kbd512 Postings

tahanson43206 · 2024-10-21 17:48:46

For kbd512...

First, thanks for your thoughtful and detailed review of the nickel iron battery that came up for consideration due to an article about the technology. Your history matches up pretty well with the reporter's text.

I am concerned that two or three emails I sent may have fallen into a bit bucket. I sent emails about the FluxBB upgrade we've been working on for the past year and a half, and I've received no feedback at all, including during the Google Meeting on Sunday.

I used the email address I have on file for the FluxBB project, but if you are no longer using that email address I can try sending to another one.

The emails had to do with the config table that must be updated in the FluxBB MySQL database.

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-10-21 21:37:32

tahanson43206,

I did read your e-mails and I did reconfigure the config table and the config.php. When I viewed the page source for the new app, I noticed that the CSS links were working, so they're definitely reachable / downloadable (by the user's browser), but it's as if the PHP code is not actually applying them.

kbd512 · 2024-10-21 21:44:27

tahanson43206,

Whenever I start working with the new app, I get logged out of the old / existing app. Everything superficially appears to be connected, but the PHP code still isn't fully functional. I've looked at the version of the software running, the structure of the app files, the permissions, etc. If there were a permissions problem, then I'd assume I wouldn't be able to access them from the browser, but I can.

I'd really like to get the stylesheets applied correctly first (so the content displays correctly in the browser), and then worry about the database logins, because I don't think our database config change is messing that up. It's something more fundamental than that, such as PHP itself, our particular code base for the new app, or something server config related.

tahanson43206 · 2024-10-22 06:08:19

For kbd512 re FluxBB upgrade...

Thanks for the update on the situation.

If you have access to MySQL, please update the table using the information provided. That way, when you get the more fundamental problem solved, the system will work properly. The database is clearly being accessed, so that means the config table is being accessed. The config table is where the default Fire is defined, but it may NOT be Fire. The important line is the URL pointer. That ** has ** to be fixed.

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-10-22 18:44:29

tahanson43206,

I believe I did that already, but I'll go over what you sent again.

tahanson43206 · 2024-10-28 09:33:16

For kbd512...

This is a long shot, but I thought of it over night ...

The FluxBB system uses cache to save time serving customers.

Since we've altered the database, we might be able to force the software to rebuild the cache by deleting the files in the cache folder.

No harm is done because the system rebuilds cache automatically.

This might work as an alternative to restarting Apache.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-10-31 10:16:35

For kbd512 re Post in Rotating Fuel Delivery topic....

First, thanks for adding your detailed and thoughtful post to the new topic!

Your point about sloshing inside a large tank is important for planners to consider!

As one small (but important) detail for clarification... in GW's plan (as published so far), there are no bearings involved in rotation.

On the contrary, GW's vision eliminates bearings by moving both the supply tank and the customer vehicle out of the immediate vicinity of the station.

I am hoping our NewMars members will help GW to think through how his proposed system would work in practice.

I have tried to identify operational difficulties, but I'm sure I've missed some.

Your addition of the sloshing is helpful, because it clarifies something significant.

If a tank is spun, why would the cryogenic fluid inside the tank spin? Newton would tell us the liquid would remain still while the metal wall of the tank slides by.

Longitudinal baffles might help, but some CFD studies might be needed to optimize the design of tanks to be used for this purpose.

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-10-31 12:10:26

tahanson43206,

In microgravity, centrifugal force acts as a crucial mechanism to separate liquids or gas bubbles within a liquid by simulating a gravitational pull, effectively pushing denser components outwards from the center of rotation when a container is spun, allowing for separation where natural buoyancy wouldn't occur due to the lack of gravity; this is often used in space applications to manage fluids in microgravity environments.

The fluid inside the tank, cryogenic or otherwise, will eventually be "flung outwards" onto the walls of the tank, where it can be siphoned off. This will induce some degree of sloshing, like it or not. You need counter-rotation of a fluid-dampened weight to prevent gyroscopic precession and wobble. There will be bearings involved, for the damper assembly at a bare minimum. The tank / cylinder rotates in one direction, while the damper rotates in the other. The depot is gyroscopically stable and wobble or vibration is dampened using external counter-rotating weights. This is a good system capable of "self-correcting", and it's proven to work quite well when attached to internal combustion engines.

