New Mars Forums

Digital currency has what to do with covid? Plus its nonsense that we are passing the disease around on currency.

All files that must be captured to be able to out live a paper copy is digital and that is not new.

So not knowing anything about a new disease or variant is perfectly fine, sounds like an osterage sticking the head in the sand...

So what do we know yet next to nothing other than https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FFDX5XyXIAQd8Q-?format=jpg&name=small
just how quickly the D variant was displaced by this new one

Wow just the mere mention and Oil prices drop more than 10% as virus variant threatens blow to demand

I'm not American but I guess I follow some US politics because if the US economy stumbles then most of the Western world will see its economic power fall and I understand the internal Nixon scandals but also think Nixon gets a lot of flak, sometimes he was wrong, he did have flaws, gutted space and ended Apollo, he is heavily criticized, however China Taiwan policy was part of a fallout from Chinese Nationalists vs Chinese Communists a power play that continued post WW2 up until  1949., the old school Taiwan Nationalists used to view the Communists as hijackers that stole their China unhappy when they lost the Civil War but Nationalists from the same group and heritage and language peoples flee to Taiwan, Nixon was clever enough to spilt the Russians and Chinese, this Sino-Soviet split politics would continue for many years while other admin perhaps made mistakes and have seen the Russians and Chinese grow closer. Nixon probably supported the 'One-China' policy not because he knew the entire history of wars in Asia but because it allowed him to eventually play China and Russia against each other.

The Daily Express has a news article ... maybe take with a pinch of salt

'Biden hits back! US shows off deadly technology as tensions soar with Russia and China'
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/ … space-news

and now maybe some think Opec or something will help the Oil Gasoline Market?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has scheduled a special Friday meeting to discuss a newly emergent and "heavily mutated" variant of COVID-19 that could bypass immunity provided by vaccines and prior infections.

South African scientists detected more than 30 mutations to the variant's spike protein. The spike proteins on the surface of the virus enable it to attach to human cells, infecting them and allowing the virus to replicate through the body.

The mutations of the virus may increase its contagiousness or make it capable of bypassing vaccines and any immunity from prior infections, the WHO said in a briefing.

Some of the mutations are so new that scientists have never seen them until now. As a result, medical experts aren't yet sure how the mutations may affect the variant's transmission or symptoms.

new-omicron-variant-stokes-world-fears-triggers-travel-bans

The dream in another thread?
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=7030
Mars - a multi-billion dollar economy within 5 years

Adding  some related discussion here

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=10075

SpaceNut wrote:

The white paper indicates a need for a first landing of cargo is a trial 2024 to say we have a proof of landing concept if successful on the landing to give a boot strap of 2 rockets with a max payload to the surface upward of 300mT. That paper also concludes that a pre-prepared landing site is needed is required for sustainability.

There is no indication that the ship count per each mission launch window will increase in this white paper. Its first human mission starts with a crew of 10 - 20 but is not indicated when that should happen or how large each successive crew sizing will increase. That leaves 7 missions remaining after the first few to do the build up.

That leaves a priority of the above list for buildup with the most critical being required.

I believe these are the top priorities...

2. Agriculture -  A full range of food crops will be produced:  salad vegetables, grains, fruit, beans, pulses etc. No animal farming will yet be undertaken (meat is imported).

5. Construction -  Using ISRU bricks, basalt, cement, concrete, glass, 3D printing techniques, Mars dust-sourced “rubber”  and steel frames,  the Mars settlement is able to construct its own habs for accommodation, farming and industry.

9. Energy  -  Mars now has a well developed energy sector based on PV power systems, solar reflectors,, chemical batteries, differential heat engines and methane/hydrogen production  Virtually all elements of the energy system can now be produced with ISRU on Mars, although PV film is still being imported from Earth.

8. Electrical -  The settlement is producing a range of chemical batteries, some of which are being used to power the Base Zone rovers and to even out power over a sol.  The settlement is now able to produce cable – plastic covered copper wiring.  Most copper wiring is being produced from recycled materials but some is being sourced from meteorites on the surface of Mars.

10. Food processing – Food processing is becoming a more important activity.  Some chilled meals and prepared salads are being produced. Nearly all food processing is automated. Food is refrigerated, turned into powder form, and frozen.

11. Life Support -  Life support (water, air and temperature control) is a key industry that generates income e.g. through sale to Universities, TV companies  and space agencies.

15. Transport  -  Mars is now able to produce its own rovers rather than having to import them.   Small pressurised Rovers are used to transfer from one hab to another with ease (it taking only five minutes to exit through air lock chambers.  The vehicles are kept small in order that airlocks can be on a small scale as well. Longer range rovers use methane and oxygen as their power systems.

