Second
Generation Shuttle
The second generation shuttle should be smaller, coming in
two versions. One with a cargo section for transporting
small payloads, with or without cargo bay doors like the
shuttle. The second one, with passenger space, is for solely
the transport of astronauts. A tentative design of the new
shuttle results in a wide-bodied aircraft, which looks like
a cross between a Galaxy transport aircraft and the Raptor
fighter plane. All the mass of the aircraft is found below
the wings, and is made of two levels. The top level is the
cabin level, and the bottom level is for cargo space or
engines.
The overall shape of the new shuttle ensures a flushed
integration of the wings with the body; where body and wings
are seen clearly as separate structural elements, which we
believe, after testing, should make flying the aircraft, by
the flight computers, easier. The under body of the
aircraft, and its integration with the wings, should be
designed to provide additional lift capabilities.
The third generation, of an updated space shuttle, will
house in the bottom level, instead of a cargo section, a
scram-jet in the center, and a jet engine on each side,
or Hotol type engines, plus fuel reservoirs. Other types of
possible engines are pulse detonation engines and pulse-mode
plasma engines, which are yet to be designed.
The second generation shuttle additionally provides
placement, on top of the wings, for rockets which may
be required for the final push into space. The wing shape
should be triangular, as in the raptor. Aileron placement,
whether vertical, slanted, or horizontal, is to be decided,
based on their effectiveness in providing close to airliner
stability, in final approach and landing -- stall speed must
be lower than that of the current version of the shuttle.
Vertical, or slanted ailerons, and tail assembly must not
get in the way of the rocket, or rockets required for last
push into space, or possible cargo bay doors.
A new form of aero-gel, which is strong on all angles, can
be used for the interior paneling of the shuttle; as well
as, for seats and floors. The first generation will use
mostly carbon fiber. The use of plastic is avoided, because
of questions about its long term longevity, and possible
noxious degradation, in space. Areo-gel is used for
electrical conduits to minimize the spreading of possible
electrically caused fires. It is also used for sound
cloaking of the cabin, passenger, and the engine sections.
High-grade ceramic should be used for exterior heat
shielding. The carbon tile heat shield should be kept, as a
middle heat shielding layer; and the last layer should be a
ceramic one, burned into the aluminum/titanium frame. The
frame, itself, is built as a single unit, using meld
welding.
The alternative to using a solid external high-grade ceramic
layer is to use a softer one, which sublimates at high
temperature in a uniform manner. The sublimation must be
uniform, in order to prevent the shuttle from being
destabilized at supersonic and hypersonic speed. Only a tiny
layer should sublimate on each re-entry. After each trip,
the shuttle could be wheeled into a hangar; where robots
could re-apply a new coat of the soft ceramic compound,
while diagnostics are performed, on other systems of the
shuttle. The process should take no more than 72 hours; and
the rest of the week is to address problems that the
diagnostics routines could have uncovered. The harder coat
alternative is a way to keep a shuttle in circulation, as
long as, possible; therefore, a shuttle would have to be
taken out of circulation, for at least a few months, for
refurbishment.
Cargo Train
The idea of cargo train service, probably supplied by a
private company, is to ensure, that an appropriate amount of
cargo always reaches the astronauts; since, we expect that a
substantial number of them may be posted on the moon (100 or
more), five years after the first launch.
The cargo train is made of 10 to 15-meter sections, some
radiation shielded, some not. The shielded ones, can be
fully shielded, and used as, additional cabin space for
astronauts, for a week-long trip to the moon; as long as,
the required thrust can be achieved.
A walker robot is needed for loading and unloading cargo on
and off the train. Each cargo section, of the train, has
only a side door/hatch, large enough for the biggest
possible crate. The option of having a cargo bay just like
the shuttle was not an option. Crated cargo is stored on a
motorized setup on the floor of the section; which is able
to move selected crate to the front before the hatch;
waiting to be grappled by the robotic arm. Cargo should be
carried in re-usable, shielded, tagged, and
weight-calibrated crates, with transponders. All the
research and development can be done by a private company.