A massively de-rated internal combustion engine, or two, such as a Wankel, can supply the input mechanical power, requiring no delicate and expensive solar panels or radiators or batteries. This is IVF (Integrated Vehicle Fluids) technology that ULA developed for the ACES upper stage of Vulcan. The depot will only spin-up or spin-down while transferring fluids, thus the engine is only operated for an hour or two per transfer operation. It's low-tech, but it works, doesn't cost too much, and is durable, especially over the brief periods of time it will be operated for.

You need some oxidizer and fuel to power station keeping thrusters that correct attitude and adjust the orbit, as required, so even if you had an electrical stabilization and main propulsion system (such as the system proposed for ISS to reduce chemical propellant consumption), it would still require some higher-thrust chemical thrusters. Maybe you could do arc-jet thrusters, but then you have very high electrical power requirements.

When topped off, each of these LOX depots will probably weigh about the same as ISS, so around 1,000t per depot (Starship 3 carries a LOT of propellant). The chemical thruster system that uses the same oxidizer and fuel as what it's refueling is, in my opinion, the most highly integrated solution. A small combustion engine operating at low-load allows it to power itself for a long time. The mass associated with electrical propulsion is going to come close to the empty mass of the tankage (because you need quite a lot of power for near-impulsive maneuvers), so that's a bad cost and mass trade, in my opinion, even though it would economize on propellant consumption.

If you have other thoughts on this, please share them. My opinion is only a data point. It needs more math to show the trades. ULA did mass trades for LH2 boil-off with electrical vs the combustion engine, and concluded that for missions lasting beyond 24 hours, the combustion engine was the lowest mass solution, but that was 10+ years ago as of 2024, and it was an upper stage / space tug / propellant depot. If solar panel tech and battery tech has greatly improved since then, I think we should do a trade study.

You WILL get lower propellant consumption using SEP, but there's a substantial mass trade-off, and vehicle control is more difficult and delicate using SEP vs impulsive (higher thrust) chemical thrusters. So, run numbers on how much power for near-impulsive control over the depot, which informs PV panel mass, PPU mass, ion engine mass, etc. We have the tech now for both, so do the math for SEP Ion, SEP ArcJet (likely required for on-orbit maneuvering), and pure combustion (thrusters and internal combustion engine, the ULA "IVF" system) for mass and cost.

Spending more money on better hardware up-front, may or may not pay off, long-term, if that means greater maintenance down the road or operational restrictions (only transfer prop in full-Sun, battery charge state dependent prop transfer window, etc).

Summary:
1. Propellant slosh needs addressing
2. Gyroscopic stability is good for prop transfer safety (no "out-of-control" Agena docking target nightmares)
3. Do the trade studies on realistic options for vehicle propulsion and station keeping
4. Assume Argon or maybe even Oxygen vs very expensive Xenon for SEP, so lower performance but very low cost propellant
5. Keep tabs on anticipated costs and don't kid yourself about how expensive this "seemingly simple" propellant depot will be- it'll be the largest satellite anyone has ever put up there by quite a lot, and thus a very expensive capital asset, albeit one that enables all kinds of missions beyond Earth

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-10 21:28:16

For kbd512 re touchups needed as we close in on finishing the FluxBB upgrade.

This evening we discovered that there are style sheets in the production system that were not present in the clean system we downloaded from the repository.

That may not be a problem, if no one ever used one of the new style sheets.

A database query of the user table ??? may allow us to determine if there are any members who are using any of the alternatives styles.

If there are not, I think we could just leave things as they are. Otherwise, perhaps there is a way to import the additional style sheets from the production system?

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-17 21:35:07

For kbd512 re last hurdle with new FluxBB version!

It is possible that my Display setting in the new system got set to Air when I logged in without styles working.

I checked and the setting is indeed Fire in the production system.

Hopefully our members will check their ability to log in soon!

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-26 07:14:28

For kbd512 re Practical topic...

Please add a post to fill in details for this part of your post about the solar powered large transport...

The 18MW solar thermal power plant won't be aboard the ship itself, because it simply doesn't need that much power. The mass and cost of the most expensive portion of the ship remains at Earth.

