The Final Frontier

THE FINAL FRONTIER Science LIGO’s ground breaking discovery of gravitational waves

Future of space Plans for a space elevator, discussed and interpreted Astronomical Education in schools

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

What is up guys! Welcome to our magazine about outer space. I hope you will find the first issue of The Final Frontier to be out of this world. We all have enjoyed science since before we can remember, but when we got together to decide the topic of this magazine, we realized the topics we wanted to write about all revolved around outer space. Our magazine looks into varying aspects of space, from scientific discoveries about gravitational waves to the current and future space education. Additionally this issue covers space colonization, the health of astronauts, and plans for a space elevator.

Our goal in making this magazine is to inspire others and increase the public’s knowledge of the universe and our solar system. We put in a lot of time struggling to learn how to use all of the Adobe programs so that this magazine could come together, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of our amazing teacher Mr. Garcia. We would like to thank him for giving us advice on all things ranging from technology, design, to random but fun facts. Even though the creation of our magazine involved disagreeing throughout most of the process, we are all very proud of the product, and hope you enjoy the end result!

Sincerely, Lily, Elyse, Miguel, Sean, and Lois

Lily was born in Lafayette, Indiana, and moved to Austin when she was eight. In her free time she enjoys figure skating and hanging out with her friends. Lily is a ninth-grader at LASA high school and her favorite subjects are math and science.

She has enjoyed learning about science from a young age.

Elyse Hall Elyse is a freshman at LASA and plays soccer, frisbee, and runs cross country for her school. She takes German in school and enjoys learning about the German language and culture. She would like to thank her team for helping her learn how to use Illustrator and Indesign and hopes you enjoy the magazine.

Sean Manners Sean has moved many times from Washington to Canada, then to California and finally to Texas.

After moving this many times he finally settled down in Austin, Texas, and ended up at LASA. At LASA he is a member of the DnD club--which is the best club--and enjoys a lazy life at home playing video games.

Miguel Liu-Schiaffini Born in Austin, but having also lived in California, Miguel is a freshman at LASA High School in Austin. He has been interested in science and space since he was very young. He wants to help educate others about space travel and hopes that his goal is facilitated through this magazine.

Lois Lee Lois was born in Austin, Texas. At the age of two, she moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived for two years before returning to Austin. Currently, she is a freshman at LASA, plays the piano and violin, draws and paints, and plays tennis. She has enjoyed this opportunity to work with a great group and help make an original magazine.

MEET THE TEAM

Lily Yeazell

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Path to Discovery

Inner Health in Outer Space Steps for Success

A Martian Heading

Earth and Mars

11

15

23

25

9

5

A Heavy Impact

17 19

Taking Space Travel to the Next Level

Lift to the Stars

29

Education Revolution

33

Educate Yourself!

Two black holes circle each other and eventually collide in a massive explosion. Colliding black holes create gravitational waves.

Image Courtesy of LIGO/T. Pyle

A Heavy Impact

LIGO is shaping knowledge of the universe with groundbreaking discoveries of gravitational waves caused when black holes collide

By Lily Yeazell

B

illions of years ago, two black holes circled each other. They merged in one colossal explosion creating gravitational waves which shook the universe and were detected by LIGO in early 2017.

LIGO to find out properties of black holes. One interferometer is in Livingston, Louisiana the other is in Hanford, Washington. The facilities are humongous, 4 km long detectors, capable of detecting astronomical events like two LIGO, the Laser Interferometer black holes merging.

Gravitational-Wave Observatory, is a project “In principle, any mass designed to detect gravitational which is not spherical and is waves. Gravitational waves are moving around would cause distortions of space. In order gravitational waves,” said to confirm all detections made, Professor Gabriela Gonzalez, a LIGO has two facilities. The former LIGO spokesperson. second detector also allows

Gravitational waves had been theorized in the scientific community for decades, but were only truly discovered a few years ago.

“A gravitational wave is really a very, very unique kind of wave,” explained David Reitze, executive director of LIGO and a University of Texas alumni.

“It was predicted by Einstein probably about a little over 100 years ago and it’s a consequence of a unique theory of gravity, called general relativity.”

LIGO was able to accomplish a feat even Einstein, a physics nobel prize laureate regarded as one of the greatest scientific minds in history, thought to be impossible. This was greatly due to scientific advances and 40 years of hard work. The four gravitational waves LIGO has detected so far were caused by binary black hole collisions, when two nearby black holes orbit each other and eventually merge. Gravitational waves are changes in time and distances in the universe.

Gonzalez said, “In the ones that we measured first on September 14, 2015, the signals that we measured had been produced by two black holes, each one thirty times the mass of our sun, that merged into one blackhole after orbiting around each other faster and faster. They were almost going at the speed of light when they merged 1.3 billion years ago.”

radiating gravitational waves,” said Reitze. “Gravitational waves actually carry away energy, and so the orbit decays and eventually the black holes will slam into each other and that will produce a final burst of gravitational waves.”

Gravitational waves have proven binary black holes are real and allow scientists to measure physical qualities of the black holes colliding.

“We now can measure properties of those black holes.

That’s actually very exciting. So we can measure their masses, and we can measure how fast they’re spinning, their rotation, what their frequency is to some precision,” said Reitze.

After that, the laser beam “then goes into the beam splitter which is the thing that splits the laser beam so that half of it goes this way and half of it goes that way and there are then end mirrors and the beam comes back,” said Reitze.

These end mirrors are located at the end of large, four kilometer metal tubes which are vacuum pumped so the beam is not affected.

“There is a vacuum system that’s actually one of the world’s largest high vacuum systems,” Reitze said.

