Calliban Postings including links to notable contributions

tahanson43206 · 2021-12-16 11:00:27

Calliban has been and continues to be a significant contributor to the forum.

There are ** many ** posts by Calliban that deserve to be indexed, and indeed, a number already are.

However, this new category of topic, created for us by Louis in recognition of the contributions of Mars_B4_Moon, did not include Calliban.

I'd like to start this new topic with this citation:
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 32#p188832

As is often the case with posts by Calliban, he starts with praise for the work of others, and then extends to idea set further.

The citation is from topic: Nuclear Powered Crawler-Transporter for Mars

Update 2024/03/10 Link to post with engineering drawing of asteroid mining ring:
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 47#p218747

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2021-12-19 18:39:59

Here is a link to another outstanding post by Calliban:

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 3#p188943/

In this (brief) essay, he considers the magnitude of the challenge humans would face, if they were to attempt to create a self-sufficient community on Mars.

He points out that no Nation on Earth has achieved self-sufficiency, even though the circumstances of life are significantly more favorable than would be the case on Mars.

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SpaceNut · 2021-12-19 19:33:28

We were more self sufficient back a century ago as individuals and families, as communities we did share and band together more than we do now.

tahanson43206 · 2021-12-19 21:07:38

For SpaceNut re #3 .... You've got a point .... the Native Americans were self-sufficient for centuries before the Europeans showed up.

Trade flourished within the bounds of the continent.

The life was comparatively low tech, but the technology was sophisticated for it's time.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-12-22 12:53:51

Posting in the meta area is intended to be positive commenting only for the individuals post which have been made.

Aka Thumbs up acknowledgement...

tahanson43206 · 2022-01-05 07:30:09

Nirvana! I am able to highlight a post of Calliban without intruding my ID in the topic!

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 28#p189828

This is another outstanding post by Calliban, of many we are fortunate to have stored in the archive.

This one appears (as I read it anyway) to provide a practical and (comparatively) inexpensive way to construct a landing pad for a vessel at Mars.

It is ** also ** worth noting that construction method proposed draws upon British invention and hard work during World War II.

I asked Google for snippets, and it came up with a nice collection:

Project Habbakuk: Britain's secret attempt to build an ice warship
www.cnn.com › style › article › project-habbakuk-ice-aircraft-carrier
Apr 26, 2018 · The dark depths of Lake Patricia in Canada still hide a secret that was once poised to change the course of World War II.
Project Habakkuk - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Project_Habakkuk
Project Habakkuk or Habbakuk (spelling varies) was a plan by the British during the Second World War to construct an aircraft carrier out of pykrete for use ...
History · Shooting incident · End of project · Criticism
British invasion of Iceland - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › British_invasion_of_Iceland
The invasion of Iceland (codenamed Operation Fork) by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines occurred on 10 May 1940, during World War II. ... To guard against this, troops would drive east to the landing grounds at ...
The Secret Story Of The Ice Airfield | Weapons and Warfare
weaponsandwarfare.com › 2017/04/23 › the-secret-story-of-the-ice-airfield
Apr 23, 2017 · The secret origin of Pykrete was nothing to do with Pyke, and Professor Mark surely deserves his own place in the history of World War II. Share ...
People also ask

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tahanson43206 · 2022-05-25 08:18:38

Here is another outstanding post by Calliban: http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 31#p195331

While this is just one of many equally valuable posts by Calliban, this one stands out because it provides a study of the Prometheus company concept for making synthetic fuel using CO2 and water as input.

SearchTerm:Prometheus analysis by Calliban - note value of CO2 concentration to enhance performance.

I note that output from a fossil fuel power plant is loaded with CO2.

The suggestion of Calliban, to cool the exhaust with liquid air would apply to the power plant output situation.

In the Zoom meeting of May 22nd, 2022, kbd512 pointed out that it takes energy to compress CO2 coming out of a power plant, or it takes energy to make liquid air to cool the exhaust. The amount of energy required should be identical, but the liquid air suggestion of Caliban has the major benefit that the compression machinery can be located away from the customer plant. The location of the downstream facility can't be ** too ** far from the customer site, because a pipeline would be the optimum way to deliver the liquid air to the customer site.