Will the power plant be in orbit, or on the Earth's surface?

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-26 12:16:50

For kbd512 re Space Tug for your vision of a Large Ship...

Thanks for the reminder ... Please consider writing for a larger audience. It seems sometimes as though posts on NewMars are like email.

The sequence of posts that comprise your Large Ship topic have the potential to pull an outside reader along, if they are designed to flow.

***
FYI... GW is working offline on a concept to try to rescue the Artemis II crew by using a space tug. The orbital mechanics are (apparently) very difficult, but not impossible.

The Space Tug arrival problem is ** much ** harder than the departure problem. The tug has to dock with the customer vessel in LEO to set up for departure, and humans know how to do that. Docking when the customer vessel is returning from the Moon or Mars is (I gather) quite difficult.

I predict (expect) that arrivals of vessels toward Earth will be tightly regulated in coming decades, just as arrivals at any major airport around the world are tightly regulated.

The reason should be understandable but I'm writing here for our outside readers .... an object approaching Earth from anywhere will have the ability to create massive destruction due to the kinetic energy it contains, let alone any toxic materials that might be on board. Some nations on Earth are starting to think about such natural objects as asteroids, and to plan for unwanted approach to Earth. So far as I have seen, no one has published anything about human vessels approaching Earth from elsewhere in the Solar System.

The Planetary Defense establishment will probably start out as National undertakings.

The US and China are the leading candidates to have identifiable Planetary Defense capability.

Eventually (I hope) there will be a United Nations coordinated agency for this purpose.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-30 17:57:53

For kbd512 re Conversion planned for Sunday.

The logins are to be disabled at Noon New Hampshire time, which would be 11 AM your time. If you prefer to wait until Noon your time I doubt anyone will be inconvenienced.

I would like to have the message that appears when logins are disabled changed to explain more accurately what is going on. I would have asked SpaceNut, but since he is rebuilding his home he doesn't have a lot of time to spend here.

I believe the message is stored in the database, and that it can be adjusted by the Admin.

The message could say we are converting from one version of FluxBB to another and will announce when the new version is ready.

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-11-30 18:04:08

tahanson43206,

Understood. When it's time, we can hop on a Google meeting and take care of business.

tahanson43206 · 2024-11-30 18:43:32

For kbd512 re #139

Thanks for confirmation. I'll start the Google Meeting at Noon New Hampshire time then.

See you then!

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-12-02 13:26:32

For kbd512 ....
Thanks for that 95% >> 98% efficiency report!
I'm replying here so your User Name has a chance to remain in view.
I am sure 200 comes into play in that research, but it may not change the overall performance of the conversion process much.
My guess is that some tiny value increased 200 times, so net efficiency increases from 95.00001 to 95.00201.
I get the impression it would be difficult if not impossible to reach the professor for a clarification.
Hopefully you are not the ** only ** reader who blows the whistle on that error.
***
FYI .... GW is starting to think seriously about his Space Tug Departure variant in the context of the Artemis II launch coming up next year. I'm hoping he'll post a request for help doing research on the various components of Artemis II (ie, the SLS components as well as Orion and the Service module).

The proposal I'm trying to encourage is to send the entire upper stack of the mission to the Moon, instead of just Orion and the Service module. That would require a hefty Space Tug, but GW is perfectly capable of designing one, once he knows what masses he's dealing with.

I've created a topic in Projects for this. You can see it if you log in, but you have to go all the way down to the bottom of the Index list to see it. SpaceNut set it up that way to restrict access to members. It's ok with me, but it is a bit of extra work.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-12-02 19:43:36

For kbd512 re Dami Lee and the Walled City video....

First, thanks for providing NewMars members who read your posts a hint to check out Dami Lee.

It appears that 1.8 million people have subscribed to here channel.

I can see why!

Second, the video about the Walled City (which was not actually walled in but behaved as though it were) was ** really ** interesting.

I sure hope the people who settle Mars can do better than that, but perhaps that will happen.

