Author: Generation Mars

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StS on sale now!

On sale now for $0.99! Get your copy of the Kindle edition of Scratching the Surface: Generation Mars, Prelude.
https://www.amazon.com/Scratching-Surface-Generation-Mars-Prelude-ebook/dp/B07W76QP8B

Water: Generation Mars, Book Three is coming!

In anticipation of the release, I am putting Kindle editions of each of the first three books on sale in October. Each book will be available for $0.99 for one week.

Scratching the Surface – October 1-7
Air – October 8-14
Shelter – October 15-21

Scratching the Surface, on sale now!

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Lunar South Pole

Human activity on the Moon will increase dramatically in the next decade. This article provides a concise view why.

A subplot in the forthcoming book, Water, involves a cousin on Earth who’s dad gets an assignment at the south pole of the Moon, studying ice cores for a new mine.

The mysteries of the Moon's South Pole
The mysteries of the Moon's South Pole

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission is revealing new insights about the lunar South Pole. The US, China and Russia all plan future missions to this region – so what makes it so fascinating?
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
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Mars model

This is interesting. A group of researchers developed an agent-based model of a Martian colony “to explore the psychological, social, technological, economic, and logistical factors that would influence the long-term viability of a human Martian settlement.”

They found that the minimum number of individuals needed to create a colony with a stable population was much smaller than one might anticipate: 22.

The population of Dawn, in my books, is around 5000. I’ve worried that this might be too small for self-sufficiency. The fact that this model suggests 22 individuals are enough for population stability (albeit with regular shipments from Earth) suggests otherwise.

The personality categorization used in the model is necessarily blunt. People are, of course, more complicated than what can be modeled in an agent-based system like this one. However, based on the characters I’ve written in Generation Mars, I think that if one were to attempt to categorize the population of Dawn in a similar way, it would lean heavily in the direction the model suggests as most likely to survive: agreeable, social, with a creative approach to life.


We could start a settlement on Mars with just 22 people, scientists say

We could start a settlement on Mars with just 22 people, scientists say

Using computer simulations, scientists also determined the personality types best suited for stays of up to 28 years on the Red Planet.

Space.com Space.com
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Let’s talk covers (2)

Second (we’re still talking covers, remember?), I’m thrilled to share the cover of my forthcoming Generation Mars book, Water. Once again, Luis Peres has outdone himself.

This time we have a mashup (overture, if you will) of the interior illustrations, creating a perfect concept piece that draws the reader in by teasing multiple events in the story.

It’s a great cover! Want to read the book? Release date announcement coming soon.

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Let’s talk covers

First, I’ve been so busy finalizing the next book that I missed this announcement in early August. Shelter is a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards Best Book Cover contest in the Children/Young Adult category. Kudos to Luis Peres for hitting it out of the park with this grand and cinematic vision of a human family facing the challenges of living on Mars.

Finalists 2023 | The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Finalists 2023 | The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
www.thewsa.co.uk www.thewsa.co.uk
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More about coming lunar activity

Here’s part II of Greg Autry‘s series on cislunar activity.

From the article: “Orbital real estate is extremely limited and – in the absence of any coordination or law preventing occupation of those desirable orbits – the rules of First Mover Advantage must apply.”

In particular, Earth-Moon Lagrange points 1 and 2 are going to be in high demand. NASA’s Lunar Gateway architecture will stake a not-so-subtle claim on L2.

I’ve already written the scenes in my next book that involve lunar landing. But, I have to say, the idea of a space elevator from L1 to near the Moon’s south pole is almost too good to ignore. I might have to revisit those scenes.

Lunar Orbital Congestion II: Economic and Strategic Drivers
The 2nd in a series, this article considers economic forces driving lunar orbital congestion and competition over locations strategic locations in the Earth-Moon system.
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Science catching up to fiction

In the manuscript for the next Generation Mars book, I mention that a couple was able to conceive through recent technological developments. Well, here’s science catching up to fiction before the fiction is even published. The tech is called in-vitro gametogenesis, or IVG. It’s not ready for use in humans yet. But when it is, the possibilities are staggering.

Creating a sperm or egg from any cell? Reproduction revolution on the horizon
Researchers are inching closer to creating human eggs and sperm in the lab that carry a full complement of anyone’s DNA. It could revolutionize fertility treatment and raises huge ethical questions.

 

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Cislunar activity is about to explode

Greg Autry is writing a series of articles for Forbes on the coming era of cislunar activity. Here’s the first.

From the article:
“Walking the floor of the International Astronautical Conference in Paris last fall, I couldn’t help but feel that the Moon will soon be a very busy and very international destination. 2019 saw a lunar landing attempt by a private Israeli team and Japan’s ispace tried it last month. Both nations promise to return to the Moon soon. Meanwhile, China’s governmental program has had a series of lunar successes including placing a lander and rover on far side of the Moon. There will be landers, rovers, hoppers, and human habitats scattered across the lunar surface by the end of the decade. This activity will require a lot of orbital infrastructure.”

Particularly interesting is the discussion of the Moon’s gravitational anomalies due to its uneven density. This makes most low lunar orbits (LLO) unstable.

Lunar Orbital Congestion Is Gonna Be A Thing
Lunar Orbital Congestion Is Gonna Be A Thing

The lunar orbital environment is pristine today, but physics and economics suggest that the space above the Moon may be congested by 2030.
Forbes Forbes