All of the components work together to achieve the end detection of gravitational LIGO uses several complex waves. systems to detect these gravitational waves caused by “We split the laser in two the binary black holes merging. and send it in perpendicular The laser beam starts by going directions and the lasers through an input optic, a device bounce off mirrors in this very The collisions of binary black to make it more precise, and a long four kilometer path and holes are intense astronomical telescope to enlarge it. come back, and when they collisions, which produce small gravitational waves as the two black holes orbit one another and one larger gravitational wave as the two black holes finally merge.

“When two black holes collide with one another, they actually are locked in orbit, as they dance around each other they’re

“We have opened a new way of looking at the sky” - Gabriela Gonzalez, Former LIGO Spokesperson

6

a.

b.

c.

f.

e.

g. d.

come back if one arm has changed its length relative to the other arm by even a tiny, tiny, tiny amount that will register when each of the laser beams recombine,” said Reitze.

This setup is imperative to LIGO’s success and is what allows them to detect gravitational waves from small changes in distance.

two mirrors, so we have a laser that splits in two arms, one goes in one direction the other goes in a different direction and when the beams come back the beams interfere with each other,” said Gonzalez, “that is why we call it an interferometer, and if the distances between all the mirrors is the same, then the interference will be destructive and we will measure no light.”

“A typical gravitational wave will change the distance between two mirrors which are two and a half miles apart by a distance that is actually many times smaller [than] a proton,” said Mario Diaz of University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“The way we measure these tiny, tiny changes in distances is that we actually set up four mirrors. We set up two mirrors at ninety degrees from another

The change in distance LIGO measures is an extremely “Our main goal of the future is minute change over a large improving our interferometers, distance. so we want to make our interferometers more

LIGO plans to increase sensitivity in order to be able to detect even smaller changes in distance between the mirrors.

h.

i.

j.

LIGO: inside and out

a. Scientists work on area with vacuum pump and beam splitter of LIGO Hanford. The Hanford site is one of the two facilities. b. Scientists analyze data collected by Hanford facility in control room c. The LIGO Livingston facility is shown from an aerial view. Livingston is the location of the second facility. d. Scientist is upgrading LIGO facilities. e. Beam tube of LIGO Hanford facility is displayed. f. Hanford site is shown from an aerial view. g. Two black holes circling each other right before they merge. h. LIGO facility in Livingston, Louisiana is shown. i. Facility in Hanford, Washington is displayed. j. One of LIGO’s four mirrors is shown images courtesy of Caltech/MIT/ LIGO Lab

sensitive,” Reitze said.

As well as seeing new astronomical events, after Once the interferometers’ LIGO increases sensitivity, sensitivity has been improved, they will detect black holes LIGO will be able to detect merging more often. more interesting astronomical phenomenons and unlock the “We expect to see binary black secrets of the universe. hole mergers maybe once every two or three days, once a week,” “We also plan our detectors to said Reitze. be able to detect signals, not just from black holes but from Recently, LIGO won the Nobel other types of stars like neutron Prize in physics for their stars that are alone and rotating discovery of gravitational or two neutron stars that are waves.

This astounding merging and giving birth to a discovery has changed our view black hole,” said Gonzalez. on outer space.

“We have opened a new way of looking at the sky,” Gonzalez said.

This new field of astrophysics will continue to foster exploration and teach us about the universe.

“An entirely new window has opened into the universe,” said Diaz. “With it we can learn more about the evolution of stars and the universe itself.”

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The Path to Discovery A timeline of LIGO’s history and detections of gravitational waves

1990

1979

National science board approves LIGO construction

LIGO received funding from NSF for prototypes

2008

Advanced LIGO component construction begins

1975

Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss began to consider a possible way to detect gravitational waves

1984

Caltech and MIT agreed to design and construct LIGO as a joint project

By Lily Yeazell Source for information: Ligo laboratory, Caltech and MIT

1994

LIGO begins initial construction at Livingston and Hanford sites

January 4, 2017

LIGO makes third detection of gravitational waves caused by two black holes, one being 19 times and the other being 32 times the mass of the sun, 3 billion lightyears away

September 14 2015

LIGO discovered first traces of gravitational waves caused by two black holes merging into one. The black holes collided 1.3 billion years ago.

2017

LIGO wins Nobel Prize in physics.

Nobel Prize was awarded to Barry Barish and Kip Thorne from Caltech and Rainer Weiss from MIT Now

2010

Installation of advanced LIGO components to increase sensitivity

August 14, 2017

LIGO detected fourth gravitational wave from a binary black hole collision about 1.8 billion light years away

December 26, 2016

LIGO makes second big discovery, caused by binary black holes colliding about 1.4 million years ago

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Starfield courtesy of Pexels

How space impacts the health of an astronaut, how they train to prepare, and solutions that researchers are looking into

By Lois Lee

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ecoming an astronaut is a childhood dream for some, but few consider the health effects which go along with space travel. Astronauts and researchers need to take a lot of information into account before anyone can take off into space.

related with their health. Some problems are not serious and go away, while others are much more extreme. An astronaut’s vertebrae can extend and cause temporary pain. This is not very serious. However, an astronaut can be exposed to lethal doses of radiation, which could cause cancer over time. Either way, astronauts need to prepare by training and to be aware of the adverse health possibilities which can occur.

maneuvers under water scuba diving. It’s a way of practicing on Earth,” said Virginia Wotring, associate professor at the Center for Space Medicine Department at the Baylor College of Medicine. “They can get used to the feel, they can get used to how it feels to use a tool, and to wear a big bulky suit. If you handle screws and nuts and bolts with heavy gloves on, and if you go to pick something up, it feels light but it feels bigger.”

Most astronauts go to the ISS, the International Space Station, approximately 250 miles from Earth. Although the ISS is relatively close to the Earth, astronauts still “We have the astronauts go encounter many problems practice doing those kinds of Astronauts have to do extensive Astronaut John Herrington, mission specialist for the NASA Space Transportation System (STS-113), participates in an emergency egress training session on January 17, 2002, in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. He floats in water, assisted by divers and a crew trainer.

