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#1 Re: Human missions » Spacesuits - personal spaceship » 2021-12-06 22:20:22
Did a bit more Googling (Apollo spacesuits). I found a book by Nicholas de Monchaux entitled _Space Suit_ (amazon.com). Current price is $19.25.
The link below mentions (very briefly) the lady seamstresses who worked for ILC Dover "the sole contractor for all United States spacesuits since the first Apollo mission." Also mentions suits on Mars, in the context of: "The current suit would be useless in the extreme conditions of Mars":
...So, finding this to be interesting, I searched for images of the mentioned seamstresses and for information on Nicholas de Monchaux.
What I found, might be of interest to anyone interested in either of those topics:
(YouTube)Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo | Nicholas de Monchaux | Talks at Google
In his talk on Spacesuits, he covers a lot of interesting history in suit design and mentions the seamstresses, as well, in section (chapter?) 14
14. The Handmade
#2 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Nuclear power is safe » 2021-12-06 17:18:33
Just saw this... Some folks from Tesla's energy research have started a company to build microreactors.
Radiant Nuclear (https://www.radiantnuclear.com/)
Marketwatch's interview with Radiant CEO Doug Bernauer
DB: ...We use a meltdown-proof TRISO fuel, consisting of poppy seed-sized capsules surrounding tiny grains of fuel. These particles can’t melt, and if they were dropped on the ground, they could be easily scooped up. We also use helium coolant, which uniquely doesn’t become radioactive. A helium leak would be insignificant, while the existing water-cooled reactors and new molten salt reactor leaks would both be hazardous and with potential to contaminate the ground.
- Developing 'Kaleidos', a 1.2 MW fission reactor. (Claim: Enough power for about 1,000 homes)
- Targeting applications that are, "Any off-grid location, especially in cold regions"
- Expect to bring product to market in 2028.
#3 Re: Life support systems » 3D Printers » 2021-12-05 16:58:42
Hello, all... I'm new and this is my first post (so be gentle...)
I bought a 3D printer back in April of 2020 on Amazon.
The ANYCUBIC Chiron 3D Printer I bought isn't great at extremely fine detail, but I was able to print a neck ring I designed for a helmet-based breathing system, which is 11.25" wide.
My Chiron is a filament deposition printer (uses spools of filament). Finer details can be achieved using resin printers, but the gases and spillage need to be considered. Personally, I was more interested in creating larger parts and prototyping things, rather than making small detailed items (such as D&D miniatures and jewelry).
Other 3D Printing topics of interest to usage on Mars:
Solar Sintering (Markus Kayser) (https://www.dezeen.com/2011/06/28/the-s … us-kayser/)
Something I didn't see mentioned in this thread is "Solar Sintering". Markus Kayser has created a 3D printing device that uses the power of the sun (directly, via lensing) to melt sand into glass via a sintering process (where a laser is used to melt/fuse a powdered material to form walls at a certain height and then material is swept back over the surface and leveled to the appropriate height for the next layer. The result is that you're slowly burying the newly created object in the powder (sand in this case), as you're building it layer by layer. When done, you dig the object out of the powder and you're ready to level the powder and start your next build.
Markus Kayser's Solar Sintering project seems of particular interest to a future Mars colony if there is silica readily available in the environment and if the sunlight can be appropriately focused to achieve the same sintering effect on Mars. Much like my printer, this may not be great for objects that require high precision and detail, but may be useful for making bowls, plates... even glass bricks to allow for ambient light in housing, perhaps.
Self-Replicating Printers (https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap)
The Rep-Rap project is a bit old at this point, but the idea behind it was to design a 3D printer that could be assembled by parts that were printable by that same 3D printer. This would allow for the creation of however many printers you might need, if you had one printer and the materials to use to print the rest. At least considering such a goal of "self-replicating" 3D printers would be a good thing, as initial people on mars will have only what they brought with them and what is already on Mars to use.
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