16. Water -  Water is mined at large glaciers or ice deposits and transported in robot rovers to the Base where it is stored in shaded and regolith covered storage pits. Water recycling is a feature of nearly all processes.

Of course the remaining are the next tier of growth in that second 20 year as you continue to build up non returning crews.

1. Aerospace   -  Rocket hoppers and orbital rockets are now being produced.  The base will have a dedicated Spaceport.  A range of rocket fuels, such as LOX and methane will be produced.

3. Chemical industry  – The community’s ability to process and manipulate a wide range of materials will be in place. The settlement can produce Mars ISRU feedstock for plastics. Very pure silicon can be produced for electronics, computers and PV panels.

4. Computers -  The settlement is now able to produce basic computers which it is applying to life support systems.

6. Domestic goods -  The settlement is able to produce refrigerators, freezers, ovens, cookers, hobs, plumbing parts, kitchen utensils, cooking ware, basic furniture,  hygiene products (such as soap and toothpaste).

7. Education and research  -  An Earth-based University has established a Research Centre on Mars which is part of the base and forms an important part of the economy.

8. Electrical -  The settlement is producing a range of chemical batteries, some of which are being used to power the Base Zone rovers and to even out power over a sol.  The settlement is now able to produce cable – plastic covered copper wiring.  Most copper wiring is being produced from recycled materials but some is being sourced from meteorites on the surface of Mars.

9. Energy  -  Mars now has a well developed energy sector based on PV power systems, solar reflectors,, chemical batteries, differential heat engines and methane/hydrogen production  Virtually all elements of the energy system can now be produced with ISRU on Mars, although PV film is still being imported from Earth.

12. Metal industry  -  This is an important sector, producing steel supports for construction, steel tools for farming, steel bars and suspension springs for rovers.  Steel is used to produce gas cylinders and gas tanks. Aluminium is used in construction of airlocks and pressure cabins.

13. Pharmaceuticals -  This industry is at quite a primitive level. The community is only just beginning to produce basic medicines and other health products  such as paracetamol, some vitamins and minerals.

14. Textiles -  Basic clothing – cotton T shirts and trousers - are being produced.  Plans are in place for production of Mars ISRU space suits.

and

50 years after...
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=6180

By Louis

Seems we are using AI to see how our brains work.
Shock AI Discovery Suggests We've Not Even Discovered Half of What's Inside Our Cells

Inside every cell of the human body is a constellation of proteins, millions of them. They're all jostling about, being speedily assembled, folded, packaged, shipped, cut and recycled in a hive of activity that works at a feverish pace to keep us alive and ticking.

Microscopes, powerful as they are, allow scientists to peer inside single cells, down to the level of organelles such as mitochondria, the power packs of cells, and ribosomes, the protein factories. We can even add fluorescent dyes to easily tag and track proteins.

https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/ten … &h=530&m=6

Classic view of a Eukaryote cross section. (Mariana Ruiz/LadyofHats/Wikimedia)

Fusing image data from a library called the Human Protein Atlas and existing maps of protein interactions, the machine learning algorithm was tasked with computing the distances between protein pairs.

The goal was to identify communities of proteins, called assemblies, that co-exist in cells at different scales, from the very small (less than 50 nm) to the very 'large' (more than 1 μm).

One shy of 70 protein communities were classified by the algorithm, which was trained using a reference library of proteins with known or estimated diameters, and validated with further experiments.

Around half of the protein components identified are seemingly unknown to science, never documented in the published literature, the researchers suggest.

No wonder we are behind the ball on Covid....

For Louis....

The mission planner needs to be sure the tanks are full before the manned mission takes off from Earth

Assuming a two year cycle (I understand the actual interval is not exactly two years) ...

The ship to make fuel departs and takes 6 months to reach Mars.

The next launch window is two years from the launch above.

But the crew vessel needs months to prepare for launch.

If the fuel/oxidizer manufacturing process is complete after one year, then the crewed vessel has six months of worry free time to prepare.

If the fuel/oxidizer process takes the 500 days you seem to think acceptable, then the crewed mission has just 50 days to be sure the fuel is ready.

It seems to me wiser (more prudent) to plan to complete the fuel/oxidizer manufacture in less time rather than more time, in this situation.

Here are the numbers:

730 days (two year interval assumed)
180 days flight time for fuel manufacturing system to land on Mars (that is an optimistic number)
365 days for the manufacturing to complete
185 days for the crewed mission to prepare for launch

In your scenario:
730
180
500
50 days for crew to complete preparations

180-50 >> 130 days are wasted if the mission has to be terminated because the fuel is not ready.

In both cases, I'm assuming a minimum of six months are needed to prepare for a human mission.

Mission planners are likely to want the fuel/oxidizer reader sooner rather than later.

(th)