Living on a moon....

A harsh mistress

You may not think about it, because it's not common on good ol' terra firma but radiation is blasting out across the solar system every microsecond... some will strike the surface or atmosphere of a planet. This radiation is shielded from us by the very makeup of earth. However, out in space, it may be a completely different story.

Because of this, lunar habitats are going to require a slightly different construction plan than earth neighborhoods or the space station. You've all seen the drawings of huge domed cities on the surface of a planet or moon. This is only going to help the incoming radiation and the atmosphere. This does not help, however, our big concern: Is the surface of a lunar body harmfully radioactive to long-term habitation?

Since we don't have radiological studies of every potential habitat out in space, we have to start designing as if the answer is yes. We will need to create a bed of radiation absorbing materials that does not re-transmit or at the least redirects it away from the settlement. What might this structure look like? A layer of highly dense material, an ice layer, and a second layer of dense material? I myself do not know. What I do know is that even here on earth we are concerned about health hazards from the ground such as radon and carbon monoxide. Building for these settlements may catapult forward construction here on earth and protection from these dangers.

Until next time...

Artificial Gravity, Real Concerns

How to live with the weight of space

Once again I have come to you, my few random readers, to address concerns with future space life. We can't have dozens, hundreds, or the unlimited potential of humanity walking around using magnetic boots for their entire space life. So, for the real question:

How do we mimic gravity?

We have in the past heard of things terms as "artificial gravity". What do we know about gravity that makes us believe we can fake it. The answer is surprisingly simple: It is a force. We can spin a massive object and it will draw to the outer edges all of the force because of momentum.

Our biggest problem to date is that we do not have a massive enough object in rotation with people actually inhabiting it. This brings up our second major issue: Cosmic radiation. If you are being spun to the outside of the object, you are closest to the source of harmful radiation. The earth uses a multi-layer radiation defense system that we would have to mimic as well. This includes: a magnetic field, an atmosphere, a water barrier (clouds for example), and an ionosphere. Out in space, we also have to include thermal insulation (which is provided by the heat retaining quality of the oceans here on terra firma).

So, how will you prepare for this? What feats of science will be required to make new worlds go around our own?

Next time: Living on a moon...