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For Calliban re GW Johnson design of innovative Mars lander.
By any chance, do you know of software that can be used to calculate force flows in a three dimensional structure?
I assume NASA must have developed software to model force flows in vehicles, but I don't know what might be available to the public.
GW is considering some possibilities that (certainly ** I ** have never seen) will put hardware to extreme stress, while at the same time that hardware has to be as light as possible since the goal is to put NASA's 40 tons on the surface without losing ** any ** mass along the way.
That latter goal is GW's... NASA itself has never tried to do anything that demanding. They are happy to get to the ground and don't mind dropping off hardware along the way. GW is attempting to design a family of vehicles that will put 40 tons on (or near) the ground without spreading mass along the flight path.
You have described a number of structures that deal with force that is relatively static, but your wind mill definitely deals with dynamic forces.
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For Calliban re post: https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 53#p240553
Would the kinds of compression design you described do better in earthquakes?
I would imagine there might be some benefit, but perhaps it is not significant?
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For Calliban re https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 89#p240589
Thanks for reminder of the value of height for an observatory on Mars.
One small comment about your post about lighter than air ... helium has been used for US commercial lighter-than-air vehicles because the US has a supply. My understanding is that hydrogen is still used for scientific purposes, because it costs less and lifts higher.
To the best of my knowledge there has been no commercial l-t-a vehicle in the US since Hindenburg.
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For Calliban re topic on Maglev Launch from the Moon....
I found your topic from 2022 while searching for topics that might be related to Void's description of a horizontal SpinLaunch system that would work on the Moon.
Since neither Void nor I are engineers, the practical design of a horizontal spin launch system remains available for the right person.
I am wondering if the technology to implement Void's idea might be actually simpler to implement than Dr. O'Neill's original idea, or even the maglev system you described in your 2022 topic.
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For Calliban re video of study of housing and related infrastructure in the US and many other Nations...
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 63#p240863
Thank you for making the link to this video available. I watched the first 30 minutes and felt well rewarded for the time spent.
There are well designed neighborhoods in the US, but the Japanese and European models are definitely rare here, outside of the cities that were put into place before World War II. It seemed to me that the creators of the video understood the desire of Americans to own land. That drive has been a strong force since the beginning of the European infiltration of the landscape centuries ago. My understanding is that the British system of inheritance drove second sons to settle in the US because land was available, and not just corner lots. That psychological force seems to to have persisted and possibly even grown.
The level of intelligence brought to planning seems to me to have varied quite a bit. The exclusion of blacks from Levittown was given it's appropriate attention, since we have some Americans who have managed to grow up without knowledge of the practices reflected in that one incident.
The video notes the coincidence of the development of car centered neighborhoods with the development of the automobile itself in the US.
I think it is not at all surprising that Americans would have embraced the automobile as they did, and to have taken advantage of the freedom it provides.
My sense of the situation is that Americans will invent their way out of this mess. It will definitely be interesting to follow developments. The current hints of air delivered packages may show a possible solution to the 71 year old lady's dead battery problem, but transition to all electric vehicles may occur at the same time. EV's don't eliminate the dead battery problem, but at least the fuel is close at hand.
The video talks about education funding, and that has been an issue since Europeans first arrived in this fully occupied land.
I am one of the few Americans who attended a one room school. I walked a mile and a half to that one room school. I have no idea how it was funded, but I'm assuming there must have been a structure in place at the County level. The consolidation of schools must have occurred as a direct result of the development of gasoline powered buses to pick up all us farm kids. My parents dealt with the problem by moving into the town where the new consolidated school was built. They rented until they were able to afford one of those small homes build on the outskirts of a growing city, just as the Video described. We didn't have city water or sewer when we moved in. We did have electricity and telephone, and city water arrived shortly. it took a while for sewer to show up. Now the city has grown far beyond that neighborhood, and a new huge highschool is just half a mile away, on former farm land.
Just as the video described, my folks lived in that house until the mortgage was paid off, and because of increasing home values in the American system, they were able to buy a nice brick home in a nearby city. I noted the decreasing home values concept in the Japanese system the video described. The Japanese must have another way to build income for retirement.
I come back to my original idea .... the American desire to own land is as strong today as ever, but I recognize that the new generation may no longer feel that need as strongly.
Thanks again for the link to that video. The ads are the price we must pay for decent scholarship.
I doubt very much Americans will change dramatically over coming years, but the pressures of having to deal with the consequences of increased global population are inevitably going to force change of some kind.
Since you are an advocate of increased supply of energy, I do expect to see increased development of Small Nuclear Reactors, and eventually I expect there will be one where a coal or gas fired plant exists today.