The pilot for STS-111, Astronaut Paul Lockhart, wears a training version of the shuttle launch and entry suit while sitting in the pilot’s station during a mission training session at the Johnson Space Center.

STS-113 mission commander Astronaut James Wetherbee practices a parachute drop into water in an emergency bailout training session at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory on February 19, 2002.

training before they can be qualified to go out on a space mission, as some things feel completely different in space than they do on Earth.

from getting worse.

of the absence of gravity. Many astronauts do not have to do any physical work in order to execute daily activities, so their bodies naturally get weaker.

NASA has established activities for astronauts to do so they do not get as deeply impacted by being in space.

“Astronauts on space stations exercise for maybe an hour a day to try to prevent bone loss and muscle loss,” said “At NASA, I learned how to David Goldstein, a professor operate as a team of seven,” at the Aerospace Engineering said Paul Lockhart, a retired Air Force pilot and a former “My training astronaut who went to “We know they’re going to lose space twice. “My training bone mineral and density, the at NASA also at NASA also prepared me bones are gonna get thinner prepared me for for maintaining my health and weaker. And so NASA maintaining my and well-being during has protocols at this point the two-week mission. to help minimize that. We health and well-being This included how to know that if you eat good during the two-week exercise in space, watch for food, and take vitamin C, abnormal reactions of my and exercise a lot, that will mission” body to weightlessness and to prevent the loss. That works - Paul Lockhart, sleep restfully and completely.” pretty well for 6 months or a former astronaut year, we don’t know how well There are a variety of purposes that will work for 4 years. We in astronaut training, but each haven’t tried that yet,” Wotring purpose is equally important Department at the University explained. for an astronaut to execute his of Texas. or her mission while staying There are other health problems healthy and safe. Astronauts The reason why astronauts due to the lack of gravity, which can even prevent some health experience bone and muscle affects an astronaut’s body in problems from occurring or loss in the first place is because several ways. Astronauts can Astronauts Philippe Perrin and Franklin R. Chang-Diaz practice the procedures that they will have to do during space walks.

The work will be on the International Space Station (ISS).

Astronaut Philippe Perrin, the Mission Specialist for STS-111, wears an Extravehicular Mobility Unit training spacesuit while doing an underwater simulation of extravehicular activity to train for his mission duties.

The mission specialists for STS-113, Astronauts Lopez-Alegria and Herrington, work on a truss on the International Space Station during an extravehicular activity session on November 28, 2002, putting all their training into action.

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get motion sickness, and the that it hurts, because then the night on orbit. These changes fluid levels in their bodies can muscles and the back tend to are difficult to notice in orbit rise. get stretched and so you tend to as much of your time is not get a backache when you’re out spent with your posture fully “When the fluids rise in your in space, at least for a while,” extended,” he described. body, it tends to raise the fluid Goldstein said. pressure in your head and apply One of the most major health pressure to the optic nerve, the problems are caused by the “We have the nerve that connects the eye high amount of radiation. Far to your brain, and that can away from Earth in space, the astronauts go cause damage--apparently astronauts are not protected practice doing those permanent damage--to your by the Earth’s atmosphere. kinds of maneuvers optic nerve,” Goldstein The further astronauts get said, “And there’s no under water scuba diving. away from Earth, the obvious solution to that, more exposed they are It’s a way of practicing on so astronauts in space to radiation. for long periods of time Earth” lose some visual ability.”

“Right now, the astronauts - Virginia Wotring, are going to the ISS, and it professor in Space Another problem from the is only 250 miles away from absence of gravity is an Earth. And in space terms, that Medicine astronaut’s vertebrae can is really close to Earth. They are expand. actually fairly well protected Lockhart experienced this from galactic consecrates “When you don’t walk or sit himself. “On each flight, there,” Wotring said. in gravity, your vertebrae tend my spine extended a small to expand, and so in fact, an amount as it decompressed The astronauts at the ISS astronaut will get taller by under weightlessness. I knew are not exposed to very high an inch or more. And that’s this from the pain I had in doses of radiation since they not really a problem, except my lower back during my first are still protected by Earth’s STS-111 launched on June 5, 2002 and landed back on Earth on June 19, 2002.

The prime crew had Commander Kenneth Cockrell (front right), Pilot Paul Lockhart (front left), and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin (rear left) and Franklin Chang-Diaz (rear right).

Astronaut Philippe Perrin, the Mission Specialist for STS-111, wears an Extravehicular Mobility Unit training spacesuit while doing an underwater simulation of extravehicular activity to train for his mission duties.

STS-113 mission specialist, Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria wears his Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit, and has come back from one of the mission’s scheduled spacewalks.

atmosphere at the ISS. Nevertheless, there is a lot of research going on right now to find solutions to lessen the health impacts on astronauts while they are in space.

“NASA has put in lighting that better mimics the kind of light that comes from the Sun. The wavelengths [are] more like you would get from the Sun, so the astronauts are getting more [of an] ordinary source of light bulb. That’s just one thing that’s going on. There’s lots of things like that to try and help the astronauts have a better environment inside their spacecraft,” Wotring said.

Many researchers are trying to find solutions so astronauts are safer, healthier, and more comfortable while traveling to space. Radiation is a major problem for astronauts currently, so there are possibilities for solutions researchers are looking into.

“But if the astronauts flew out to Mars, they would be subject to much more radiation from the sun, and that would raise their risk of radiation damage, like cancers,” Goldstein said.

Once astronauts begin embarking to places further out in space, a solution will have to be found. This is because the health effects on astronauts will get more extreme when astronauts go further out in space or stay longer in space.

