NASA

SPACE SETTLEMENT CONTEST

TEBA 1

By

Horia Mihail TEODORESCU

Lucian Gabriel BAHRIN

(Small team, 8^th grade)

(small group 6-9 grade)

Under the supervision of:

Prof. Horia Nicolai Teodorescu

Prof. Adam Korilloff

Prof. Margareta Constantinescu

Romania

2003

Contents

Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... iii

Preliminaries: An introduction: Requirements for the station ............................... 3

Chapter I How and where should we construct it?

Who will build and inhabit it? How to start?....................................................... 5

By Horia Mihail Teodorescu and Lucian Bahrin

Chapter II Building the space station...................................................................... 15

By Horia Mihail Teodorescu

Chapter III: Creating the living conditions: atmosphere, ecosystem, agriculture........... 19

By Lucian Bahrin

Chapter IV: Raw materials: Chemistry and Metallurgy Issues ........................... 23

By Lucian Bahrin

Chapter V: Electric energy and solar panels on the station .................................. 29

By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu

Chapter VI: Shielding against cosmic rays and solar flares .................................. 31

By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu

Chapter VII: Analyzing vibrations .......................................................................... 35

By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu

Chapter VIII: Chaotic vibrations ............................................................................ 45

By Horia Mihail Teodorescu

Chapter IX: Locating the space settlement ............................................................ 49

By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu

ANNEX..................................................................................................................... 55

By Horia Mihail Teodorescu

General References ................................................................................................. 57

We, Teodorescu Horia Mihail and Lucian Bahrin, have both cooperated in discussing the general plan of the research.

Acknowledgements

Our teachers who helped us with this project are:

Dr. Horia-Nicolai Teodorescu, a university professor and member of the Romanian Academy, who is my father and mentor (Horia-Mihail Teodorescu) and helped us with the incentive for this project, with references, and with most of the advising. He also corrected many of our errors.

Mr. Adam Koriloff, a physics professor at the high school “Colegiul Costache Negruzzi Iasi”.

Mrs. Margata Constantinescu, is a chemistry professor at the high school “Colegiul Costache Negruzzi Iasi”.

We thank them all for the help for this project. We also thank them for their oral communications in which they taught us.

Thank you for your attention.

We foremost thank God for allowing us to do our work for this paper.

PRELIMINARIES

An introduction: Requirements for the station

By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu

Requirements are features that a customer requests to be included in the design of a desired product. The station is also submitted to requirements.

We will first analyze what the Governments contributing (paying) for the station would require. We will search for their most probable interests in the space station.

The governments that contribute in building the station must be stable and great economical powers. Also they must be in political harmony and must be able to sustain the construction of the station with money constantly.

Their interests can vary from constant income from the station as products, or to control a part of the station. Their interests can vary also to political interests, like having an economical and political alliance with other governments that contribute to the construction of the station.

The station must be able to repay the governments that invested in it. Therefore, the station must be an international spaceport and a tourist location. Space tourists can be a good source of money. Also assembling spacecraft and satellites can become an important source of money. The fuel needed to bring the rockets or satellites up to the station can be spared. Building spacecraft and satellites in the space station can be a good way to earn money and repay the governments. Another way to repay the governments will be scientifically. Astronomers will inhabit the station and great research can be made. A telescope like Hubble placed on the station can bring great science income.

Another advantage will be doing experiments in space, in conditions of zero gravity and perfect vacuum.

Companies: Requirements, interests

The companies contributing for the station must be stable financial empires. An example would be Microsoft. Other powerful companies may want to contribute to the station’s construction. The interests are clear: earning a part of the station or a facility, or placing “shops” in the station. The companies may want rare materials extracted from the Moon’s surface, or have a part of the station solar panel and earn money from electric energy. Some companies may want to own a facility and earn money from scientific awards.

Scientists: experiments and research

Scientists may suggest experiments in using the perfect vacuum of space. Because on Earth there cannot be made such a perfect vacuum, some experiments cannot be done, like growing crystals in special conditions. Also, zero gravity can offer great alternatives: experiments can be made, experiments that are impossible on Earth. Some experiments are impossible on Earth due to its gravity and magnetic field.

Thus, the state of zero gravity can be used for some experiments and to determine how certain materials behave in such conditions. If the temperature is very low (), an effect of super conductible will appear. This effect is interesting to study. If we can reproduce that effect on Earth, we may be able to build faster microprocessors.

Studying the near galaxies is important for the astronomers from the station.

People: Wishes, requirements

The people would require reasonable living conditions. We have to ensure water, oxygen, light, gravity as basics for each person. The quantity of water and oxygen each person needs will be calculated. We will consider that we will reduce the quantity of nitrogen with ½ from the normal quantity on Earth. The pressure will be the same as in the high mountains.

Also, shielding has to be made so that the radiation is not more than 0.5 rems/year. Except for these major problems, a magnetic field to simulate Earth’s must be installed.

A requirement for of living space is needed. A total array per person will be of about with streets, home, parks, working place included.

CHAPTER I

How and where should we construct it?

Who will build and inhabit it? How to start?

By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu and Lucian Bahrin

Construction phases. Population design for the construction phase

The construction of the space station will be in 2 phases:

· Build a station for cheap material extraction from the Moon and ship ore to the station.

· Build the station.

We decided that the Moon would be a major resource of metal, minerals, water, and construction material for the station. It is obvious that the major material resources of space are the planets, their moons and asteroids. The distance from these objects to the space station determines the accessibility to these resources.