Update: name corrected per kbd512

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-12-02 20:03:23

tahanson43206,

Her name is "Dami Lee", not "Dani Lee", for anyone searching for her YouTube channel, but yes, she has some interesting content.

kbd512 · 2024-12-02 22:07:38

The "PSW Science" YouTube channels various presentations on space architecture are presentations from real scientists and researchers actively working on space architecture implementation. Dami Lee is more involved in aesthetics and design concepts than the hard science that our aerospace corporations are involved in. Nonetheless, I think it's important to get the perspective of both creative types like Dami Lee, as well as the "hard science" engineers and materials or systems research scientists who are actively working on solving the confluence of space architecture problems in a way that the creative types are not. At times, I do think that the engineers and scientists also go through their own version of a "creative process" where they make an entire meal out of something relatively simple, such as designing a pressurized tube capable of keeping people alive.

tahanson43206 · 2024-12-04 13:18:09

For kbd512 re new photonics topic....

You seem to be on a roll with this new topic...

I am hoping this question will fit into the flow...

Can this new technology be developed in the United States? In recent decades, it seems to me that almost everything involved in actually making things has been farmed out to Asia by American business leaders. I can understand their decision process. Everything they turn over to their Asian partners is manufactured for a small fraction of what it would cost in mainland US.

The objections by some that Asians employ "slave" labor is false(*). The workers who make all the products we buy are paid enough to live on, and they have the option to quit and return to the farm. Americans lived that way for many many years. Eventually Americans found a way to distribute wealth to the majority of the citizenry, and it looks to me as though that is happening in Asia.

I think the idea that Americans do not want to work is both right and wrong, depending upon the context. Almost NO American wants to pick vegetables or fruit. We lived through a couple of centuries of that, and understand it very well. On the other hand, as can be seen by Americans who work for Elon, if the work is interesting and challenging and ** meaningful ** in the bigger picture, then Americans will work 80 hour weeks.

I started this post intending to invite your consideration of how this new technology might develop here in the US. The winds appear to be blowing in that direction.
(*) I agree that ** some ** slave labor is happening in China. but the vast majority of labor there is NOT slave labor.

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-12-05 09:59:34

tahanson43206,

We absolutely can make photonics-based tech here in America, largely because the materials used can be locally sourced, and we already do make a lot of advanced optical tech here, rather than aboard, so I see no reason why we cannot continue to do so. Furthermore, some of this tech must be made in orbital manufacturing facilities, and only America presently has low-cost fully reusable rockets to reach such facilities, so I think we will have a lock on this advanced photonics tech market, seeing as how we also have the largest consumer base capable of using it.

China has a huge industrial base, but communism has stunted and perverted their consumer market in a variety of consequential ways. If pure industriousness allowed a nation to pull ahead of others, then they should be the undisputed leader of the pack, yet they are not, and likely never will be. If they obtain some technological windfall in tech, it's used to suppress their own people, rather than used to improve their lives. That's why we introduced western farming machinery over there, decades ago, so that tens of millions of Chinese people wouldn't starve to death. Maybe that was a mistake, but Democrats don't do retrospectives, or at least none where critical thinking skills are applied. Alternatively, perhaps they really do want our enemies to destroy America. China's leadership has plainly stated that they are at war with us, as well as most of their neighbors, but Democrats either see / hear what they want to see / hear (no reflection on their past behavior) or they're pursuing their ideological agenda to the exclusion of all other considerations, which is what they normally do.

The only bright spot is that President Xi has killed off so much of his nation's brain trust that they're left with little in the way of leadership capability. They are going to start a war with Taiwan in 2027, according to Xi and the PLA. I think if we had a President Harris or President Biden, they'd simply let them have it because they're so clueless and dismissive of our own interests. With President Trump, it's hard to say what our response will be, and apparently the majority of Americans prefer it that way. Telegraphing weakness to our enemies, as President Biden did to Russia over the Ukraine War (we're terrified of the very mention of the word "nuke"), is patently stupid. Thankfully, we now have an actual adult leader in charge of America. It's refreshing to have someone who routinely demonstrates the ability to answer real questions posed by our press, even if they don't like the answer given, because of who gave it.

As of 2024, United States has the most supercomputers on the list, with 172 machines. The United States has the highest aggregate computational power at 6,324 Petaflops Rmax with Japan second (919 Pflop/s) and Germany third (396 Pflop/s).
Top 10 Supercomputer Countries By Performance Share
As of November 2024, the United States has the most supercomputers among the world's 500 most powerful, with 172. China is in second place with 62, and Germany is in third with 41.
The United States also leads in performance, with a Rmax of 6,475,558,900 Gigaflops (GFlops). Rmax is the acronym for “Maximal LINPACK performance achieved”.

