Ender Space Settlement Design Contest. 2014-2015 Kelly DeRees David Sugg Special Note
Fire Prevention and Emergency Alert Systems
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- 6.0 Construction of Ender Settlement 1) Phase I
- 3) Phase III
- 7) Phase VII
- 12) Phase XII
- 7.0 E xternal (Space) Transportation
- 8.0 Energy systems aboard the Ender Settlement
- 9.0 Radiation Protection
5.6 Fire Prevention and Emergency Alert Systems Carbon monoxide (CO) sensors will be abundant in every ring of Ender. Every residence, business, or other establishment will have at least one CO detector (similar to homes on Earth), and several detectors will be placed in the agricultural ring. If a fire breaks out aboard Ender, all detectors that sense the CO will be set off. Depending on the number of detectors set off, the emergency protocol will be different. Regardless of the number of detectors set off, sprinklers in the area of the fire will be activated. These sprinklers will be just like the sprinklers found in commercial buildings in the US. For more information on emergency systems and protocol, see Emergency Protocol.
Note: Mined materials from the Moon and Asteroids will be utilized in the construction of various parts of the settlement. For example mined metals may be used in the construction of the ring frame structures. Also, since the rings are constructed with many modular components, it is easy to construct and replace components and it is easy to quarantine areas in the case of an emergency such as a rapid-decompression event. This image depicts the different spoke quadrants (1-4)
Aside from lightly-crewed cargo vessels and smaller space capsules which may only carry a few people, the primary personnel-transport spacecraft is the Personnel Shuttle. This Shuttle is based off the general designs of the Space Shuttle Orbiter; however, it is smaller and all cargo space is replaced with seats for around 12 passengers. This spacecraft is shaped similarly to the Space Shuttle Orbiter, with large wings and re-entry capability. This re-entry capability makes the Personnel Shuttle a valuable asset to personnel transportation to and from the Ender Settlement. These ferry vessels will be stored and maintained within the hangar. Also, these spacecraft must be piloted by a Captain with a lieutenant. Image from: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/107911main_landing.jpg Image Credit: NASA The personnel shuttle will look similar to the Space Shuttle Orbiter but it will be smaller and it will utilize its main engines for interplanetary travel. It will also carry only passengers and very limited cargo. Another smaller spacecraft that will be used for interplanetary travel to various bodies such as the Moon or asteroids is called the Interplanetary Shuttle. This spacecraft cannot enter the atmosphere of Earth and is only designed to be used in space. This spacecraft can carry up to eight passengers plus the Captain and Lieutenant. The Interplanetary Shuttle has one main engine at the rear and the rear section of the shuttle is filled with fuel tanks. The shuttle also has two smaller descent/ascent engines on the bottom. These engines can be used to land and take off from the Moon. The shuttle is also equipped with retractable landing struts that would be used when landing on the Moon. The hatch/docking port is on the front of the spacecraft and that is where all passengers will enter and exit and the spacecraft also has windows. The widest part of the spacecraft has a width of 5.601 meters. Its length, including the engine bell, is 13.6 meters. The height is about 4.6 meters from the bottom of the descent/ascent engine bells to the top of the spacecraft. The height of the cabin space is about 2.5 meters.
