Sunday, August 31, 2014
Aquarius a nuclear thermal rocket that uses water heated to over 3000 degrees celsius to solve many human interplanetary transportation issues
http://ift.tt/hZ0OVi
The Space Enterprise Institute has a proposed design for a reusable interplanetary transport.
Attributes of a reusable interplanetary human spaceflight transport are proposed and applied to example transits between the Earth/Moon system and Deimos, the outer moon of Mars. Because the transport is 54% water by mass at an interplanetary departure, it is christened Aquarius. In addition to supporting crew hydration/hygiene, water aboard Aquarius serves as propellant and as enhanced crew habitat radiation shielding during interplanetary transit. Key infrastructure and technology supporting Aquarius operations include pre-emplaced consumables and subsurface habitat at Deimos with crew radiation shielding equivalent to sea level on Earth, resupply in a selenocentric distant retrograde orbit, and nuclear thermal propulsion.
Advancing in-space nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) technology to the point where fission reactor core temperatures exceeding 3000° C can be achieved during major translational maneuvers (burns). Under these conditions, water molecules pumped into the core will disassociate into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and specific impulse ISP near 1000 s could be achieved. This level of efficiency, twice that attainable with chemical propulsion, dramatically reduces total mass for an interplanetary transport of specified payload mass.
When high propulsive efficiency is achieved with water as propellant, the practicality of interplanetary human spaceflight is enhanced in multiple respects.
1.liquid water is easily stored for months or years without exotic thermal conditioning burdens imposed by cryogens or toxicity hazards associated with hypergols.
2. liquid water stored about the crew habitat to support arrival propulsion requirements at an interplanetary destination also serves as an effective radiation shield during interplanetary transit.
3. water is arguably the most common volatile to be found on small bodies such as asteroids and minor moons throughout our solar system, leading to the promise of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). With ISRU producing
water for propulsion, radiation shielding, and hydration/hygiene near an interplanetary destination, mass to be transported there from Earth in support of crew return is virtually eliminated.
Is technical risk of the presumably higher 3000° C nuclear reactor core temperature necessary to "burn" water
propellant and achieve this ISP (875-1000 ISP) a good trade against the potentially greater difficulties
of refining, storing, and transporting liquid hydrogen, particularly in an ISRU context
There was an 18 page presentation at NASA FISO
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
The Space Enterprise Institute has a proposed design for a reusable interplanetary transport.
Attributes of a reusable interplanetary human spaceflight transport are proposed and applied to example transits between the Earth/Moon system and Deimos, the outer moon of Mars. Because the transport is 54% water by mass at an interplanetary departure, it is christened Aquarius. In addition to supporting crew hydration/hygiene, water aboard Aquarius serves as propellant and as enhanced crew habitat radiation shielding during interplanetary transit. Key infrastructure and technology supporting Aquarius operations include pre-emplaced consumables and subsurface habitat at Deimos with crew radiation shielding equivalent to sea level on Earth, resupply in a selenocentric distant retrograde orbit, and nuclear thermal propulsion.
Advancing in-space nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) technology to the point where fission reactor core temperatures exceeding 3000° C can be achieved during major translational maneuvers (burns). Under these conditions, water molecules pumped into the core will disassociate into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and specific impulse ISP near 1000 s could be achieved. This level of efficiency, twice that attainable with chemical propulsion, dramatically reduces total mass for an interplanetary transport of specified payload mass.
When high propulsive efficiency is achieved with water as propellant, the practicality of interplanetary human spaceflight is enhanced in multiple respects.
1.liquid water is easily stored for months or years without exotic thermal conditioning burdens imposed by cryogens or toxicity hazards associated with hypergols.
2. liquid water stored about the crew habitat to support arrival propulsion requirements at an interplanetary destination also serves as an effective radiation shield during interplanetary transit.
3. water is arguably the most common volatile to be found on small bodies such as asteroids and minor moons throughout our solar system, leading to the promise of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). With ISRU producing
water for propulsion, radiation shielding, and hydration/hygiene near an interplanetary destination, mass to be transported there from Earth in support of crew return is virtually eliminated.
Is technical risk of the presumably higher 3000° C nuclear reactor core temperature necessary to "burn" water
propellant and achieve this ISP (875-1000 ISP) a good trade against the potentially greater difficulties
of refining, storing, and transporting liquid hydrogen, particularly in an ISRU context
There was an 18 page presentation at NASA FISO
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
Scientists Generate Electricity from a Silk Moth Cocoon
http://ift.tt/QJRlJC
Scientists in India have found a way to not only harvest the trace amounts of minerals found on silk moth cocoons, but according to a scientific report published by them earlier this month, they have found a way to generate enough electricity using these minerals plus some water to power electronics. From Inhabitat: Wetting the […]
Reposted via adafruit industries blog
Scientists in India have found a way to not only harvest the trace amounts of minerals found on silk moth cocoons, but according to a scientific report published by them earlier this month, they have found a way to generate enough electricity using these minerals plus some water to power electronics. From Inhabitat: Wetting the […]
Reposted via adafruit industries blog
vodkaslumber: :) Thank you so much! This is so beautiful...
