S P A C E G E N E R A T I O N
philosophy | ethics | social governance | new frontier spaces

WE, the unlikely contributors of the global space generation, are 'of first water' or facets of the 'first cut'. Being of first water we have the privlege, and responsibility, to consider new forms and modes of human habitation in terrestrial and non-terrestrial space. This includes considerations of the conditions, processes and principals for human habitation and the acknowledgement that the steps that we take now, will serve as political, technological, societal, biological, ecological and philosophical grounds for the interpretation and implimentation of secondary generation models. When and where do we begin considering the responsibilities of the first human settlement on another planet? Furthermore, why is it critical timing to discuss the philosophy, ethics, social governance and factors affecting human activities underwater, in aerospace and outerspace and the future human settlement of these spheres?


Luna Gaia NASA Ames Visit, Nov 2006.
Nil Garcia (ES), Francesc Betorz (ES), James Chartres (AU), Jonathon Hofeller (US), Jessica Scott (CA), Jeroen Vandersteen (BE), Dr. Sarah Jane Pell (AU), Stephen Eisele (US), Sara Poirier (CA), Michelle Murray (US), Kwan-Ting Ho (CA), Erin Tranfield (CA).


Contributions to the Space Generation Advisory Council
in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications

Sarah Jane Pell has been invited to the Space Generation Advisory Council: an organisation of young professionals in support of the United Nations programme on Space Applications. Dr. Pell will be a delegate at the Space Generation Advisory Congress, Hyderabad India Sep 20-22, 2007 to work on a 'Moon Mars Workshop Habitat Design Competition': one of nine group projects being undertaken in preparation for a presentation to the International Astronautical Congress, Hyderabad, India 24-30 Sep 2007 and forthcoming publications. This page is designed as a compilation of thoughts, citations and arguments about the processes and issues arising from this undertaking. It is not the intention of this page to function as a formal paper rather, a transparent working document recording private musings and contributions to these conversations. http://hyderabad.spacegeneration.org/

'Moon Mars Workshop Habitat Design Competition

Define, design, distribute and manage an annual, international design competition that sets the challenge, and opportunity, for people all over the world, to imagine, construct models and propose various ideas, solutions and scenarios for future human habitats on lunar and martian territories. The SGAC Moon Mars Workshop Habitat Design Competition is a timely space-project management and outreach challenge. It is also an opportunity to consider the philosophical, ethical and social governance issues of these new frontier spaces. Raising public awareness for human spaceflight activities with focus on lunar exploration initiatives by setting up an annual habitat design contest to involve the broad public, especially young people to develop designs for a human base on the moon'.

Designing for living and not just surviving | 17 May, 2007 - 21:06

There are a few great points here.
1. The ISS is a marvellous example of short-duration mission habitation design but it is clearly a caravan-style equivalent to the type of home/laboratory/colony/base ideas that will be required for long-duration off-Earth habitation. The design ergonomics for long duration must consider the mission operation requirements and human factors requirements in new ways. Many of these factors are unknown and unparalleled by prior research but there are many base line indicators that we can draw upon (such as the ISS, Arctic/ Antarctic and Underwater Analogues). The main priority should be to protect and support the physical and psychological health of the inhabitants. Secondly, the utilitarian function of the architecture and the life-support system as a whole. Since the architecture must play a critical life-sustaining and life-protecting role, I like to consider it as a body. Each system and architecture can be parallelled to the main systems of the body: Nervous, Respiratory, Digestive etc... and it must perform as a whole unit with a natural growth cycle and a realistic life cycle of components.

2. ... The shell/membrane should provide protection from radiation and lunar dust and the mechanisms within/through the architecture should provide basic life support needs i.e. fresh air, water, food, an environment to sleep, manage waste and psychological wellness factors such as designing for the social and personal needs of the inhabitants.

3. In order to address the issue of facility it is important to consider some of the habitat functions by asking what is its purpose? Are we considering a tourism hotel, a scientific laboratory or a military base for rotating personnel who are there to perform mining operation, construction or survey work? What are the constraints and objectives here?

4. We should definitely talk on this.



Interplanetary Internet Network (IPN) | 17 May, 2007 - 19:59

Considering both Moon-to-Earth (M2E) communications and Moon-to-Moon (M2M) communications, I recommended the definition of a common standard of operation, data collection and information transfer system. This should extend to all:

Time stamping and synchronisation

I have included arguments for these approaches in Luna Gaia: a closed loop habitat for the moon, Final Report First Edition 2006, SSP06, Strasbourg, France, International Space University. It is too large to upload to this site but all 168 pages is available online at http://ssp06.isunet.edu/ I will find some websites for the two teams I know of dedicating research to this. Do we have a growing reference list somewhere? Google are also moving to the NASA Ames Research Center site in the Bay Area. It would be worth talking to Google about their Lunar communication plans too. Anyone working on Lunar Google?