Local politicians are talking about requiring an SMR for data centers. I kid you not! In the region where I live, competition for top level political offices is intense, and data centers are right in the cross hairs. One of the candidates (or a spokesperson) have openly tossed out the idea of requiring data centers to provide their own power but (as a sweetener for neighbors) a supply of electricity.
Abundant power would help to ease many of the woes of citizens here, and most likely elsewhere in the US, and around the world.
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For Calliban re liquid air as coolant for data centers ...
In this post, I am thinking about your career field and many of the posts you have contributed to this forum over the years.
This idea comes to you as a result of conversation I've been having with a relative who is in the Real Estate business in Arizona.
This particular relative shares with me an interest in at least ** trying ** to address the water shortages that are faced by his neighbors, as the Colorado River dries up.
Data Centers are of great interest to the US population these days. Most communities don't want them for several reasons, but their need for supplies of fresh water for cooling is a major concern.
It came to me that liquid air can be used as a coolant. The idea was discussed at some length in a new topic about a possible fire shelter for use in fire prone areas. It turned out that 350 gallons of liquid air could keep a family of four secure and even comfortable for a week.
Liquid air requires a supply of power, and that can come from solar cells, which are now manufactured in massive numbers both in the US and overseas.
The key insight that came to me is that such a plant needs a way to siphon off thermal energy released as air is compressed, and the oceans are reservoirs of sufficient size to handle anything mere humans might throw at them.
Thus, the business opportunity is to make liquid air and to deliver it by truck or railroad to wherever it its needed.
What I'm hoping you might be willing to provide is some math to show how practical (or impractical) such an idea might be.
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For Calliban re explanation and image of a "Shell World".
Void added the word "Crustal" to the topic...
The topic could have been about "Shell Worlds" and there is (apparently) a great deal of literature about that concept.
Void appears to have something else in mind...
Do you have any idea what Void is thinking about?
As an example of confusion that can occur...
Perhaps Void is thinking about a "Shell World" that is built on the "Crust" of a planet or similar large object.
In the case of Mars, as nearly as I can tell, that would mean there would be a roof over the entire planet, perhaps like a circus tent, with tall poles holding up the canvas that would then stretch all the way around the planet. That would certainly help keep dust storms from forming.
A roof around the entire planet would help to improve air pressure over time, although not very much because there would be so many leak points.
Such a roof would also keep things dark unless transparent sections are included.
Still, there might be advantages to such a system.
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For Calliban re Welcome to Tan and new post in fusion topic https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 94#p240994
Thank you for your welcome to Tan from LK Cokoino!
And! Thank you for your simultaneous post on Deuterium-Tritium fusion!
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 94#p240994
LK Cokoino is in the robotics EDUCATION business, and I have reported my experiences with one of their products.
My hope is that this forum might help to encourage education of young people about robots in general, and then about ones that are going to play important rolls in development of fusion power as you described, and construction of habitats on Mars.
My expectation is that no humans at all will be involved in setting up livable volumes on Mars. With advances in robotics and communications, there is no need for a human to set foot on the planet until habitats and supporting infrastructure are complete.
If there is anyone in the UK who might be interested in robotics education, we are potentially in position to help with hosting of posts to assist students or teachers or employers for that matter.
We were joined recently by two US educators who are in possession of the LK Cokoino CKK0017 robot kit.
I am working on an interface between the Cokoino CKK0017 gamepad controller and a LynxMotion robot arm.
LynxMotion is manufactured and distributed by another education oriented company.
The documentation of the CKK0017 kit and the supporting software are first rate.
Tan has been generous with his time (and patience) in support of my efforts.
My hope is that members of this forum will help with this education effort, to encourage young people to embark upon the long journey to become robotics engineers or leaders in related fields such as business management.
Thank you again for your Welcome to Tan!
You can learn a bit more about LK Cokoino at https://Cokoino.com
LK Cokoino has a store on Amazon. There is a direct link to the store that I will try to remember to add to this post.
Link here >>
Update: I am happy to report that LK Cokoino is in the process of creating a new category of product based upon their CKK0017 kit.
The new product will be called CKK0024, and it will consist of the gamepad controller and a power supply. The is the configuration I am using to control the LynxMotion via a Raspberry Pi 5.
If all goes well, this forum has potential to become a repository of knowledge about a variety of robotics systems, and the language conventions that support them.
For example, the LynxMotion is controlled by a simplified "language" that is designed for the PWM Pulse Width Modulation motors that are popular in many inexpensive systems, including model airplanes, boats and vehicles of many kinds.
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