Even though there are some solutions yet to be found, the Center for Space Medicine has made an important advancement.

“Our center helped to figure out that you can use ultrasound equipment to see if there is a kidney stone in a person, and even better than that, we figured out how to do a special adaptation of ultrasound to move the kidney stone to a place

where it won’t hurt that much, or even to break it up, so that it goes away and the problem is solved. This is a big advance that our center helped make,” Wotring said, “Ultrasound is really a kind of energy, and you can get the right frequency to move things.”

Astronauts have more calcium in their blood from being in space, so that more calcium goes to the kidney, forming a kidney stone. These stones are extremely painful, so the Center for Space Medicine’s advancement and discovery is more convenient and easier for moving kidney stones to a place less painful in an astronaut.

There are many complications, discomforts, and problems for an astronaut going to space, but astronauts, like Lockhart, still “enjoy the little moments [in] orbit that made the experience very memorable.”

The STS-113 and Expedition Six crew members are welcomed aboard the orbital outpost by the Expedition Five crew on November 25, 2002. This is after the docking of the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

The Space Transportation System Mission 113 for NASA launched on November 23, 2002, and landed on December 7, 2002.

Here is Commander Jim Wetherbee (front right), Pilot Paul Lockhart (front left), and Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria (rear left) and John Herrington (rear right).

The Space Shuttle Endeavour goes towards the International Space Station during the STS-113 mission. There is a layer of clouds below the space shuttle.

Photos courtesy of NASA

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How does someone become an astronaut candidate at NASA and start training?

1. The applicant must meet minimum requirements concerning their prior education and experience, such as their degree and teaching experience.

2. The applicant must also pass the NASA long-duration space flight physical, which requires them to meet certain health requirements related to things such as their height, vision, blood pressure, and more.

3. Then, the applicant needs to fulfill basic NASA Education requirements for engineering and scientific positions.

4. After the applications are reviewed, all of the applicants go through a process that takes a week of personal interviews, medical screening, and orientation.

5. Once the final applicants have been selected, those that were selected are now Astronaut Candidates, and are assigned to the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center, which is in Houston, Texas.

6. The Astronaut Candidates then begin the basic Astronaut Candidate training program.

By Lois Lee Source: NASA

STEPS FOR 1. Get selected as an Astronaut Candidate by going through the application process.

2. Candidates must complete military survival before they can start their flying syllabus.

Ste of ba astro train

3. Then, they must become SCUBA qualified so that they are prepared for spacewalk training.

R SUCCESS 6. To graduate from the training program, candidates must go through a variety of other trainings, such as ISS training.

eps asic onaut ning

5. Candidates are exposed to high and low atmospheric pressures and learn how to deal with problems caused by these conditions.

4. All candidates are required to pass a swim test.

What do astronaut candidates do after completing their basic training?

1. After completing the basic Astronaut Candidate training, the astronauts have to start their formal training program.

2. The first step in the formal training program is learning how to use and operate spacecraft systems.

3. Then, the astronaut goes through important preflight training so that they can familiarize themselves with planned crew activities and body motion under weightless conditions in order to perform spacewalks later.

4. The astronaut is also trained in maintaining general things, such as preparing meals, stowing equipment, and using cameras.

5. Pilot astronauts keep up their flying skills by flying 15 hours per month in NASA’s fleet of two-seat T38 jets. Non-pilot astronauts must fly at least 4 hours per month.

6. All of this astronaut training is so that astronauts will be prepared for space flight on the International Space Station, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, NASA’s Orion vehicle, and any other future spacecraft.

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Taking Space Travel to the Next Level Exploring and defining the concept of the space elevator

By Miguel Liu-Schiaffini

I

magine going to space for the same price as a plane ticket.

With the space elevator, this could be possible in a matter of decades.

The space elevator is a concept for space travel which in its most basic form does not require the use of rockets to reach orbit. It is primarily made of an Earth Port, a geostationary (GEO) node, an Apex Anchor, a tether, and a climber. The tether of the space elevator would be connected to the Earth at the Earth Port and it would also be connected to the Apex Anchor, which would be in space. People and cargo could move up and down the elevator in the climber. The GEO node is a point or space station on the elevator which would be at geosynchronous orbit around the Earth.

Geosynchronous orbit is a location above the Earth in which a satellite or space station matches Earth’s rotation as it orbits around.

In addition, there would be couple spots on the space elevator which would be called the Mars and Lunar gates, which could be used to by astronauts to reach the Moon or Mars.

“If you are going up the elevator and you threw an indestructible item out at the Lunar gate,”

said Michael Fitzgerald, the Chief Architect of the Space Elevator Transportation and Enterprise System project, “that location above the Earth, the gravitational attraction of the moon is stronger than the gravitational attraction of the Earth so that indestructible [item] would end up on the Moon, eventually. And the same thing happens at the Mars gate.”

things to Earth,” said Fitzgerald, who works for the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC).

“Above geosynchronous, the gravity from the rest of the universe is attracting things away from Earth.”

Apex Anchors

628 km 100,000 km

GEO Node

263 km 36,000 km

After the space elevator is built and set-up, the major obstacle would be getting it into orbit.

The mass of the elevator and counterweight above geosynchronous orbit has to be the same as the mass below geosynchronous orbit. Otherwise, it will not stay in place.

The space elevator transportation system would be sent to space by launching a satellite which will have a cable or tether to geosynchronous orbit.

In addition, the climber of the space elevator has to travel tens of thousands of kilometers in space during the course of a few days.

“It will begin by lowering that [tether] towards Earth from geosynchronous at the same time that satellite, which we call a deployment satellite,” said Fitzgerald, “will be going towards the Apex region.”

According to Bradley Edwards, who has a Ph.D. in physics and wrote a report on the space elevator, the space elevator climber would be laserpowered.