NEEMO 12 Mission Communications Systems | 17 May, 2007 - 20:14

I find it helpful to acknowledge where we are at with technology today so that we recognise the advantages and limitations of our current visions with the view to inspiring new possibilities for the future. It is my feeling that we can be enboldened by the possibilities of today and our imaginings for the the future...

NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission, is based in an underwater laboratory called Aquarius situated five kilometres of the coast of Florida. Mission 12 is transmitting the video required for interactive robotic telesurgery experiments using the hai1000 MPEG-4 AVC multi-stream low latency video codecs. See NASA & NOAA sites.

"The telesurgery experiments will use the HaiVision hai1000 codec to transmit multiple video streams from Aquarius including those from a stereo video camera enabling precise control of the robot by surgeons over 1000 miles away. In addition, the hai1000 will support bi-directional audio video communications. The high performance network video will be transported over the internet. The hai1000 uses the latest MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 video compression allowing multiple video channels to be transmitted and received synchronously. MPEG-4 provides a 60% savings in bandwidth historically required by MPEG-2 to achieve the same DVD quality video. The hai1000 as well provides extremely low end to end latency, about 160 milliseconds. Sustained extreme low latency is important for communications such as telepresence, but is essential while trying to maintain hand-eye coordination while using a surgical robot remotely, states Dr. Timothy Broderick, a NEEMO 12 crewmember and Associate Professor of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. HaiVision has developed products that are ideal for advanced medical applications and has dedicated excellent engineering support to advance our research in telesurgery. Broderick also serves as is the Director of the University of Cincinnatis Advanced Center for Telemedicine and Surgical Innovation (ACTSI). Ref. http://www.prnewsnow.com
Datasheet Link - www.haivision.com/products/hai1000/. "



Psychological Architectures & Opportunities | 17 May, 2007 - 22:07

We need to factor the psychological wellness of future lunar inhabitants in unison with the physical health requirements indeed. Careful, creative and innovative solutions that seek to prepare, adapt, process and counter, the effects of long-term effects of lunar habitation are needed. Solutions that may address the personal, social, group utility and behaviour-shaping of the entire system could include conventional solutions in: Training; Monitoring; Therapy, Architectural design; Pharmacological intervention; Physical programs; Public/Private Space consideration; Communications systems; Incorporating Earth-based comforts in the new 'home' and so on. Some entertaining ideas may include:

Aesthetics i.e. considering human needs in terms of architectures and fixtures to stimulate, sate and comfort the lunar inhabitant through pleasing colour, light, texture, pattern and spatial dynamics.



Bioengineering lunar regolith: risk & cost | 17 May, 2007 - 22:25

There are many people who would welcome the opportunity to use bioengineered bacteria to liberate oxygen from the regolith however the techniques, risk, cost and productivity of this option should be further evaluated and demonstrated. For example, further research into materials handling, contamination procedures and containment equipment should be re-evaluated since we already know that lunar dust corroded everything on the Apollo missions. Furthermore, we should be prepared with policy, protocol and mechanisms to minimize any possible harmful effects, in the instance that a life form, or mutation be discovered.



The ethics of the Science Activities we choose | 18 May, 2007 - 17:54

To ensure the fruits of exploration, science and discovery are directed an ethically appropriate and consider manner, we must examine the motivations and hesitations of the individuals and states involved in space activities as well as those on the peripheries of space: particularly nations without the capital to participate and benefit first-hand. For example, are we talking about creating a lab/base/colony/habitat that could enable off-planet laboratory facilities to conduct exploration and experimentation that might otherwise be impossible on earth. Would this eventually facilitate dangerous, difficult, politically and ethically challenging experimentation and exploration? It is important to recognize the responsibilities that are associated with “the development of independent life-bearing, and more important life-evolving environments" as they may profound implications for Earth. Contamination is indeed a very serious consideration as it cross-contamination and potential destruction. Particular attention must be paid to these matters at the outset in order to plan effectively and to garner new insights and knowledge for wider reaching solutions to terrestrial concerns....Ref. Luna Gaia.