The sections can be launched into space, with heavy-lift,
Atlas-type rockets.
At each end of each section there should be an armored layer
made of Kevlar, ceramic, or any new material which can
prevent damage to the vulnerable parts of the train, due to
an explosion of the rocket module, or to impacts by space
debris.
Recycling Cargo
Recycling cargo and empty crates back to Earth, could be
done by using a guided-munition type of re-entry vehicle.
The re-entry pod could essentially be egg-shaped or oblong with
stubby wings which are retractable or not, depending on their heat
profile. The stubby wings could double as air-brakes. The pod should
be unsinkable, to allow landings in water, with the use of a parachute.
Rocket Module and Fuel
Two sections are required for the rocket and fuel module
which will push the train to the moon. A new type of fuel,
which is
safer to store and handle, over a long
period of time, is the
first question mark in the project
planning. This new fuel is only required for space-based
transportation.One possible option is the use of methane clathrate,
as a fuel, which has the consistency of slush at low temperatures.
Methane clathrate would be ideal, as a fuel, if a high-speed way to
split the water shell into oxygen and hydrogen could be found.
-- for fuel chemists to research and develop -- A Methane-hydrogen
mix could also be considered; whereas, kerosene and hydrogen could
pause a problem with frequent refuelings.
Combustion type rocket engines can be avoided altogether, by
adopting
plasma-type rocket engines.
The rocket modules design can be done by a private company.
The requirements to be satisfied are the capability to push
a 100-150 meter train to the moon in a 28-day trip; a short
train in 7-days, a very short one, the same time, as the
Apollo missions.
The
Downloaders
The downloaders are the
second question mark in the whole enterprise.
The question is, whether or not, the appropriate rocket
engine can be developed to provide for a re-usable,
reliable, safe vehicle, which can take-off from the moon,
after re-fueling; and, download cargo and people, in a safe,
automatic pilotable fashion, as a single unit.
People
Downloader
The people downloader should be fully automated. It should
be able to take off and land, given origin and destination
coordinates. The LEM should be able to automatically gauge
the total load, and fuel requirements; as well as, plan its
own trajectory, from origin to destination. It should be
able to take-off and land as a single unit. It should be
fully shielded, and able to carry 2 to 3 astronauts. It
should be easily, and safely re-fuelable, on the moon and in
space. It should be able to position itself safely near a
train, to be grabbed by a robotic arm. The robotic arm can
then move the LEM near a hatch to an habitable section of
the train. The LEM should be able to dock with an habitable
section of the train, or vice-versa.
Cargo
Downloader
The cargo downloader is essentially, a carrying platform, a
stripped down version of the people carrying version. It
should also be able to position itself safely near a train,
to be grabbed by a robotic arm. The robotic arm can then
load an appropriate number of crates on the LEM. It should
take the robotic arm a specified amount of time -- for
engineers to estimate -- to load and unload cargo from the
LEM.
Moon Habitat
The habitat must be modular, using panels for construction.
The panels must be fully shielded, and use vacuum seals as
latches. The vacuum seal mechanism must be able to be
powered by a fuel cell, requiring just an adapter. The
adapter should always be in the control of the commander of
the mission, or station. The panel must not exceed a lunar
weight, that an astronaut could not handle alone. The base
and walls, of each habitat, are built with the same type of
panels.
A set of habitats can be built, essentially, as a honeycomb
structure -- left to architects and engineers to research
and develop. The paneled habitats must be able to handle
condensation, without a filtering mechanism -- the panels
themselves must be engineered appropriately. The filtering
mechanism must handle condensation, sweat, water vapor,
lunar sand, etc.. To reduce the impact of lunar sand;
the hatch of every habitat must have efficient sand
filtering, to prevent said sand from entering the main area
of the habitat. A habitat model can be tested in Antarctica,
during the winter months, to examine the effects of cold and
wind pressure, on the vacuum seal mechanism; as well as,
gauge to what level does condensation rise, inside the
habitat.