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tahanson43206 · 2022-10-03 12:56:31

This is a noteworthy post by Calliban .... http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 29#p201529

It is a concise assessment of the prospects for extraterrestrial life, with a nod to the Drake Equation.

SearchTerm:Drake equation
SearchTerm:Extraterrestrial life prospects for

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tahanson43206 · 2022-11-17 08:15:06

Innovative ideas are often found in Calliban postings. Occasionally, one of these rises above the rest, or perhaps fills a (perceived) need at a particular moment.

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 43#p203243

This post contains a vision of design for vehicles to operate on airless or hostile Solar System bodies. While the concept is written for the Lunar environment, it should work on Mars, and it would certainly work on the many airless bodies to be explored in the local neighborhood.

The design addresses distribution of "waste" heat as a beneficial byproduct, to keep the entire vehicle warm enough to retain integrity in space conditions. While some might imagine fuel cells would be a better solution, if I understand Calliban's argument correctly, the low proportion of waste heat from a fuel cell would fail to adequately heat the vehicle, so part of the output would have to be allocated to resistive heating.

In any case, this post by Calliban ** should ** stimulate additional creative thinking by readers.

(th)

Calliban · 2022-11-17 12:03:22

The vehicle could use a fuel cell. I havn't done any detailed calculations, but there are certain factors that make me sceptical of fuel cells for automotive power. A solid oxide fuel cell could have efficiency up to 60%, twice what you would get from a small GT. But a solid oxide fuel cell has power density of 10-15W/kg. That is extremely poor.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-to-weight_ratio

Each horsepower would need about 50-75kg of fuel cells. If you need a lot of power, as you do with soil moving equipment, the fuel cells would dominate vehicle mass. A turbo-diesel engine has about 50x the power/weight of a SOFC. But that is with diesel fuel. The same engine burning hydrogen would have much poorer power density because hydrogen has poor energy density and is an ideal gas under compression. A gas turbine delivers somewhere between 500-1000x the power/weight of a SOFC. Even using low energy density hydrogen, its P/W would be respectable.

Using a lightweight and compact engine helps compensate for the bulkiness of those compressed gas tanks. There are other problems with fuel cells. They are vulnerable to thermal and mechanical shock and membranes are fragile. And although efficiency looks good on paper, pumping losses subtract from theoretical efficiency. If I wanted a stationary powerplant for a CHP system in large building, a SOFC would be a viable option. For a vehicle it is a much weaker option.

Additional: The Mars Direct mission concept settled on LOX/CH4 bipropellant for rovers. Although hydrogen can be produced far more efficiently using electrolysis than methane, CH4 is still a better choice for ground vehicles. Under standard conditions, it has 3x the energy density of hydrogen. It can be stored as a compressed liquid at soft cryogenic temperatures. That means compact and lightweight fuel tanks. The same calculus may apply on the moon.

Last edited by Calliban (2022-11-17 12:11:24)

Calliban · 2022-11-17 13:21:00

This could be promissing. High power density fuel cells could change the conclusion.
https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LEW-TOPS-120

This material is interesting as a hydrogen storage material.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_hydride

It decomposes at 1000°C, about the same operating temperature as a solid oxide fuel cell. The problem is the decomposition product will be molten lithium. It would need to be ground to powder and gaseous hydrogen passed through the powder to regenerate the LiH.

A high tensile steel pressure tank is a simple solution. It can be charged using a centrifugal compressor mounted on the outlet plenum of the electrolysis cell.

A simple means of recharging the vehicle would be to park it within a bay, with electrified rail sections at ground level, either side of the vehicle. The vehicle would pick up power using pickup shoes which would slide onto the rails as the vehicle enters the bay. This avoids the need to use EVA to connect a power cable.

Last edited by Calliban (2022-11-17 13:51:12)

kbd512 · 2022-11-17 19:30:02

Calliban,

If the vehicle is equipped with one of those remote manipulator arms, then maybe it can pick up and attach its own power cable off a nearby reel.