“Clouds would diminish it at times; now where we’re “You get a number of those, talking about building the attach it to what we currently anchor station, there really use for astronomy, a large are no clouds,” he said. “It’s mirror, and you take laser, a unique place in the Pacific. focus it on the mirror, and that Clouds form where you have focuses it up onto a ... solar a variations in landscape. array that’s on the bottom side Clouds form over of the climber,” he said. “So mountains, clouds the laser focuses on that solar form when they array and gives it all the power Story continues on it needs, and it can take it up. page 21

This could potentially help with sending people and cargo to the Moon and Mars easily.

It is important for the space elevator to have a counterweight because of the center of mass of the elevator.

“At this point you have to stop and think, you have to understand the physics of space that below geosynchronous the gravity is attracting

Earth Port

40 km

In a simplified layout of the space elevator, the GEO Node would be about a third of the way from the Earth to the Apex anchors.

Graphic based on information from Michael Fitzgerald, ISEC space elevator architect.

And it’s fairly easy to point it at that.”

A potential problem to the energy transfer could be caused by the clouds blocking the laser from hitting the solar array on the bottom of the climber, but Edwards has an idea about how to prevent that.

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Traditional Spaceflight: The cost of sending one kilogram of materials up in conventional rockets currently costs approximately 100 times more than it with the space elevator.

Geostationary Orbit: A space station here would be one of the stopping points of the climber. It would also serve as a central hub for the space elevator systems.

Climber: Transports people and materials to and from the different points on the elevator.

What is a Space Elevator?

A space elevator concept is a method of transportation that would allow people and goods to travel from the Earth and into different points in space at a cheaper price than currently available. In the model, the climber moves along the tether from the Earth Port to a station at geosynchronous orbit and beyond, to the Moon and Mars gates, and the Apex Region.

Lift to the Stars The layout of a space elevator

Apex Region: The counterweight of the space elevator is located here. The counterweight could be an asteroid.

Moon Gate: This is where a spaceship can leave the Earth on route to the Moon.

Mars Gate: A spaceship can leave the Earth on route to Mars from this point.

By Miguel Liu-Schiaffini Sources: Dr. Bradley Edwards, physicist, and Michael Fitzgerald, Chief Architect of ISEC

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hit the coast, clouds form when “It’ll cost you 10-15 billion they hit an island.” dollars if you do it right,” said Edwards. “If you mess it up, if In the middle of the Pacific you get the wrong people, it’ll Ocean there aren’t many clouds, and that is where Edwards recommends for the space elevator to be located.

“There’s not a lot of clouds, there’s not a lot of lightning, the wind is pretty constant, in this area, there are no hurricanes,” he said.

If many lasers work in conjunction, it could be used to avoid complications.

blowing up,” Edwards added.

“There’s no vibrations, there’s no g-forces. You can stand up in the elevator and walk around or whatever and it’s not an effort. You can send up fragile things, you don’t have to build them so they’ll survive a rocket launch, which is fairly major.”

“For example, you can send up extremely large solar panel arrays that could be delicate, fragile and would just be completely shattered on a rocket launch” - Bradley Edwards, physicist

“We probably have an array of these anyways,” Edwards added, “so we probably have the mirrors and the lasers spread out and they may be 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 miles apart and so some may have clouds and some may not have clouds, even. And because you’re pointing it at the climber as it starts up, but you’re pointing at it for 40,000 kilometers. So you can actually have lasers situated [in] mountains in South America and you can have them located on the other side of Pacific, basically anywhere on that side of Earth, you’d be able to hit the climber as it goes up.”

cost you twice that or ten times that.”

Given that the cost of the elevator is significant, there are many major reasons supporting its construction.

Edwards said that building a space elevator would decrease the price of going into space from $5,000-$10,000 per pound at the minimum, to a few hundred dollars per pound or even less at some point in the future.

This could have a lot potential for sending up sensitive materials which would not survive the trip into space.

“For example, you can send up extremely large solar panel arrays that could be delicate, fragile and would just be completely shattered on a rocket launch. And you can put them on the elevator and take them up to space. You could set up very, very large arrays quickly,” Edwards said.

He also said it would be less expensive and simpler to send up.

“So there’s a number of things that it would just enable,” Edwards added, “it would change how humans look at space for the entire future.”

He also mentioned another Another major application of reason to build a space elevator. the space elevator was brought Naturally, building a space up by Fitzgerald. elevator would be a large “You can very readily get into financial investment. space without the risk, without “The broad notion of a space the possibilities of the rocket elevator is based on the fact it

space elevator enthusiast, also said his ideas about the benefits of a space elevator.

“So what happens is if I make a Mars gate which is around 56,000 km from Earth’s surface, there I can set up a main base,” he said. “So we don’t really have to design heavy rockets or any other big stuff.”

Then spaceships would go up on the elevator and leave the Earth through the gates.

Souvik Mukherjee’s sketch shows how a space elevator design might work. Courtesy of Souvik Mukherjee.

takes something along 90% of environmentally friendly the weight of a rocket --the total reason to build the elevator. weight of a rocket--is dedicated to propulsion,” he said.

“In addition to that, the rockets themselves are toxic--all that Only about 5% of the rocket is chemical being spewed into our structure and only 5% is for the atmosphere, into our space, payload. never mind the debris that it generates,” he said.

“What we envision and are intent on proving is to invert As a result, his team those numbers so that 90% of considered the elevator the weight of that which goes up important from an economical on the elevator will be payload, efficiency perspective and 5% will be structure, and 5% a environmentally friendly will be propulsion,” Fitzgerald perspective. said.

Souvik Mukherjee, a high Fitzgerald also mentioned an school student in India and a

Souvik also had an idea that instead of using an asteroid counterweight, as many people have recommended, the counterweight should be a space port which would allow spaceships to exit the orbit of the Earth, much like at the Lunar and Mars gates.