Image of interplanetary shuttle traveling In space with landing struts retracted
The entire settlement will primarily run on electrical power. Electrical power will power most components and systems. Having less reliance on fuel and oil-based energy sources is more cost-effective and cleaner for the settlement. Many fuels would most likely have to be imported from Earth. Thus, having a reliance on oil-based fuels would cause immense expenses for the settlement. The primary method for obtaining electrical energy will be through solar cell technology. Thousands of solar panels will cover the exterior of the settlement in order to turn sunlight into usable electrical power. While the energy from the solar arrays can be stored in batteries when not immediately used, a more innovative technology can be utilized to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of solar panels. A new “mesh solar panel being developed allows both sunlight and air to enter the cell. Allowing both light and oxygen into the cell enables the chemical reactions that typically occurs inside a battery to occur within the solar cell itself” (Palermo, 2014). This new solar cell allows for energy to be captured and stored instead of sent to separate batteries that are extremely expensive. These “solar batteries” are extremely efficient because “only about 80 percent of the electrons produced by solar cells” are usable electricity, “but the new solar cell is designed to ensure that 100 percent of the electrons captured find their way into a battery” (Palermo, 2014). These capabilities would revolutionize energy capture and storage and this technology could be utilized on board the Ender Settlement. Another technology that will be utilized for the production of electricity is fuel cells which are “a device that generates electricity by a chemical reaction” and “every fuel cell has two electrodes, one positive and one negative, called, respectively, the anode and cathode” (“Fuel Cell Basics,” 2008). Also, “the reactions that produce electricity take place at the electrodes” (“Fuel Cell Basics,” 2008). Fuel cells can be an alternative form of electricity production. Mined materials could be used in fuel cell chemical reactions. Combined with solar panels and the “solar battery,” the settlement will have a satisfactory system for acquiring, storing, and distributing energy. 9.0 Radiation Protection To protect the population of Ender against dangerous doses of radiation, two main radiation shielding techniques will be used. The first technique is with special materials that have historically been found to provide sufficient radiation protection for alpha, beta, and neutron radiation. The second technique is with a magnetic field, which forms a protective bubble around the colony to shield the population from gamma and X-ray radiation. To shield against neutron radiation, a thin layer of lead will coat the inside of every outward-facing structure on Ender (Thomas Publishing Company, 2015). To shield against alpha and beta radiation, a layer of plastic will coat the lead (Thomas Publishing Company, 2015). The plastic coating on the lead will also protect any humans that may come into contact with the outward walls from lead poisoning. Note: human contact with this section of the walls is unlikely due to the materials covering the infrastructure in the walls (comparable to the purpose drywall serves). The only time humans would ever come into contact with the outward-facing walls would be during some kind of severe emergency, in which case, the residents have far more serious problems to worry about. High-density materials are best for material shielding of gamma radiation and X-rays, and even the most effective materials leave something to be desired in terms of true safety. In most effective materials, some rays still make it through the material and damage human genes. Rather than using a material to try to shield Ender from gamma radiation and X-rays, a magnetic field is a much better option. On Earth, the uniform magnetic field protects the planet from the gamma radiation from the sun. The magnetic field is highly effective in preventing the harmful radiation from hurting lifeforms on the surface. Experiments performed in the UK in recent years have shown that relatively inexpensive, compact technology can be used to generate a magnetic field around a spacecraft, serving as radiation protection (Cartlidge, 2008). The technology proposed by the UK research team takes advantage of turbulence in the solar wind, which allows a relatively small protective bubble to be effective in radiation shielding (Cartlidge, 2008). A bubble 200 m across can be generated with a 1 Tesla magnet (Cartlidge, 2008), so to protect Ender, which spans ~5.75 km (diameter), 29 of these magnets would be required. The residents of Ender would still be at risk for high-energy intergalactic cosmic rays, which is a type of radiation that is unavoidable in deep space and does not have any current effective solutions. 