Centrifuge Induced Artificial Gravity | 21 May, 2007 - 01:58

T.A. Heppenheimer, author of Colonies in Space, Warner Books, proposed as a luxurious circular pool for use in space in 1977. Kalpana One: A New Space Colony Design 2006 by Al Globus, Ankur Baloria, Nitin Arora has capitalised on the idea suggesting that "Since the swimming pool wraps around the axis of rotation, one can swim continuously without turns and dives straight up are possible. To provide sufficient pseudo-gravity to keep the water in the pool at a 30-40m radius, the pool may be spun at greater than 2rpm and maintained in place by electro-magnetic bearings. These bearings are similar to the levitation and propulsion systems used in maglev trains, but with much lower performance requirements. In addition to recreation, water is an excellent radiation shield, so the swimming pool can double as a solar storm shelter. For 0g hotel rooms, the 2rpm rotation rate is an irritation. People and objects will tend to collect on one wall. Hotel rooms may be despun and maintained on electro-magnetic bearings similar to those used for the swimming pool." It was a glorious vision but the scale required to hold a body of open water through centrifugal induced artificial gravity was too large to be feasible - from memory he had calculated something like a 200m dia. at a rotation rate that would make us ill. I am most inspired by the potentials for combining aqueous architectures and Centrifuge Induced Artificial Gravity principals all the same. Both provide a vibration and radiation protected environment to perform omni-directional resistive exercises and stretching and terrific psychological countermeasure or hydrotherapy.

Antarctica Inspiration | 21 May, 2007 - 01:58

BradChad [Space Generation] made a comment about the similarity between life in Space and life in Antarctica. He suggested that the main difference was the consideration of lunar dust and altered gravity and while I find this an oververt simplification, the parallel has inspired me to think of designs for solid water, or at least contained bodies of water, on slower rotation. An innovative idea may be to consider using centrifugal principals and the specific weight, temperature and salinity of salt-water ice to 'float' and 'weight' various components to reduce mass and spin requirements...??? Anyone want to do some figures for me if I email some designs? We could be onto something here...How exciting!! I'll do some brainstorming...There is always a chance that I have no idea what I am talking about.



Space compared with Land and Sea

Air, water, weather, climate, and vegetation within the Earth-Moon System are exclusively indigenous to this planet.3 Land forms and natural resources are restricted to the Earth, Moon, and asteroids. Cosmic radiation, solar winds, micrometeorites, and negligible or neutralized gravity are unique properties of space. Near vacuum is present everywhere except on Earth and vicinity.

Space and the seas are superficially similar, but differences are dramatic:

Continents bound all five oceans, which are liquid and almost opaque, whereas space has no shape and little substance.
Earth's curvature limits sea surface visibility to line-of-sight, whereas visibility as well as manoeuvre room is virtually limitless in space.



The Earth-Moon System

Acoustics, an antisubmarine warfare staple, play no part in space, because sound cannot survive in a vacuum.
Space welcomes electromagnetic radiation, whereas water is practically impervious to radio and radar waves.
Day-night cycles and shock waves, which are prevalent everywhere on Earth, are nonexistent in space.
Atmospheric phenomena and salt water interfere with light and focused energy rays on Earth, but neither refract in space.
Space moreover has no north, east, south, or west to designate locations and directions. A nonrotating celestial sphere of infinite radius, with its center at Earth's core, is the reference frame. Declination, the astronomical analog of latitude, is the angular distance north or south of the celestial equator, right ascension is the counterpart of longitude, and the constellation Aries, against which spectators on Earth see the sun when it crosses Earth's Equator in springtime, defines the prime meridian. Angular positions in space are measured from that celestial counterpart of Greenwich Observatory.

Distances in space are meaningful mainly in terms of time. Merchant ships en route from the U.S. Pacific coast to the Persian Gulf typically take about a month to sail 12,000 nautical miles (22,240 kilometers). Apollo 11 flew to the Moon, 20 times as far, in slightly more than 3 days. Real time communications, transmitted at 186,000 miles per second (the speed of light on Earth and in space) are possible despite great distances--the delay between Earth and Moon amounts to about 1 second.



The Impirialism of Space

Warfare was confined largely to conflicts on land, the natural habitat of all human beings, until about 700 B.C., when Phoenician strategists introduced ships designed explicitly for combat at sea. Persian armed forces initiated major amphibious operations at Marathon in 490 B.C. and a decade later engaged a Greek fleet at Salamis in the first large-scale naval battle.1 Land and sea thereafter remained the only military arenas until the 20th century, when air forces, then military operations in space, added third and fourth dimensions that generate ceaseless interservice jockeying to consolidate or expand geographical jurisdictions.

http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/Books%20-%201998/Military%20Geography%20March%2098/milgeoch14.html

An astrocentric school of thought devoted to military space, in early formative stages at this moment, concentrates on the Earth-Moon System, because interplanetary conflicts had seemed far in the future. The central theme is still indistinct, but may well revolve around lunar libration points L-4 and L-5, then adapt MacKinder's Heartland Theory with words something like these:
Who rules circumterrestrial space commands Planet Earth;
Who rules the moon commands circumterrestrial space;
Who rules L-4 and L-5 commands the Earth-Moon System.


The Moving Finger writes:
and having writ,
Moves on; nor all Piety
nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel
half a line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out
a Word of it.

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam
Edward Fitzgerald's Translation