Even though Fitzgerald and ISEC are planning to have the elevator built some time during the 2040’s, a lot of work is still needed to be done in order to successfully build a space elevator.

According to Edwards, we still need to be able to create large amounts of carbon nanotubes in bulk for the tether material.

“The space elevator is a really good idea,” Souvik said, “because it won’t really have that big g-force up on there, so a lot of people can physically survive the trip and go there.”

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climate is getting worse so it might be good to

The pursuit of human expansion and colonization on “Clean up Earth by going extraterrestrial planets to space right, and that

By Sean Manners

C

idea of setting up that up or nuclear reactors set up and solar generators in space to do our heavy equipment manufacturing, mine asteroids, by doing all that stuff we can make less environmental damage down on Earth,” Cain said.

“[Humans should avoid] keeping our eggs in one basket, so it makes sense for the future of humanity to move to other places just to make sure that if anythings happens to Earth that there is still humanity out there in space,” Cain said, explaining humans have no “Mars is really boring from a idea what might happen in the geologic position, while Earth Colonization has long been on future. is really interesting, so basically the minds of people from when The Vera Rubin Ridge is a point of interest for the humans first evolved. From The human race has been Mars Curiosity rover because it can see layers of taking the lands from other sediments that have been built up over time. (Mars expanding at an exponential Curiosity Rover, sol 1734 or September 13, 2017) humans or animals, humans rate for the past 100 years. At have always been travelling the beginning of the twentieth from one place to another to century there were 1.6 billion colonize and use it as resources. people on Earth. Now, barely Now in the twenty-first century, 100 years later there are over there is less and less land on 7 billion people on Earth.

Earth for humanity to colonize, The issue of the worsening so humanity must find more places to expand to. olonies-probably one of the first things students learn about in U.S. history. Schools have been taught about the 13 British colonies in North America, but people often image heading of into the stars and finding a new home.

According to Fraser Cain, a writer for the Universe Today, space is the most logical next step for the future of humanity.

apollo 14, there was a sort of taper off and nasa just threw their hands in their air and said that people are not interested anymore,” Newth,

to go and colonize Mars.

“The old NASA plan costs something like 500 billion dollars, five times the Moon landing, and that’s out of the question,” Newth said.

Another picture of the Vera Rubin Ridge from the curiosity rovor. Photos courtesy of NASA.

According to Newth, this was the cost of sending humans to Mars in the 1970’s. This plan is now outdated as the space industry has much better technology that allows them to replicate fuel on Mars, which cuts down the costs by a lot.

The plan from Elon Musk also This puts a major card against uses a reusable rocket so flights colonizing Mars and a card to and from Mars will become towards making asteroid less expensive as time goes on. miners and going to other planets instead. One of the Humans first went to the primary issues about going Moon in 1969. The last time to Mars will be the cost of humans went to the Moon was traveling there, as well as the in 1972, just three years later. cost of maintaining a colony. “the three apollo missions, This issue has been brought up apollo 13 apollo 14 there were many times in the face of a plan some media problems but after you’re saying that there are no minerals on Mars that you would wouldn’t get on Earth and you would get 100 times cheaper,” said Eirik Newth, a theoretical physicist from the University of Oslo.

Here Newth shows why the race to the Moon ended so abruptly, due to media and safety concerns. This same occurrence could happen with Mars, however, for that instance to not happen again “[the colony] need to be self sufficient very fast and that’s actually a bigger problem in the long run that getting people there,“ Eirik This is because if SpaceX gets their colonization attempt right on the first time citizens will not need to pay for it and the colony can continue to thrive.

Companies such as SpaceX and NASA know this, they know that if they want to colonize a planet they have to get it right the first time. Luckily we do have the technology to get it

On the following two pages is a comparison between Mars and Earth

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EARTH Surface Condition Earth has multiple different habitable biomes spread across the planet while in some of the more harsh regions it is unhinhabitable.

The surface temperature is on average 57° F. At sea level we expierence pounds per square inch and the gravity is 1g or 9.807m/s/s.

Resource Yield The Earth has a large amount of fossil fuels and multiple different resources around the planet.

Human Impact Humans have spent thousands of years polluting the atmosphere with fossil fuels. We have also drained the Earth of vital resources and deforested many parts of the planets.

MOON

By Sean Manners Information provided by N.A.S.A, Reference Editor Tim Sharp, Michael Bell, and the N.S.C.U.

Atmospheric Content Quick Fact The Moon is the largest satellite in comparison to it’s home planet.

The Earth’s atmosphere is primarly composed of nitrogen with 78% of our atmosphere being composed of it. Oxygen is the next element that is primarly found in our atmosphere being about 21% of it. However the rest of our atmosphere are trace gases that make up barely 1% of the atmosphere.

Quick Fact Quick Fact

PHOBOS

Mars has the biggest mountain in the solar system, Mount Olympus, spanning an impresive 27 kilometers, it is 3 times the size of Mount Everest.

Atmospheric Content Mars has a masssive amount of CO2 at 95.32% of the atmosphere. The next most prominent gas is nitrogen at 2.7%. The remain gasses make up less that 3% of the atmosphere.

Surface Condition

Mars has a temperature -80° F on average. Its gravity being a third of which on Earth is 3.187m/s2 however Mars has no has no habital biomes. This all included in a .147 pounds/square inch.

DEIMOS

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and is about 1/4 the size of Earth.

Human Impact Human might be able to terraform the planet by using plants and future technology. This would increase the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and decrease the amount of CO2 in it.

Resource Yield We do not know what resources mars contains but even if it included gold it would be more costly to transport them from Mars.

MARS

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right the first time.

Earth as seen from the Deep Space Climate Observatory on July 20, 2015. Courtesy of NASA.