Habitat Location
The location of the habitats should preferably be chosen in
the 5-10 KM ring along the dark side.
The habitats would not be constantly exposed to solar
radiation. The resources needed for the permanent and
non-permanent colonies must be in the 5-10 KM ribbon, if not
a larger ribbon would be required, as
others
would suggest. Radiation shielding for other than
habitats would not be as necessary since some elements could
be buried; such as electricity carrying cables. Also
sections of colonies that are not constantly occupied by
people, would also not require as much radiation shielding.
If radiation shielding is cheap, than shielding everything
is preferable.
Kilometer-square fields of solar panels can be setup; and
miles of cables can be used to carry the electricity to the
habitats. The secondary supply of energy should come from
fuel cells and hydrogen/oxygen canisters. An adiabatic
generator could also be used, located in the ribbon,
where one end would always be exposed to the sun and the
other not; to be able to use the more than 200 Celsius
temperature differential, for energy generation; the
inside of a wide
crater which provides the required shading is also a
possibility. The compound used, in the adiabatic
process, would not need to be ammonia-based, and must not
freeze when not in sunlight.
Our moon version of an adiabatic system, differs from the
usual ammonia-based one. The system
envisioned for the moon, essentially uses the temperature
differential between a cold and hot zone, approximately
-100/-200C to -100/-150C, to create a
convection
current using a given gas, in our case nitrogen.
Our system is called the
Π-generator;
and is a closed-system energy generator.
It utilizes turbines housed in a cylindrical chamber or
tube. The cylindrical chamber may range from a few meters to
ten of kilometers. Nitrogen gas is used to fill the chamber,
and a suction pump is used to move the heated nitrogen gas
from the hot zone to the cold zone. A minimum speed must be
maintained which is equal to the cut-in speed of the
turbines. The length of the tube, we envision for the moon,
can range from five to fifty kilometers. The turbines,
depending on their design, can be spaced from five to twenty
meters, see
patent-pi-generator for an earth
version.
The downloaders should always land, as least the distance
that debris from an explosion would travel, from the
habitats -- for engineers to estimate.
Bone/Muscle
Loss and Retention
The negative effects, such as bone and muscle loss, of
remaining in space for a long period of time, can be
remedied in two ways. One is a biochemical answer, which
would provide a pharmaceutical-based treatment. Such
treatments would consists in injecting a compound into bone
cells, to trap calcium, and preventing it from leeching out
of bones. The second is a mechanical answer, which consists
of using a rotating sleeping compartment, akin to a mouse
wheel; providing sleeping space for two astronauts, in a
hammock-style resting position. The mouse wheel would
rotate, around a transmission-like axle, and have two
counter-balancing weights, at each end of the axle; to
offset any difference in weights of the sleeping astronauts.
The transmission, in its neutral state, must reduce friction
to a minimum, through the use of friction-less bearings or
surface, e.g. ice surface, for plates connecting axle and
wheel, or/and load bearing surface for wheel rotation; so
that the mouse wheel, once accelerated to a given speed, can
keep rotating, for as long as possible. The transmission,
itself, can be replaced, by rail gun-type acceleration.
The energy necessary for the mouse wheel engine can come
from fuel cells or solar panels, and must be separate from a
space station's power supply. The mouse wheel concept is
simpler and more easily developed than a Ferris-wheel
habitat concept. The mouse wheel concept also answers, both,
the bone and muscle loss problem; whereas, the
pharmaceutical answer would only solve the bone loss, and
not the muscle loss problem.
Because of possible vibrations coming from the engine; mouse
wheel sleeping compartments should only be located in
non-work modules of a space station, craft, or train.
Pierre Innocent