10.0 Mining To maintain Ender’s daily operations, supply construction materials, and supply materials for industry aboard Ender, metals and water will be mined from nearby bodies, including near-Earth asteroids and the Moon. 10.1: Section 1 – Materials to Mine Precious metals such as platinum and iridium will not only be used aboard Ender in industry, but also exported to Earth for sale. These metals are in high demand in labs as catalysts and in the jewelry industry for making fine jewelry. According to Planetary Resources, a company dedicated to asteroid mining, “a single 500-meter platinum-rich asteroid can contain more platinum group metals than have ever been mined in human history” (Planetary Resources, n.d.). Because of their high concentration of precious metals, asteroids will be very valuable mining locations. Iron is a metal that is crucial for construction because it can be used to make steel. Many asteroids have iron cores, which would be valuable resources for mining iron to use in construction and industry. Silicone is used in countless commercial products, from hair conditioners to fabrics and medical equipment. Silicone is a polymer made of silicon and oxygen atoms with carbon and hydrogen atoms attached strategically to produce many different properties. Water is essential to life and industry. Water will be used for drinking, crop irrigation, humidity control, manufacturing, food processing, and more. No matter the effort and commitment to recycling water, Ender will ultimately lose small amounts of water over time, and this resource must be replenished. To replenish water, it will be mined from C-type asteroids, which are water-rich, as well as the poles of the Moon (Planetary Resources, n.d.). 10.2: Section 2 – Mining Locations As mentioned earlier, the primary locations for mining will be the Moon and near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). C-type asteroids and the Moon will be targeted for water, X-type asteroids will be targeted for precious metals, S-type asteroids for metallic iron and silicon (in the form of iron- and magnesium-silicates), and M-type asteroids for metallic iron (NASA, n.d.). The polar regions of the Moon will also be targeted for water because recent research has shown that the Moon has been accumulating water ice in shaded polar regions for billions of years (Wall, 2011), resulting in a large repository of usable water. To identify NEA’s to mine, observatories on the outer edges of Ender will watch for NEA’s as they pass near Earth or the Moon. The data collected by these observatories will be added to current data from NASA to build a comprehensive list of NEA’s. Using software to track and predict asteroid orbits, NEA’s will be identified and their trajectories mapped to make spacecraft rendezvous easier. An example of what this software may look like can be found below (image is from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Solar System Dynamics website). This image shows just one asteroid that has passed near Earth recently. This asteroid, DD54, passed within 0.0184 astronomical units (~2,760,000 km) of Earth. Because Ender will be located 1.5 million km from Earth, this asteroid would have made a good target for a rendezvous. Ender’s observatories will look for asteroids like DD54 to optimize the efficiency of asteroid mining. The image (left) is a screenshot of an orbit diagram simulation produced by NASA. The orbit displayed is of asteroid DD54, which made a close pass of the Earth in February 2015. This simulation can be found at http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2015%20DD54;orb=1 Image credit: NASA JPL Chart illustrating number of NEAs. There are many of these objects, and several of them could be mined. Chart from http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/ Image credit: NASA JPL 10.3: Section 3 – Spacecraft Required Spacecraft with the specific purpose of mining will be constructed, maintained, and housed aboard Ender in the central hangar. There will be two types of mining spacecraft: static miners and ferries. The static miners will be launched from the hangar and will consist of two parts: a propulsion module and a lander. The propulsion module will carry the lander to the asteroid, orbit the asteroid long enough for the lander to be deployed, and then return to Ender. Before deploying the lander, the propulsion module will survey the surface of the asteroid to determine a suitable landing place for the lander, which will do the mining. The orbiter will take into account the degree of flatness of the surface, as well as the concentration of valuable materials beneath the asteroid’s surface. Once deployed, the lander will use retrorockets to control its descent. Once on the surface of the asteroid, the lander will unfold and deploy stakes into the asteroid to keep itself stationary. It will then begin mining, storing the materials in a storage bay to be collected by a ferry later. The static mining spacecraft will not return to Ender (only the propulsion module of these spacecraft will return to carry more landers to other locations). The ferries will be deployed from Ender to the asteroid, where they will descend to the surface where the static miners are, then act as rovers to move to the exact locations of the static miners. Once they reach the miners, they will collect the mined materials from the storage bay, launch from the surface of the asteroid, and carry the materials back to Ender for use in industry and construction. The same principles apply to lunar mining, except the lunar mining ferries will require more fuel to escape the Moon’s stronger gravity (compared to