naked-yogi: Unwashed hair. Please only reblog with caption...
iseo58: People of the Omo Valley, Ethiopia, Hans Silvester
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Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
People of the Omo Valley, Ethiopia, Hans Silvester
Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Dallas’ historic preservation staff recommends denying a planned bike-share location at Fair Park
http://ift.tt/1cwEqpJ
The red box marks the spot where Park and Recreation Department wants to plant a bike-share station at Fair Park. (From docs prepared for Landmark Commission) In March, after much discussion and debate, the Dallas City Council OK’d spending $125,000 … Continue reading →
Reposted via City Hall Blog
The red box marks the spot where Park and Recreation Department wants to plant a bike-share station at Fair Park. (From docs prepared for Landmark Commission) In March, after much discussion and debate, the Dallas City Council OK’d spending $125,000 … Continue reading →
Reposted via City Hall Blog
heaven-ly-mind: Tropical Lofoten by Morten Rustad on 500px
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Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
Tropical Lofoten by Morten Rustad on 500px
Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
HardenedBSD - SoldierX's First BSD Distribution
http://ift.tt/1qe9zJJ
Reposted via SOLDIERX.COM - Nobody Can Stop Information Insemination
I've been extremely busy these past few weeks to bring SoldierX a slice of awesomeness. Early on in the ASLR project, SoldierX graciously donated a sparc64 and later a BeagleBone Black. We've been able to identify a few (still outstanding) issues on ARM with our ASLR implementation. Our implementation would not be as stable, robust, or feature-complete today if it weren't for SoldierX's sponsorship and donations. It is with tremendous excitement that today I'm announcing the launch of the HardenedBSD project.
The HardenedBSD project aims to enhance FreeBSD's security by adding many exploit mitigation technologies and upstreaming those enhancements directly to FreeBSD. You can think of HardenedBSD as more of a staging area for bleeding-edge development of exploit mitigation, hardening, and other security-related technologies for FreeBSD. Once ASLR is feature complete and fully upstreamed (including integration with the Ports tree), I'll port certain security features from the Grsecurity Linux kernel hardening patch.
Please keep in mind that we're still in the early stages of getting everything set up. I'm building our first official package repo as we speak (with more than 20,000 packages, it takes a lot of time). Please give it a spin.
Reposted via SOLDIERX.COM - Nobody Can Stop Information Insemination
Santa Maria della Salute, Venice (by .natasha.)
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Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
Santa Maria della Salute, Venice (by .natasha.)
Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
ontheothersideofthedoublemoon: Camille Rowe shot by Pam Hanson
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Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
ontheothersideofthedoublemoon:
Camille Rowe
shot by Pam Hanson
Reposted via F&O FABFORGOTTENNOBILITY
Texas AG Greg Abbott: Single-use bag fees, like Dallas’, may be against state law, but all-out bans might not be
http://ift.tt/1cwEqpJ
From the page in the city council bag-ban briefing titled "MOTIVATION" Greg Abbott doesn’t think cities have the right to charge retail customers for single-use plastic or paper bags. But according to an opinion issued today by the Texas attorney … Continue reading →
Reposted via City Hall Blog
From the page in the city council bag-ban briefing titled "MOTIVATION" Greg Abbott doesn’t think cities have the right to charge retail customers for single-use plastic or paper bags. But according to an opinion issued today by the Texas attorney … Continue reading →
Reposted via City Hall Blog
ARPA-E will provide $30 million for nuclear fusion research
http://ift.tt/hZ0OVi
ARPA-E is making up to $30 million in funding available (DE-FOA-0001184) for
Accelerating Low-cost Plasma Heating and Assembly (ALPHA)
ALPHA seeks to support innovative R&D on low-cost tools to aid in the future development of fusion power.
An ARPA-E program seeks to develop and demonstrate low-cost tools to aid in the development of fusion power, with a focus on approaches to produce thermonuclear plasmas in the final density range of 10^18-10^23 ions per cubic centimeter. The program goal is to create a toolset that will allow a significant reduction in facilities costs for fusion development and to enable rapid learning through a high shot rate at a low cost-per-shot.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
ARPA-E is making up to $30 million in funding available (DE-FOA-0001184) for
Accelerating Low-cost Plasma Heating and Assembly (ALPHA)
ALPHA seeks to support innovative R&D on low-cost tools to aid in the future development of fusion power.
An ARPA-E program seeks to develop and demonstrate low-cost tools to aid in the development of fusion power, with a focus on approaches to produce thermonuclear plasmas in the final density range of 10^18-10^23 ions per cubic centimeter. The program goal is to create a toolset that will allow a significant reduction in facilities costs for fusion development and to enable rapid learning through a high shot rate at a low cost-per-shot.
Read more »
Reposted via Next Big Future
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