Humanity has actually had the technology to go to Mars for decades. It just does not have a plan for how to use that technology.

many different ways of setting something out,” said Cain.

SpaceX and NASA already have the technology to go to Mars and create a colony, however, they need a time frame.

“There are all these plans on how to go to Mars and there are really detailed plans to explore Mars but there are not really any good plans for how to colonize the planet because all the projects up till now lets go there collect some rocks and go back to Earth,” said Newth.

“[Musk]’s saying that he is going to land on Mars in 2022, so ... he says we are going to be on Mars... he is going to start with one of these rockets a BFR,” said Newth.

NASA need a reason to go to Mars now. This need will come from competition.

willing to go to Mars now and would prefer it sooner rather than later.

“More competition is always healthy and so now we’ve got SpaceX, we’ve got Blue Origins, we’ve got what NASA’s doing, what the United Launch Alliance, is doing you’ve also got what the Chinese are doing, what the Indians are doing, the Russians plan to get back into it the European space, competition is good, more,

The classic colony on Mars-domed roofs, airtight passageways--we can all imagine that now, but what will it look like in a hundred years? A thousand? Will humanity’s home ever become Mars instead of Earth?

“SingleMusk is already making celled algae plans for arriving at in the next and cyanobacteria, Mars decade.

However, Humanity has shown a term in the space and they may be able that NASA has had industry is Elon the ability to go time, where you to grow under Martian Mars for a long time. take whatever time NASA just has not Elon Musk said and conditions” had the motivation or add about 10 years the need to go Mars. to it. This shows how -Chris Collumb However, companies like humans are ready and

Deimos as seen from the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter. Courtesy of NASA.

The class look from a colony on Mars, domed roofs, airtight

passageways have been in the minds of artists and directors for years. Some have even imagined metropolises or massive colonies within the stars, where humanity is free to explore from its new home planet.

Mars as seen from the Deep Space Climate Observatory on Febuary 28, 2017. Courtesy of NASA.

“Nwo, I don’t think that we’re gonna find any place really in the universe that is as hospitable to human life as Earth. We evolved here, you know, we were sort of evolved to be perfectly adapted to this planet, its atmosphere.” said Cain.

Las Vegas in Nevada.

Here, Collumb explains how life is possible on Mars. They have tested it here on Earth inside of a lab to replicate conditions on Mars. This suggests that there might be life on Mars that is hidden away in the arctic ice sheets that melt periodically.

Artists in books such as The Martian by Andy Weir, describe humans farming on Mars and other books describe a process of terraforming Mars.

“There “Single-celled algae and are all these cyanobacteria, and plans on how to to they maybe able to Authors have long grow under Martian ingrained the image Mars and there are conditions. So the of tiny green aliens idea of terraforming on Mars, more while it would take an really detailed plans commonly referred incredibly long time, to as Martians. These these are types of life to explore Mars” Martians have been that could grow under told to create massive the current conditions -Eirik Newth cities and sometimes on Mars,” said Collumb. invade Earth.

“[They] would be one celled, probably simple cells like bacteria. Just in the past two years they have discovered that some of the arctic ice actually melts so you have ice water periodically as the sun beats down during the hot seasons.

They have grown life on Earth in conditions that equal life on Mars or conditions on Mars,” said Chris Collumb, a biology professor at the University of

Phobos as seen from the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter on October 17, 2008. Courtesy of NASA.

Here we see that terraforming is a possibility. Cyanobacteria and algae were some of the first photosynthesis users on Earth.

Photosynthesis has two byproducts: glucose and oxygen. This process wis extremely important for terraforming because currently the Martian atmosphere is extremely thin and is mainly comprised of CO2 a gas that humans cannot breathe.

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Education Revolution

How the Austin Astronomical Society is changing space education through hands-on learning

By Elyse Hall

I

f a class of third graders encountered beings from another planet today, would they be able to understand where the beings came from, and would they be able to explain their own place in the universe?

The amount of information known about space has grown immensely in recent years, starting with the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006 and continuing today with the discovery of gravitational waves. The volume of information and the pace of discoveries is making it challenging for that third grade class to keep up. It is only natural that space education in our schools should meet the needs of the students and continue to grow.

“We can only learn so much about who we are from what we can discover on Earth,” said Dawn Davies, an outreach coordinator for the Austin

Astronomical Society, “but so much about who we are as a species, as a society, as a civilization, as a sentient being, we have to go further beyond to the confines of our planet if we other want to learn more.” people,” Schmidt said.

However, some argue that most schools aren’t educating “I have been saddened students enough or correctly in to see that a lot of the popular astronomy and related fields. culture trends have discouraged young people from interest in According to Davies, “Most science and math.” students at some point from elementary to middle school Although there are many will get a week, and it’s usually approaches to fixing this mostly Earth science.” problem, according to both Schmidt and Davies, the key Phil Schmidt, who in addition is starting early. At the Austin to being a professor emeritus at Astronomical society, this is a the University of Texas Austin, priority for Davies and the rest also has spent years promoting of the members. space education with the Austin Astronomical Society, believes “I think the overall part of the other factors are in play as well. mission of the society is to educate the public and educate “Adolescence is a period of time youngsters at as early an age when you are discovering as possible that there’s an a tremendous amount about interest. This will enable us to yourself and your relationship foster and help develop any

Space Starting Early

Phil Schmidt briefs an eager group of children about the ISS. Schmidt is a member of the Austin Astronomical Society and has gives many talks and presentations about space. Photos courtesy of

Phil Schmidt.