asteroids). If one of these mining spacecraft ever needs repair, manned “maintenance ferries” will be available for workers to use to travel to the asteroid or Moon. These small spacecraft will allow maintenance crews to orbit and land where the broken spacecraft is. The workers can don spacesuits and perform extravehicular activities (EVAs) to repair the spacecraft. Once their EVAs are done, the workers will be able to board their spacecraft and return to Ender. If the workers encounter an emergency that disables their spacecraft, a rescue spacecraft will be sent to retrieve the crew. 10.4: Section 4 – Mining for Construction During Ender’s construction, the initial crucial hardware will be launched from Earth for assembly. Once the most critical components of Ender are assembled, however, all other construction materials will be mined from asteroids and the Moon. The mined materials will be brought via ferry (as discussed earlier) to the construction site, where they will be processed into building materials and implemented on the spacecraft. By mining the materials used in construction, launch expenses from Earth will be greatly reduced, and Ender will immediately begin its life as an independent civilization. 11.0 Agriculture The agriculture ring on Ender is one of the most important aspects of the spacecraft. Without the agriculture ring, food, cloth, paper, plastic, dyes, and other products would not be available on Ender. To accommodate the needs of 10,300 people, the agriculture ring is the largest section (by area) of Ender. Many types of crops will be grown in this ring, including corn, cotton, soy, hemp seed, potatoes, black beans, and plants for clothing dyes, such as mountain alder or bloodroot. 11.1: Section 1 – Corn Corn has countless uses. It is the most important crop that will be grown aboard Ender. Corn will be used as a food source to provide a filling, nutritious, high-protein staple. For every 1 cup serving, corn provides 16 g of protein (USDA). It has many uses in meals. Grits, steamed corn, cereals, and corn flour are just a few examples. Corn can be eaten fresh, or it may be dried and stored for years (USA Emergency Supply, LLC., 2015). For this reason, surplus corn can be used as an emergency food supply if large amounts of crops are killed by disease or some other factor. Edible products can also be made through further processing of corn; one important example of this is sugar, which is expected to be a popular commodity among Ender’s population (Cellania, 2010). Corn also has many other uses beyond food, such as the production of ethanol, an important alternative fuel for vehicles. Though there won’t be many powered vehicles on Ender (i.e. cars), the few that are expected to be there will require fuel. Ethanol has been an important additive to fuel for many years. Flowchart summarizing the ethanol production process. Image from http://mentalfloss.com/article/26030/10-ways-we-use-corn Corn steep liquor, a byproduct of the ethanol production, provides an excellent medium in which to grow penicillin (Cellania, 2010). Keeping a stock of this important medicine on-board is crucial to public health. Another important corn product, starch, is used to make biodegradable plastics. All plastics used on Ender will have to be manufactured from sustainable products, and corn starch provides the perfect base (Cellania, 2010). 11.2: Section 2 – Cotton and Clothing Dyes
11.3: Section 3 – Soy There will not be any livestock on Ender because of the strain it places on the environment. According to the US Department of the Interior, livestock require 2,140 Mgal/day (millions of gallons of water per day) (US Department of the Interior, 2005). Ender simply does not have the capacity to support this extreme water draw. In addition to the water requirements, livestock also produce incredible amounts of methane, which is very difficult to remove from the air. Too much of this gas would cause problems with public health, infrastructure, and overall quality of life. Rather than strain Ender’s resources with livestock, soy will be grown as a substitute. Soy can be used to make tofu to substitute for meat, while still providing protein and other important nutrients. Soybeans can also be used to make soymilk, a substitute for cow milk. 11.4: Section 4 – Hemp Seed, Potatoes, and Black Beans
Potatoes have also long been recognized as an important source of starch and vitamins (especially potassium), and it is for this reason that potatoes will be grown in the agriculture ring. Potatoes are also filling, providing a feeling of satisfaction. Black beans contain high levels of protein and vitamin B1, as well as iron, folate, magnesium, copper, and potassium (Johnson, 2015). To further supplement the residents’ diet with important vitamins and minerals, black beans will be another important crop. 11.5: Section 5 – Other Crops The list above is not an exhaustive list of every crop that will be grown aboard Ender. Depending on the needs of the population at a given time, the nutritional needs might change as well, so other crops may be grown. In addition to the crops already discussed, a variety of fruit will be grown, rotating different fruits through the seasons to give the citizens variety and a sense of being on Earth (with different fruits being in season at different times).