Frontier, the world's most powerful supercomputer, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, consumes 24,600,000We, provides 1.353 exaflops of sustained compute capacity, occupies 7,300ft^2 of floor space, and requires 4X 350hp liquid cooling pumps.

Frontier_Supercomputer_%282%29.jpg

A 100% photonics-based facsimile of Frontier would consume 24.6We, it would fit inside a space approximately equal to a human's skull, and not require any active cooling beyond natural circulation / airflow. In point of fact, MIT has already created photonic neural network chips that consume ten million times less power than the theoretical minimum energy required using existing electronics, so power consumption may only be 2.46We. 2.46We to run a precision AGI (human brain equivalent compute capability), which is what Frontier would represent if latency across multiple compute cores wasn't such a problem, then you have a compute device that would easily fit inside a cell phone or tablet.

Whereas it's completely impossible to lug around Frontier with you, every AGI-enabled cybernetic device could easily lug around and power a photonics-based human brain facsimile that requires no more total power than a human's brain, and quite possibly much less power.

In terms of physicality, there's a vast chasm between the existing Frontier supercomputer and its 100% photonics-based facsimile. I don't see how we can maintain our edge in computing without this tech, because we don't have the industrial base required to match what China can produce in terms of Silicon-based semiconductors. This is how we will tilt the playing field in our favor. While everyone else is still tinkering with Silicon, we will have already moved on to crystals, photonics, topological laser-like light sources, and communication of volumes of sensor data which would instantly overwhelm their entire compute infrastructure. That is a real forward-looking plan to maintain our technological advantage, minimize the energy consumption associated with AI research so energy can be spent on other things, and to imbue our machines with the complexity and gadgetry that some people crave.

Following WWII, our national security apparatus believes its mandate and only pathway to assured victory is to never be taken by technological surprise. While I think production numbers and logistics play equally important roles in assuring victory, possessing compute and sensing dominance eases the logistical burden when the compute devices become easier and faster to produce at scale, because they're so much smaller and more energy efficient than what everyone else is using that they simply do not require nearly as much of the specialty metals and fabrication required to fabricate comparatively "clunky" Silicon-based semiconductors.

Ford's Model A was a perfectly usable truck which served us well during WWII. However, there are very few things Ford's Model A can do better than Ford's 2024 F-150 model, maybe none. The Model A could carry 750lbs and averages around 13.9mpg. The F-150 can carry 2,000lbs and averages 23mpg. If we're going to fight a conventional war against a similarly capable opponent, then I can tell you which truck I would want ferrying cargo around the battlefield.

For 1,000,000 colonists living on Mars, electronic iPad-equivalent devices would consume 15Wh per person per day, or 15MWh per day. If they were using photonics-based learning and entertainment devices, then they're consuming a grand total of 1.5Wh to 15Wh pr day for all 1,000,000 people. We can easily understand the massive difference between providing 15MWh per day and 15Wh per day. The former requires a football field of solar panels. The latter requires 1 solar panel.

If we decrease the energy intensity by 1,000,000X to 10,000,000X, as current photonics technology already allows for, then a thin film supercapacitor is entirely sufficient to power an iPad-like device for an entire day. It can be recharged in a matter of seconds, and it will weigh substantially less. Getting mass to the moon or Mars is a major cost driver. The iPad Pro's battery weighs 250g, and the total device seems to weigh about 682g. Imagine if that battery only weighed 5g. 437,000kg vs 682,000kg is a major difference. The device can be encased in a much stronger and stiffer composite material for even greater mass reduction, and there is far less potential for a short-circuit fire event, as well as far less energy to be instantly discharged if the device does short-circuit. Small nuclear batteries could entirely eliminate external power sources as a requirement, and the robustness of the photonics-based tech could allow it to continue to function for 20 years or longer.