Schmidt explains how a telescope works to a group of girls at a Star Party. Star Parties, hosted by the Austin Astronomical Society, occur once a month and are open to the public. photo courtesy Schmidt

of

Phil

“Hands on learning creates an attachment to a project, makes you have to push past faliures, and think about things in new ways” - Phil Schmidt,

Many high schools now have astronomy classes and clubs, such as LASA High School in Austin, Texas. At this magnet school, many students’ interests are fueled by their clubs. The Astronomy Club meets every Wednesday during lunch and students can also take the LASA Astronomy class. In this class, students participate in a variety of space related projects and hands-on learning. The students also have the opportunity to attend astronomy based field trips to observatories in the Texas area, such as the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas. More schools are starting incorporate space education and broaden students’ minds.

UT Professor Emeritus

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UT Students in the Longhorn Rocketry Association’s certification group cut fins and centering rings at the Makers Studio on campus. Interested students have to go through this semester long process that teaches the basics of rocket design and building. Photo courtesy of the Longhorn

Daryn Spohn looks through a telescope with a small child. A rocket created by the Lon The Austin Astronomical society brings telescopes and launches into the air in a rock hands-on learning to children through school visits and is to launch a rocket to 10,0 events open to the public. Photo courtesy of Phil Schmidt designed parts. Photo courtesy o

future interest they will have,” hands-on. said Davies.

“The most effective is the In addition, it can be hard for hands-on approach because it kids to gain this interest early gives them an opportunity to on if they don’t experience do the work themselves,” said things when they are young.

Davies. “I can talk to you all day about the mechanics of a “I think my earliest memory telescope, but until you get your is going to an airshow and hands on one and understand watching planes fly over how it works, what it feels like was just great,” described to try to look at something, and University of Texas student and try to find something in that member of the UT rocket club sky, you really aren’t going to Akshay Kulkarni. “I spent most have a concept.” of my childhood going to NASA and things like that more than Davies and the Astronomical Disneyland, and it is just kind Society provide a multitude of a life long interest.” of hands-on learning opportunities across Austin Schmidt and Davies agree and the surrounding area, that this way of connecting including Star Parties. These with space hands-on is how events give the public a firststudents need to learn. Sitting hand experience with space. in a classroom simply cannot Members of the society bring compare to doing things their high-end telescopes out

to Canyon of the Eagles, an open area outside of Austin, and open them to the public.

“Anybody can come out, and we provide them with opportunities to look through any telescope, to talk to anybody

“I can talk to you all day about the mechanics of a telescope, but until your hands on one . . . you really aren’t going to have the concept” - Dawn Davies AAS Outreach Coordinator

about their interest, and to ask questions,” said Davies.

The Astronomical Society has started bringing the Star Parties and general hands-on learning to schools, scout troops, and private events.

nghorn Rocketry Association Officers of the 2017 Longhorn Rocketry Association stand ket test. Their current project beside their rocket outside the UT astrophysics building.

000 feet using only in-house The student run association designs, builds, and tests high of the Longhorn Rocketry Association powered rockets in high level rocketry competitions. Photo courtesy of the Longhorn Rocketry Association

Familes enjoy a small scale star party at Cental Market grocery store in Austin, Texas. The Austin Astronomical Society hosts many gatherings like this where anyone can come and get first hand experience with telescopes.

engineering experience and “Depending on when the sun skills by participating in high sets or when school starts, we level rocketry competitions,” may not be able to look at the Kulkarni explained. stars, but there’s so much more that we can teach them,” said The club focuses on getting Davies. “I bring out a telescope this experience hands-on. that’s very big. A lot of kids Students have to design and don’t want to touch it, but I tell build complex rockets that them swing it around, here is fit certain standards, and to how it works, touch it, feel it.” get into the club, students undergo extensive semesterThis approach of letting long certification. the kids control their own learning has been established “There is a build… where you in universities as well. show up on the weekend and a Many universities now have member of the club will show student led clubs focusing on up that day and you just work astronomy and aeronautics. At on your rocket,” Kulkarni the University of Texas, student described, “They are just kind Akshay Kulkarni described the of there giving you tips.” purpose of the UT Rocket Club.

According to Schmidt, this “Basically it is to get more method is the most effective for people, more students involved teaching about space because it in rocketry as well as getting teaches you things other than

Photo courtesy of Phil Schmidt

just how to complete a project.

“Hands on learning creates an attachment to a project, makes you have to push past failures, and think about things in new ways,” said Schmidt.

This ability to learn how to fix mistakes and create something is essential to anyone in the astronomical sciences because many past discoveries are made through trial and error.

The Austin Astronomical Society along with the UT rocket club are have been successful in integrating hands-on learning, and if others follow their lead, that class of third graders will be able to know more about themselves and space around them.

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Educate

The best tools to teac

People and the Sky -History of stargazing -Describes how different civilizations interacted with the stars

Celestron Binoculars -Good starting place for stargazing -Many options from beginner to expert -Binoculars made spefically for looking at space

S

www -Show where t -Helps locate s galaxies - Print out ma stargazing -Maps update

ORION Telescopes - Beginner to expert -Easy to use -Affordable -Professionally recommended

By Elyse Hall

Photos courtesy of Amazon, Celestron, ORION, Skyma and astronomics.com

Yourself!

ch yourself about space

Dark Site Finder

darksitefinder.com -Map of light pollution on Earth - Find local areas for stargazing -Locate places free of light pollution

Steps for Looking at the Stars

1. Go somewhere where you can see the stars -Get out of the city 2. Get a map of the stars

-www.skymaps.com 3. Learn to recognize things in the sky -Constellation charts

4. Start with a pair of binoculars

Sky Maps

w.skymaps.com to find objects stars, constellations, and

5. Get a telescope -It doesn’t have to be very expensive

6. Learn how to use your tools

aps and bring them when d monthly

aps, NASA,

-You can see a lot with just these

-Contact your local astronomy society

The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide -Begins at the basics -Explains how to use and select equipment -Charts and pictures to explain how to look at the sky

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