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-05 07:24:28

SearchTerm:WindowOfOpportunity

This post is from the Synthetic Fuels topic:

Calliban wrote:

Can Global Oil Production Climb If The U.S. Shale Boom Is Over?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gene … -Over.html
In spite of the global recession, oil prices are likely to be trending upwards over the next few years due to shortage. This provides a prime window of opportunity to launch the solar synfuel business.

The capital investment to demonstrate all the technologies needed for this project is likely to be substantial but not huge. The most likely investors (it seems to me) would be existing producers of ground-sourced oil, because once established, the fuel production facilities should be relatively free of political pressure. Competitive pressure will remain as long as competitors are still able to pull raw material from the ground, but synthetic oil producers should be able to squeeze costs as they gain experience.

(th)

NewMarsMember · 2023-02-07 07:54:43

SearchTerm:Asteroid interstellar vs Oort Cloud object

This post is from one of Void's topics...

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 92#p205792

The post contains an overview of long term human expansion through the galaxy.

A number of science fiction writers have taken on the challenge of describing a self sustaining long voyage system such as Calliban describes.

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tahanson43206 · 2023-06-24 10:00:08

This is for Calliban ....

Some time ago, (as I recall and without doing a search of the archive) you said you wrote your Master's Thesis on a design for a fission reactor. Since joining the forum you have published descriptions of many kinds and sizes of fission reactors, and even a few fusion/fission hybrids along the way. I am guessing your career has not taken you in the direction you were headed in college, but it also appears you have kept your skills and knowledge set update over the years.

While your Master's paper would (obviously) not be state-of-the-art today, I am guessing it was at that level or quite possibly pushing the envelope when you wrote it. By any chance, is that paper available for download?

If you would like to publish it here, Dr. Johnson has been paving the way, and I think the combination of Dropbox and Imbur, and the structure of NewMars make it likely the initiative would succeed.

Mars Society appears willing to support NewMars (and it's archive) on into the future, so an item "published" here has a decent chance of long term availability.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-09-26 11:39:49

Calliban wrote a vision of propagation of life as a symbiosis of plants and machines..

https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 65#p214065

SearchTerm:Panspermia
SearchTerm:Symbiosis

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tahanson43206 · 2023-09-27 07:46:39

For Calliban...

In a recent post, Mars_B4_Moon referred to your work estimating the lift of a Hinderburg sized balloon on Mars...

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 19#p214119

In light of GW Johnson's study of the same problem recently, I'm hoping you might be willing to revisit that study.

GW Johnson offers the interesting challenge that no material known (presently) to humans is capable of serving as the envelope for a balloon on Mars.

In other words (as I understand his text) GW is asserting that no balloon on Mars can lift it's own weight, let alone a payload.

Since this is a purely numbers game, there should be no emotion involved.

Emotion is the province of artists and poets.

It should have no place in determining if a balloon can lift it's own weight on Mars.

(th)

kbd512 · 2023-09-27 10:20:01

NASA had issues with inflating but not popping a balloon on Mars, or having it fly away before it was fully inflated. However, real balloons did fly here on Earth at equivalent pressure altitudes. JPL built and tested prototypes in vacuum chambers as well. The first successful stratospheric tests were conducted in March of 1999.

AIAA - 1999 Balloon Technology Conference - Mars Aerobot Validation Program

tahanson43206 · 2023-09-27 10:34:17

For kbd512 re #18

Thank you for this helpful addition to the topic!

And thanks for the link to prior work on this very subject.

I intend to follow up on the link you provided, later today or this week for sure.

In the mean time, if there is another forum member who would like to follow the link, please report if there is more detail that goes with kbd512's summary.

In particular, I would ** really ** like to see the grams lift per cubic meter value NASA reported, if they did.

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kbd512 · 2023-09-27 11:06:14

The system has been validated by inflating 12.5 mk and 8.5 mk 10-m diameter balloons in the vacuum chamber at 5 mbar ambient pressure.

...

The smallest superpressure balloon to carry 2.5 kg in Martian atmosphere is 10-11 m sphere. With some margin 0.25-0.3 mil Mylar film can support day-time superpressures when the balloon is heated predominantly by IR-radiation from the surface. Considerations of stability and system mass lead to selection of a bottom inflation concept.

...

