spacehabitats
05-21-2008, 11:35 AM
Our constitution and nation were born out of the perfect storm of a new frontier populated by pioneers, nearly unlimited natural resources, "free" land for the taking, and enough distance from the oppressive governments of Europe to give our nascent Republic a chance of survival.
It is this type of frontier that is the natural incubator and ultimate refuge for human liberty.
In 1977 Dr. Gerard O'Neill, an experimental physicist from Princeton, outlined a road map to space development that was so elegant and ingenious that it inspired the creation of a private, nonprofit organization, The Spaces Studies Institute, to implement his strategy.
Space Studies Institute (http://ssi.org/)
In many ways I consider Dr. O'Neill to be the "Ron Paul" of scientists.
Once understood, his road map for the extension of human civilization into outer space is incredibly intuitive; in the "Why didn't I think of that!" manner of all truly elegant solutions.
However, in spite of the fact that "The High Frontier" was written in the mid-1970's, and the fact that advances in technology have only made his vision even more attainable today, his ideas are relentlessly ignored by "the establishment".
Today, more than thirty years later, with subsequent technological advances, the path to opening up a limitless frontier in space has become even more attractive and practical.
O'Neill's strategy of using extraterrestrial resources (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide04.jpg) (lunar soil, asteroids) rather than the incredibly expensive materials launched from Earth to build an industrial civilization in space is the key. It is the concept of "living off the land" (http://ssi.org/assets/images/log_cabin.gif) that pioneers have always used successfully. It is also the one capability that NASA has never even attempted to develop. (If NASA had been in charge of developing the New World, the few Europeans living in America would still be living in pre-fab houses shipped over from England on sailing ships!)
Lunar soil (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide06.jpg) is 42% oxygen, and rich in building materials like iron, magnesium, aluminum, and silicon. A robotic lunar mine (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide07.jpg) would just scoop up surface dirt, load it into steel cans, and launch them into space using electromagnetic mass drivers (http://ssi.org/assets/images/astronaut_at_lunar_mass_driver.jpg) powered by solar panels. Notice, no rockets, no rocket fuel, nor any other depleteable resource from Earth.
While the initial investment is high (estimated on the order of the Alaskan oil pipeline), once the infrastructure is in place the resulting products (solar power satellites (http://ssi.org/assets/images/SPS_summary.jpg), space colonies (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide17.jpg), and inexhaustible clean electrical energy (http://ssi.org/assets/images/SPS_wi_rectenna.jpg)) are virtually "free".
Dr. O'Neill and his colleagues have put the development of viable, independent, space colonies within the grasp of private enterprise.
In a classic example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, NASA has programmed us to believe that living in space necessarily involves living in cramped, uncomfortable, dangerous tin cans launched from Earth at horrible expense.
This IS the result of a space program designed and implemented by a bloated, federal bureaucracy.
http://web.mit.edu/slava/space/images/ess-tiap4-4c.jpg
This is what free enterprise and a little pioneering spirit could give us:
http://ssi.org/assets/images/Stanford_Torus.jpg
Oh yes, and a side benefit from this would be to make the human race virtually unkillable.
Planet-killer asteroids and comets could be scooped up and turned into fodder for new colonies.
No pandemic, nuclear holocaust, or supervolcano could ever again threaten to destroy all of human civilization, let alone cause our extinction.
No "New World Order" could ever hope to enslave all of mankind. Independent space colonies at L5 (a stable orbit around the distance to the moon) would literally have days to shoot down nuclear missiles, and could use particle beams that are very effective in the vacuum of space. It would be as easy as playing "Missile Command" on your old Atari 2600!
No wonder They don't want us to know about this.
It is this type of frontier that is the natural incubator and ultimate refuge for human liberty.
In 1977 Dr. Gerard O'Neill, an experimental physicist from Princeton, outlined a road map to space development that was so elegant and ingenious that it inspired the creation of a private, nonprofit organization, The Spaces Studies Institute, to implement his strategy.
Space Studies Institute (http://ssi.org/)
In many ways I consider Dr. O'Neill to be the "Ron Paul" of scientists.
Once understood, his road map for the extension of human civilization into outer space is incredibly intuitive; in the "Why didn't I think of that!" manner of all truly elegant solutions.
However, in spite of the fact that "The High Frontier" was written in the mid-1970's, and the fact that advances in technology have only made his vision even more attainable today, his ideas are relentlessly ignored by "the establishment".
Today, more than thirty years later, with subsequent technological advances, the path to opening up a limitless frontier in space has become even more attractive and practical.
O'Neill's strategy of using extraterrestrial resources (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide04.jpg) (lunar soil, asteroids) rather than the incredibly expensive materials launched from Earth to build an industrial civilization in space is the key. It is the concept of "living off the land" (http://ssi.org/assets/images/log_cabin.gif) that pioneers have always used successfully. It is also the one capability that NASA has never even attempted to develop. (If NASA had been in charge of developing the New World, the few Europeans living in America would still be living in pre-fab houses shipped over from England on sailing ships!)
Lunar soil (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide06.jpg) is 42% oxygen, and rich in building materials like iron, magnesium, aluminum, and silicon. A robotic lunar mine (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide07.jpg) would just scoop up surface dirt, load it into steel cans, and launch them into space using electromagnetic mass drivers (http://ssi.org/assets/images/astronaut_at_lunar_mass_driver.jpg) powered by solar panels. Notice, no rockets, no rocket fuel, nor any other depleteable resource from Earth.
While the initial investment is high (estimated on the order of the Alaskan oil pipeline), once the infrastructure is in place the resulting products (solar power satellites (http://ssi.org/assets/images/SPS_summary.jpg), space colonies (http://ssi.org/assets/images/slide17.jpg), and inexhaustible clean electrical energy (http://ssi.org/assets/images/SPS_wi_rectenna.jpg)) are virtually "free".
Dr. O'Neill and his colleagues have put the development of viable, independent, space colonies within the grasp of private enterprise.
In a classic example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, NASA has programmed us to believe that living in space necessarily involves living in cramped, uncomfortable, dangerous tin cans launched from Earth at horrible expense.
This IS the result of a space program designed and implemented by a bloated, federal bureaucracy.
http://web.mit.edu/slava/space/images/ess-tiap4-4c.jpg
This is what free enterprise and a little pioneering spirit could give us:
http://ssi.org/assets/images/Stanford_Torus.jpg
Oh yes, and a side benefit from this would be to make the human race virtually unkillable.
Planet-killer asteroids and comets could be scooped up and turned into fodder for new colonies.
No pandemic, nuclear holocaust, or supervolcano could ever again threaten to destroy all of human civilization, let alone cause our extinction.
No "New World Order" could ever hope to enslave all of mankind. Independent space colonies at L5 (a stable orbit around the distance to the moon) would literally have days to shoot down nuclear missiles, and could use particle beams that are very effective in the vacuum of space. It would be as easy as playing "Missile Command" on your old Atari 2600!
No wonder They don't want us to know about this.