Report no. 4, The Science of Space Colonization:

4.0 - Space is a dangerous place and the science of space colonization is a report of the many sciences that are required to colonize in space. Much of the technology described here is rapidly becoming available on Earth. Within the next few years, as Earth's space station, now in orbit, continues to develop, all of this developing technology will be incorporated into the station. In addition, much of the new technology will be made available to those human beings who will remain on earth. The technologies will involve improving health, overcoming aging, computer-brain interface technology, lighter and stronger materials, self repairing materials, pollution removal, terraforming, enhanced energy sources, improving food production, and many other assets to normal comfortable living on earth and in space. The key to all of the above is nanotechnology and particle physics.

For life to exist in any form, certain condition must exist. Simply put,there must be liquid water and fuel (food and oxygen) to produce life's energy. The life forms must be protected from the objects, plasma and certain waves lengths of radiation that is ejected from the sun, stars, and other highly energetic sources, including the remains of the Big Bang. Most planets with life forms suffer some type of mass extinction several times during the solar systems lifetime. When Earth was formed some four and a half million years ago, it went through several transformations and mass extinctions before this common era in which intelligent humans now live. In order for human life to exist outside of Earth's protective shield, care must be taken to reproduce an Earth-like shield within the vessel or planet which replaces Earth.

As humanoid life evolves it becomes aware of its surroundings. It has the desire to improve on its survival chances by changing its environment to better suit itself. Mankind learned to us fire for warmth, discovered the benefits of cooked food, learned to shelter from the elements, and learned to use tools to create and to defend itself. As the evolution of mankind continued, each new discovery lead to new questions for which the answer lead to new discoveries which lead to new questions.

• 4.1 - Energy, replacing the sun:

  On earth, as with Ghoti, there have been many schemes to produce and use energy. The ultimate source of the energy for both planets has always been their suns. But if we look a little deeper, the energy of the sun is Hydrogen, compressed so tightly that it begins to fuse, mostly into helium. There are other elements produced, too. In fact, all of our planets were ultimately hydrogen that was fused into all of the elements that constitute the planets. In the 15 billion years since the Big Bang produce all of the hydrogen that exists in the Universe, every star ever to burn in the Sky's of every galaxy in all of the Universe has burned hydrogen as its primary fuel. Stars are born and die to scatter the ashes of all their deaths to make our planes, meteors, comets, dust, gases, and lights in the sky. Still, the one most abundant element in the universe is hydrogen. As the hydrogen collect into pools and compresses, new stars, big and small, appear. Hydrogen is the fuel of stars and hydrogen is still the most abundant energy source for all life.

  Hydrogen is also the predominate fuel used in space travel and colonization. It is used as the rocket fuel of choice, both for chemical rockets and for fusion rockets. Chemical rockets were the early choice for lifting off of a planet and into orbit around the planet. However, in order to reach out into space, the Chemical rockets were abandon in favor of hybrid Nuclear fusion rockets using, you guessed it, hydrogen. However, inside our space stations, our home in space, electricity is required to run our everyday lives. Some of this electric power is produced by our primary fusion rockets, but when our home is coasting in orbit, other means are needed to keep our domestic energy up and running. The technology for this process is also useful on planet outposts, too, such as Earth's Moon and Mars. The technologies are as follows:

  • 4.1.a - Solar Cells:

  There are many types of solar cells available, but through the use of nanotechnology, the efficiency has developed to almost a complete conversion of photons into electrical energy. When used to create hydrogen and oxygen, the conversion is direct and at near 100% efficiency. Otherwise, the power produced is direct current and used directly for lighting and other domestic needs. In reality, our space ship does not operate in this mode often, other than to test the concepts for future use on newly terraformed planet colonizations and outposts.

  • 4.1.b - Fuel Cells

  The fuel cell is about the least polluting of all sources of electrical energy. It burns hydrogen and oxygen at high efficiency to produce electricity and pure, clean water. Using a thin walled solid oxide electrolyte fuel cell in combined cycle with a heat engine the fuel cell operated at about 85% to 95% efficiency. This schema is by far the most efficient of all power generation processes. If earth were to use this method for its population's electrical needs, it would reduce the greenhouse emissions and reduce the need for fossil fuels dramatically. Since water is readily available in space, it is stored in containers around the outer volume of our space ship for future use and as a radiation shield. The hydrogen in the water is the very best of all shields against radiation. The water is disassociated into hydrogen and oxygen, both gases being stored along with the water in the outer layer until needed. Of course, the oxygen is valuable for breathing, too.

  • 4.1.c - Fission

  It was discovered early on that the use of fusion rockets produce as a side effect an almost unlimited supply of electricity without substantially reducing the output of the rockets. When we are traveling through space, this is our primary power supply. It is use for every purpose within the space ship, including the dissociating of the water for atmospheric oxygen and for fuel cell use.

  • 4.1.d - Fusion Power

  Fission power is virtually out of favor because of its waste byproducts and its inherent safety liabilities. It is used as an emergency backup and the off-gases, spent fuel rods, and other radio active materials are jettisoned into space through the plasma phase of our fusion rockets. This does not present a danger to any life forms as space if already filled with plasma ejecta form the stars.

• 4.2 - Mining of space:
  • 4.2.a - Gases:
  • 4.2.b - Liquids:
  • 4.2.c - Solids:
  • 4.2.d - Plasmas:
• 4.3 - hazards of space:
  • 4.3.a - Meteors:
  • 4.3.b - Comets:
  • 4.3.c - Radiation:
  • 4.3.d - Solar wind:
  • 4.3.e - Black holes:
  • 4.3.f - Brown matter:
  • 4.3.g - Dark matter:
• 4.4 - Materials Nanotechnology:
  • 4.4.a - Manufacturing of material, tools and equipment:
  • 4.4.b - Recycling:
  • 4.4.c - Waste disposal:
  • 4.4.d - Food production:
  • 4.4.e - Drinking water:
• 4.5 - Biological Nanotechnology:
  • 4.5.a - Medical technology:
  • 4.5.b - Medication delivery:
  • 4.5.c - DNA repair:
  • 4.5.d - DNA alteration:
  • 4.4.e - Cloning:

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