Category: Blog

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Space mining

Here’s an interesting paper on the political and economic future of space mining. It begins with a survey of the current state of affairs. This alone is worth reading. There’s a lot going on! It then details a simulation exercise used to explore the ramifications of space mining for the Earth economy. Finally, it analyzes the insights gained from the simulation.

The focus is on mining of near-Earth asteroids with Earth-return of materials, but the issues discussed are certainly relevant to the development of colonies on Mars.

ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com www.sciencedirect.com
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BFR in California

“The rocket company has already begun to move hardware into temporary facilities at the site, including a tooling that will be used to make carbon-fiber composites for the rocket’s upper stage, also known as the Big Falcon Spaceship. SpaceX intends to manufacture the BFR components beside the water for easy shipping to test sites and launch pads.”


It’s official: SpaceX will build its monster rocket in California

It’s official: SpaceX will build its monster rocket in California

“This vehicle holds the promise of taking humanity deeper into the cosmos.”…

Ars Technica Ars Technica
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Beyond dollars and cents

“He noted that space exploration had a benefit beyond dollars and cents, and pointed to the example of his own children. Muilenburg said his daughter was thrilled to try on a Boeing Starliner spacesuit during a recent family visit to Florida, while his son was entranced by the work being done on SLS.

“The inspiration quotient is very high,” Muilenburg said.”

Attention Required! | Cloudflare
Attention Required! | Cloudflare
www.geekwire.com
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Scratching the Surface

Scratching the Surface, Generation Mars: Book One, is an illustrated chapter book. Told through the eyes of two sisters, it describes the emergence, literally and figuratively, of this first generation of kids born on Mars. The colonists live underground as protection against the solar and cosmic radiation that reaches the surface of Mars. The kids have never been to the surface. The inside of the colony is all they know. And then they get their chance to step outside.

Coming soon…

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2001

Ok, not Mars-related, but I cast a wide net here and… wow. Wow!

“The studio announced the landmark film’s return to theaters in a widely-circulated release, saying the goal is to give today’s moviegoers the same “cinematic event audiences experienced 50 years ago.””

SYFY Official Site
SYFY Official Site
SYFY Official Site SYFY Official Site
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Making Life Multi-planetary

A new paper from Elon Musk (written before the Falcon Heavy launch, but published this month) with lots of detail on the BFR.

“Our updated design leverages a smaller vehicle, still pretty big but a single vehicle that can do everything that’s needed for greater Earth orbit activity. Essentially we want to make our current vehicles redundant. We want to have one system—one booster and one ship—that replaces Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon. If we can do that, then all the resources that are used for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon can be applied to this system.”

Just a moment...
Just a moment...
www.liebertpub.com