva big candle for you then!

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2004-06-14 6:06:23 PM|| 2004-06-14 6:06:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Happy Birth Sequence Atomic Conspiracy!

Let's get the hell out of low earth orbit. :)

Posted by Shipman 2004-06-14 7:23:34 PM|| 2004-06-14 7:23:34 PM|| Front Page Top

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