Isotopically pure Carbon-14 has a power density of 0.001305W/g. An iPhone 14 Pro can consume a maximum power input of 4W. A photonics-equivalent would consume 0.0000004W. Therefore, 1g of Carbon-14 provides 3,262.5X the maximum energy requirement of a photonics-enabled iPhone, vs 3kg for the electronic iPhone. An iPhone has vastly more total computing power than required to run the computer control system and sensors for a space suit life support system. You still need more total power to actually run the pumps and CO2 filtration systems, but using CNT filters and motionless air pumps powered by body movement converting body movement into electricity using triboelectric generators, you could feasibly provide all the input power necessary for a truly advanced personal life support system.

More energetic isotopes, such as Strontium-90, could supply the gross power required to run the filtration system and pumps, but the goal of the advanced life support development program should be continuous power efficiency improvement, to the point that the total power requirement becomes rather trivial. The Space Shuttle era EMU delivers a maximum of around 102.5W of power. If we can reduce that power requirement to about 10.25W, then we only need 23g of Strontium Titanate, at 0.46W/g. A multi-layer triboelectric nanogenerator can deliver about 7W/m^2, so the human body could feasibly supply most of the power required to run the suit if its wearer is active.

Photonics-based computing, CNT, Graphene-based coherent plasmon light sources from "photonic booms" (incredibly synergistic with a radioisotope power source), and radioisotope batteries are the techologies we will use to power the future of computing and life support technologies, because so little material and power will be required by our next gen systems.

tahanson43206 · 2024-12-05 11:21:39

for kbd512 re #146

I try to use these "postings" topics to avoid having my id plastered over everything.

The post you just created would fit well into the photonics topic you created

The benefit is that folks can read the topic from the top, without having to take a side trip to another topic.

That said, thanks for the neat images and for the comparison of capabilities.

I like your enthusiasm that the US might be able to recover from the voluntary surrender of the semiconductor industry, and the magnetic levitation industry to Asia. However, words from an individual will have no effect, if they do not reach a ** much ** wider audience.

I suspect that as things stand, it is unlikely that ** any ** of the desirable outcomes you described will occur, unless leadership to make that future happen comes into being.

I am willing to (at least try to) help you find a wider audience.

We (forum taken as a whole) have another author whose work (I believe )_is good enough to reach a wider audience.

It's been slow going trying to find a pathway.

If you are interested in exploring this possibility, I think the readers of your new photonics topic would be interested in a deep dive into the names of the individuals and institutions who are doing the work you've described.

If an organization like MIT is involved, then I am confident the patent coverage will be strong, so licensing would be the way for an entrepreneur to proceed.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2024-12-05 16:06:42

For kbd512 re debugging setting ...

Debug: Database connection successful

I noticed this message appeared when I added a post a moment ago.

Let's take a look at that next Sunday, if you can fit it into the meeting.

It doesn't hurt anything, but it is a reminder we've actually performed the update.

Otherwise there is no way anyone could tell.

(th)

kbd512 · 2024-12-06 20:45:02

tahanson43206,

It would be good to find a worthy "first home" for this technology, beyond traditional land-based mass communications systems. I don't think the facilities exist for manufacture at scale, but equipping all the space suits and space craft with this tech shouldn't be too difficult for a small fab facility of the kind that a well-equipped college campus has, such as MIT or UC Berkeley, which are the two largest domestic academic contributors to advanced photonics research that I'm aware of. I know that the fiber optics communication industry does a lot of the industrial scale work, but their devices are focused on communications speed and bandwidth, which really aren't required for this particular application.

The project goal would be to devise a fairly simplistic (relative to an iPhone or other device containing a sophisticated CPU), but highly reliable photonic computerized environmental control system for space suits and spacecraft. The photonic computer would be designed to identify and remove, in order to regulate, contaminant gases in the atmosphere, and chemicals inside waste water, as well as to only apply the amount of filtration or treatment required to keep contaminants within acceptable limits. Pressure and temperature would also require regulation, obviously.

The power source would be a Graphene surface plasmon driven coherent light source, induced to produce "photonic power" by means of a small amount of Carbon-14 isotope. This mechanism operates on roughly the same principle as the "sonic boom", except it's a "photonic boom". This effect could provide the basis for a clock to operate the photonic processor circuitry on a specific frequency. Said process is a "sine wave action", in which photonic power / coherent light travels across the surface of the device in a regularly repeating sequence, as I understand it. The effect is induced by electric discharge, but radiation from a radioactive source could drive the same process.