The close planets of the solar system and the moons may become the major resource well near the station. However, planets are very distant from possible places where the first colonies could be built. Also, we have to know that planets have usually deep gravitational wells and that the effort of a rocket to leave a planet’s surface is very big. The Moons of planets offer better opportunities than the planets because moons have shallow gravity wells. Moons like those of Mars have very shallow gravity wells, but are too far away to be considered as useful. This argument applies to the other natural satellites of other planets.

Earth’s natural satellite, the Moon, offers a good choice. Near the space station, the Moon has a shallow gravity well () and offers a much better solution than transporting materials from Earth. Also, the Moon can be a very important source of aluminum, titanium and iron for constructing the space station and oxygen for respiration and fuel and frozen water. Earth may still be the station’s most important source of carbon and nitrogen that are in very small quantities elsewhere in the space.

We choose the torus for the construction of the station. The torus has the best expandability and is the easiest to construct of all the other variants (see figure I.1). A multiple banded torus is the best solution we have for expandability and life support.

Building stations and population design

Our station cannot survive without the material for construction. The best alternative is that the material should come form the Moon. If we will take material from Earth, the effort and cost is 22 times greater than taking materials from the Moon. Indeed, the spacecraft has to do a much larger effort to escape the deep gravitational well of Earth’s, but 22 times less effort to lift up the surface of the Moon. Asteroids offer very shallow gravitational wells, but are too far away and their regularity and hard to determine orbit leaves them no chance as a first choice. However, asteroids (when encountered) can offer enough material to build an entire space station. Comets are too far away and very rare and have a very irregular orbit. Also, comets have very shallow gravitational wells. They may offer a source of material for the colony.

Therefore, the Moon will be the major source of materials for the space station. Of course, even from the beginning of the construction of the space station, there has to be an extraction facility on the Moon to supply the construction. The construction of the Moon extraction station will be the first step that will have to start before beginning the construction of the space station itself. I made a scheme of the extraction facility (figure I.2).

The next table is about population design for the construction phase of the extraction facility. The personnel will come in time, after the living quarters were built.

Population Design for Moon Extraction Facility
Profession	Higher level professionals (design engineers, shift engineers)	Medium level professionals	Total number
Metallurgists	3	17	20
Metal Constructors, welders etc.	3	17	20
Miners	5	45	50
Mechanics experts	2	10	12
Electronics experts	2	10	12
Drivers	1	4	5
Chemists	5	0	5
Informatics program designers	2	3	5
Communications	2	3	5
Doctors	2	0	2
Biologists	2	0	2
Power plant maintenance personnel	4	0	4
Astronomers	2	0	2
Physicians	2	0	2
Agronomists	2	3	5
Alimentary industry	2	3	5
Administration	3	-	3
TOTAL NUMBER			164

Remark: After finishing the construction there will be no need for so many metallurgists and metal constructors and wielders. Therefore, many will move on the space station to continue building there. On the Moon extraction facility, only 10 metallurgists will remain and 5 metal constructors and wielders. Later, for the construction phase of the spaceport, additional workers will come, but this is not our problem.

After the first phase of the construction is complete, the construction of the space station can begin, after having a constant supply of materials from the extraction facility. I will now show a population design table for the construction phase of the station. (Of course, the personnel will come in time.)

Population Design for Space settlement
Profession	Higher level professionals (design engineers, shift engineers)	Medium level professionals	Total number
Metallurgists	10	90	100
Laminar	5	50	55
Metal Constructors, welders etc.	20	180	200
Resistance structure engineers	10	0	10
Mechanics experts	3	27	30
Electronics experts	5	50	55
Drivers	3	27	30
Rolling materials maintenance personnel	2	8	10
Informatics program designers	20	80	100
Communications	10	100	110
Medical personnel	10	15	25
Biologists	5	-	5
Thermo technicians	5	50	55
Hydro technicians	5	50	55
Automatist engineers	30	-	30
Agronomists	5	50	55
Alimentary industry	3	50	53
Leadingship	20	-	20
Chemists	10	100	110
TOTAL NUMBER			1108

Remark: The determined values are only for the construction phase. After this, the rest of the colonists can come as the living quarters are constructed.

Political importance of the station (By Horia-Mihail Teodorescu)

Of course, the space station will need its leadership. We purpose a democratic kind of government. Democracy and a pyramid-based society would be the best kind of leadingship. Also, I have to analyze the political contest and the expense of building such a station. The expense of sending people into space is great: 1 billion $ per spaceship. Therefore, the expense of sending more than 10000 people into space will grow at many billions of dollars. With the actual type of spacecraft, only 7 people can be sent into space by spacecraft. We have to build much larger and sophisticated spaceships so that we can send more people into space on one single spacecraft. The project is about 100 people per spacecraft.

Because only the expense of sending so many people into space is so great, no country or state in the world can afford it alone. Therefore, the space station should be international and the costs supported by the alliance that builds it. Some political aspects are important and must be foreseen. First, this economical alliance that helps build the station is important not only in an economical view, but also in a deep political alliance. This can help extend NATO almost all over the democratic world with the states that participated in building the space station. Also, the space station is a guarantee for peace between the nations that built it. We can also think at an alliance between states around the world that could insure peace and political harmony on Earth. The importance of the project and the scale of the project means that it will involve not only the three states in the world that can build rockets and send people into space, but also the other states that will contribute with money and material to support the construction of the station.