12.2: Section 2 – Mining The mining industry will be focused mainly on asteroids and the Moon. Precious metals can be mined from near-Earth asteroids, and water can be mined from the Moon. The materials retrieved through mining will be used in manufacturing processes aboard Ender, and some of the water will be used to replenish the water supply aboard the spacecraft. (Despite every effort to conserve water, some small amounts of water will ultimately be lost over time.) See Mining for more information about mining. 12.3: Section 3 – Agriculture The other major part of the economy is agriculture. The agriculture ring will contain crops that will sustain the entire population of Ender as well as provide raw materials for manufacturing (for example, corn husks will provide the base for paper products). Because residents and businesses depend so heavily on the agriculture on Ender, the agriculture industry will be massive and very profitable. See Agriculture for more information about agriculture. 12.4: Section 4 – Manufacturing When mining spacecraft return to the settlement, they are loaded with various raw materials and rocks. These raw materials are essentially useless when they first arrive at the settlement unless it is a material that is already in its final form such as water. For example, various metal ores will need to be processed in order to be used as a practical construction material. All of the raw materials processing occurs on the Business and Industry ring. Generally, metals follow similar processes when being turned into usable materials. An example of a raw materials processing process is given below: The steelmaking process starts with the processing of iron ore. The rock containing iron ore is ground and the ore is extracted using magnetic rollers. Fine-grained iron ore is processed into coarse-grained clumps for use in the blast furnace. Coal is cleaned of impurities in a coke furnace, yielding an almost pure form of carbon. A mixture of iron ore and coal is then heated in a blast furnace to produce molten iron, or pig iron, from which steel is made (“From Ore to Steel,” n.d.). While this example involves using coal, the principles of processing metal are similar, requiring furnaces and other large equipment. Iron and steel are extremely valuable resources for construction projects on board Ender. The final steel product is described below: Molten steel from the furnaces passes through continuous casters and is formed into slabs, blooms and billets. These primary steel products are transformed into a wide range of finished steel products through hot and cold rolling processes. Slabs are rolled into flat products; blooms are shaped into girders, beams and other structural shapes; and billets are formed into bars and rods (“From Ore to Steel,” n.d.). As with all metals, they will need to be processed in mills and factory-type settings in order to turn the raw, mined materials into usable metals that could be used in the construction of parts of the settlement and various additions to the settlement. The furnaces and large equipment will be built on the Business and Industry Ring and all processing will take place on this ring. The “mills” will be contained in smaller spaces compared to larger open areas on Earth where mills are present. Agricultural processing will be a major part of the manufacturing industry. Residents of Ender will depend heavily on agriculture for everyday products such as food, paper products, plastic products, and more. In the business/industry ring of Ender, several manufacturing centers will utilize agricultural products. Due to the wide array of products that can be manufactured from agricultural products, a single “agricultural processing” center will not suffice. Instead, there will be a paper plant, a plastic plant, etc. to produce all of the products the citizens of Ender will rely on each day. The food-related agricultural products will go to another center that processes, portions, and packages food into reasonable amounts for individuals and families. These packaged foods will be placed in paper and plastic products and sold in stores, just like a grocery store on Earth. The only major difference between the products sold on Ender and those sold on Earth will be that the products on Ender will be fully sustainable; every part of every product, from the food to the packaging, will have been made from agricultural products. These products will be biodegradable, so if, for whatever reason, they cannot be recycled for use in new products (but are not fit for disposal), they can be ground up and placed in the soil of the agricultural ring to decompose. To produce other important goods, such as clothing, other mills and plants will be in the business/industry ring of Ender. For example, textile mills will convert cotton into clothing using natural dyes made from plant materials. Yüklə 266,73 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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