The major results of the current MABVAP stage are:

1. investigated the most critical factors of the airborne deployment and inflation of the light-gas thin film balloons in the planetary atmospheres;
2. designed and built prototypes of the major system components of the flight system,
3. developed an adequate method of packaging and residual gas evacuation,
4. performed successful laboratory and flight tests at the troposphere,
5. validated technology of airborne deployment of a thin-film balloons in dense atmospheres (Earth, Titan, Jupiter),
6. developed capability for low-cost year-round stratospheric tests
7. obtained encouraging results from the first stratospheric test of a full-scale balloon

tahanson43206 · 2023-09-27 11:12:31

For kbd512 re #20

Thank you for additional detail from the report you linked!

It sure does look as though a balloon made with "thin film" can lift itself in a simulated Mars atmosphere. To add a bit to the original top, I'll head back over to the Balloon topic.

This topic was set up to celebrate posts by Calliban, or to communicate with Calliban, not for us to add our own.

(th)

kbd512 · 2023-09-27 11:22:37

Volume of a sphere with 5m radius is 523.6m^3.

1m^3 of Martian atmosphere at 5mbar can, using radiative heating of the balloon from the surface of Mars, therefore support 4.775g of total payload, which includes the mass of the balloon and all other payload.

A 1,000kg payload would require a balloon volume of 209,424,084m^3. This would equate to a spherical balloon with a radius of around 369m, so 2,421ft in diameter. That would be a very impressively-sized balloon to say the least.

This seems to indicate that balloons are utterly impractical for carrying large payloads, but very feasible for weather monitoring and cameras or other lightweight sensors and communications relays, although satellites still make better communications platforms, even here on Earth.

Calliban · 2023-09-27 15:11:18

That was my conclusion as well. I believe TH pointed out that the skin of the balloon would be prone to build a static charge as dust particles rub. Dust particles in the atmosphere would settle on the skin of the balloon and degrade the already meagre lift.

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-01 07:55:38

For Calliban re new project GW Johnson is working ....

The propulsion project GW is currently working is a variation of the nuclear fission stream he explored in some depth previously.

A concern is how to dispose of or to use waste heat that will inevitably be generated. The traditional low grade heat disposal methods involve dumping to water or to air on Earth, but in space the only disposal method I know about is radiation, and radiation requires physical devices that are made of matter and therefore come out of the 5000 Mt mass budget for the Large Ship.

Please give some thought to alternative ways of using the low grade heat that is left over after the best juice is consumed making electric power. The alternative propulsion system GW is evaluating would consume prodigious amounts of electric power, and therefore there will be prodigious amounts of low grade thermal energy to consume.

To try and stimulate the thought process, I have no idea, but is there a way to radiate thermal energy that does not require material that contains mass?

Alternatively, is there a way to boost low grade thermal energy to high grade equivalent? I vaguely recall reading something in the forum about that possibility, but it is likely it was just speculation.

Oh! I just thought of something.... if the Large Ship carries water for the journey in the form of ice, could the low grade thermal energy left over from the reactor's labors to propel the ship be used to melt the ice?

Is there any way to evaluate that potential with numbers?

Do you need to know the amount of power GW is going to need for his propulsion system?

At this point, I don't think he has a handle on that, but it should drop out of the process at some point.

Addendum: The ice could be cooled to far below freezing, to further enhance it's heat absorbing properties.

Comet ice would presumably be as cold as deep space will allow, so warming that material for use in the Large Ship would consume plenty of low grade thermal energy.

For Calliban ... here is a link to a conversation with ChatGPT....
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n9f … sp=sharing

ChatGPT brought up the concern that ice can sublimate directly to vapor in vacuum. Please include preventive measures in your answer.

It would appear that melted water must be kept under pressure on it's way to the propulsion system from the storage tanks. That would seem feasible, since the water must be conveyed to GW's propulsion system by pipes. I do not know the details of the system, but I am guessing pressure in the supply line would be needed, because the amount of mass to be handled starts at the level of a kilogram per second, and goes up from there.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-10-01 17:23:59

For Calliban re post about natural air compression ...

http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 23#p214323

Thanks for this very interesting report with commentary.

(th)

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Calliban Postings including links to notable contributions

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