Researchers discover new way to turn electricity into light, using graphene

The valve actuators would use reactive liquid crystal polymers that deform (expand and contract) when struck by certain light frequencies. There are liquid crystal polymers that will change volume at a macro level when struck by photons of a specified wavelength, thus a totally photonic control system is very possible. However, a larger and more powerful Strontium-90 power source would supply direct thermal power to drive fans and pumps. The heat source and a high temp radiator would drive a supercritical Argon or Xenon gas turbine to output direct mechanical horsepower to a very high speed fan / air pump (quite similar to the very high speed electric motor driven fan / blower in the latest EMU refinement), with a substantial total mass advantage when compared to the 3000 series Lithium-ion batteries, which require very long recharge cycles and sealed electric blower motors to avoid fire / explosion in the suit's pure O2 atmosphere. Argon and Xenon, to my knowledge, won't ignite when exposed to O2. Xenon is expensive, so only flight weight systems would use Xenon.

Self-sustained actuation from heat dissipation in liquid crystal polymer networks

The visor display's sensor readouts would also work on light generation, so there is no part of the system that is electronic, nor even electrical. For all practical purposes, if the person inside the suit can survive whatever thermal, electrical / electrostatic, and space radiation fields they're subjected to, then so can the entire life support system.

Laser backlights have advantages for liquid-crystal displays

Super RadHard Single-Mode Optical Fibre

The radiation dose that the fiberoptic cabling above can withstand would be fatal to a human, even with significant protection, in very short order, so it should withstand the odd SPE or GCR dose without frying anything connected to since no electronics are present to get fried.

Anyway, that's the gist of the project- a true long duration space suit capable of a substantial weight and performance improvement over the analog EMU components.

This manual from NASA (588 pages) provides EMU specifications for reference purposes:
NASA-EMU-Data-Book-JSC-E-DAA-TN55224.pdf

I would like to get the professors from MIT or UC Berkeley (two guys with names that come up over and over again in advanced photonics research) in a room with the relevant people at NASA, and have them hash out all the details. We'll bring in people from SWRI and NNSA to work on the sAr / sXe gas turbine designs. They'll still get to make a meal out of their research projects, but the end result will be a paradigm shift in long duration life support technology for space suits and space craft versus another science experiment without a direct application to solve a real world problem. Think of this as directed research combining the best of what we have, to produce equipment with reliability, durability, and longevity that no other nation can match.

tahanson43206 · 2024-12-10 10:30:14

For kbd512 re that last .6 km/s after release from Space Tug...

GW Johnson is attempting to process your idea of using an ion drive to reach escape after release from the Space Tug.

The concern is that if your drive is insufficient to escape immediately after release, your fully populated vessel will inevitably return to Earth for another loop, and that means a pass through the Van Allen belts on the way in and back out. There is a risk that the Earth may impart so much energy to the vessel that it may not return to the trajectory you want.

Would you be willing to consider chemical propulsion for that last little kick?

Your ion drive can operate without interruption once the vessel is on it's way.

(th)

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#126 2024-10-21 17:48:46

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#127 2024-10-21 21:37:32

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#128 2024-10-21 21:44:27

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#129 2024-10-22 06:08:19

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#130 2024-10-22 18:44:29

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#131 2024-10-28 09:33:16

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#132 2024-10-31 10:16:35

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#133 2024-10-31 12:10:26

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#134 2024-11-10 21:28:16

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#135 2024-11-17 21:35:07

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#136 2024-11-26 07:14:28

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#137 2024-11-26 12:16:50

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#138 2024-11-30 17:57:53

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#139 2024-11-30 18:04:08

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#140 2024-11-30 18:43:32

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#141 2024-12-02 13:26:32

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#142 2024-12-02 19:43:36

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#143 2024-12-02 20:03:23

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#144 2024-12-02 22:07:38

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#145 2024-12-04 13:18:09

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#146 2024-12-05 09:59:34

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#147 2024-12-05 11:21:39

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#148 2024-12-05 16:06:42

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#149 2024-12-06 20:45:02

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#150 2024-12-10 10:30:14

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