Discoveries in outer space can impact on our civilization in the future
Design in outer space
1 Picture this; you are in space outside your new house, Wait! What design features would it have? Were there any space bases before it? And what would be the challenges for structural design? Read on and you will find out… My first question is, what designs for space bases are already used in space? So these are 4 space stations that have been in space, The first space station was the Salyut 1 made by the soviets. It was made to stay in space forever but only lasted 6 months before crashing down to earth in the pacific ocean, so they built 6 more and launched them, they were a bit better than Salyut 1, 2-‐6 came down but Salyut 7 was operating from 1982 to 1986. Twenty-‐two people lived on the station at various times. Some stayed aboard for periods of more than 200 days in an environment of microgravity. Microgravity weakens human muscles and bones. The second space station is the Skylab which is the first US space station was launched on 14 May 1973. Skylab circled the Earth once every 93 minutes at an altitude of 435 kilometres (270 miles). Three separate three-‐person crews spent a total of 171 days there in 1973 and 1974. The Skylab astronauts performed experiments in geography, engineering, earth resources and other scientific areas. They gathered information about the sun and studied the comet Kohoutek. Some of the experiments were done at the request of school students. Skylab came down in 1979 and split in pieces.
The third space station is another Soviet made one it is called Mir, launched on 20 February 1986. The name means both ‘peace’ and
‘world’ in the Russian language. The central portion of Mir was 13 metres (43 feet) long and 4.2 metres (13.8 feet) across. It included six 2 ports into which other craft could dock. While Mir was in orbit, the Soviets added more living space for astronauts, more space for laboratories and better ports. The first two crew members arrived on Mir in March 1986. More than 100 people, representing 12 countries, lived on Mir at various times. Between January 1994 and March 1995 a Russian physician set an endurance record of 438 continuous days in space. It was designed to last about 5 years but they made it better than they thought because it was launched in 1986 but fell in 2001, which means it has been in the sky for 15 years.
The final space station is the I.S.S (international, space, station) On 20 November 1998 the first part of a new space station was launched. Known as the International Space Station (ISS), it was designed, built and operated by a group of 16 countries – the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and 11 European nations. The first part of the ISS was named Zarya, which means ‘sunrise’ in the Russian language. Over the years many other components were added to Zarya. Many of these were delivered to the ISS by the space shuttle, a reusable spacecraft developed by the United States. When completed, the ISS will be 88 metres (290 feet) long and 109 metres (356 feet) across. It will include about as much space inside as the passenger area in a large jet. Crews of three people stay on the ISS for periods of three to six months. They have electrical power provided by huge solar panels. But, they must bring or produce all of the air, water and food that
they need to survive. The air is carefully filtered to clean it. Water is recycled from the water vapour that crew members breathe out. A 3 return vehicle is available if an emergency requires the ISS crew to leave immediately. The ISS includes two small cabins for sleeping. Because the sun rises every 45 minutes, people on board usually wear sleeping masks. Because there is very little gravity, astronauts need to tie themselves to something so they do not float through the air as they sleep. While on the ISS, crew members do not need to wear space suits. However, their clothes include velcro strips on which they can attach trays or pockets. Instead of shoes, they often wear slipper socks. When working outside the craft, they wear space suits that have nine layers of protection. ISS crews gather data and carry out experiments. Many of these explore the effects of microgravity on humans, animals, plants and materials. Other operations take advantage of microgravity to grow protein crystals. Research using these crystals might lead to more effective treatments for cancer, diabetes and other conditions. Other experiments conducted by ISS researchers might also result in more accurate clocks, more useful weather predictions and stronger metals. It is still in the sky and it's 2015 and that means it has been operating for 17 years.
https://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SpaceStations.html
Those were the space stations that were used and here are the ones that couldn't be used because they didn’t have enough materials: The Bernal sphere is a sphere that spins to create fake gravity it was made to hold cities and towns. It has its control panel at the front of the Bernal sphere.
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The Stanford Torus is a doughnut shape station that’s made to carry towns and cities and also spins and it has its controls it the centre.
The final one is called the O'Niell Cylinder, it also spins but has its controls at the front and it can carry villages and cities.
5 Those are the space stations that would be used if we were to colonise space. And all the things that the used space stations have in common is this they all are like tubes. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-‐2760587/Humans-‐live-‐space-‐cities-‐orbit-‐ Earth-‐2100-‐claims-‐expert.html
New technology I have read some newspaper articles and have found out about how they are using 3D printing in space, space taxis and satellites that are designed to put internet in space. 3D Printing The International Space Station has a 3-‐D printer and engineers can design new tools on the ground and then beam them up to space. In September, Made In Space, Inc. shipped a 3-‐D printer to the astronauts at the space station. In November it printed its first object -‐ a replacement part for itself. "The socket wrench we just manufactured is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, on the fly," Made In Space founder Mike Chen wrote on Medium. "This is the first time we've ever 'emailed' hardware to space." Astronaut Barry Wilmore needed a ratcheting socket wrench. Until now he would have had to wait for the next mission to the space station to carry the tool up.
Instead, Chen and his team designed the wrench for printing, and then sent the design up to the space station by way of Nasa. "Because it's a lot faster to send digital data (which can travel at the speed of light) to space than it is to send physical objects (which involves waiting months to years for a rocket), it makes more sense to 3D-‐print things in space, when we can, instead of launching them," Chen wrote. And that means that astronauts can do their work more quickly and for less money. And this quick and cheap way of getting tools into space will only become more useful when we put colonies in space. "When we do set up the first human colonies on the moon, Mars and beyond, we won't use rockets to bring along everything we need," Chen wrote. "We'll build what we need there, when we need it." 6 http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/64348661/nasa-‐just-‐emailed-‐a-‐wre\nch-‐to-‐space-‐for-‐the-‐ first-‐time
Space Taxis Two of Nasa's prime contractors are teaming with Europe's Astrium to build a commercial space taxi from shuttle heritage booster rockets and a prototype Nasa spaceship. Since they stopped using space shuttles, the United States has to rely on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. The fare is more than $60million per person. The rocket and capsules, or taxis, parachute to a water landing, and are designed to fly up to 10 times. It will carry seven astronauts, cargo to and from the space station, and as well used for satellite launches and other missions. http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/6903570/Contractors-‐vie-‐for-‐space-‐taxi-‐contract
Hmm what would the shape of the settlement if we lived on Mars and would it be inspired by nature? Well here is question 2 What nature inspired designs could be adapted to create a settlement? There are many designs inspired by nature the most popular is the beehive because its strong.
Another popular design is the rabbit hole a settlement which is in the ground and can stay to the ground easily. The final popular design is the leaf pile which is a bunch of the rooms stacked onto each other like an apartment building. Those are the designs that might go to as a settlement, So here are what their downsides are: The problem with the beehive is that if it's not stuck to the ground properly it can tipple over easily. The downside of the rabbit hole is that without supports it can collapse on top of you. 7 The downside of the leaf pile is that it can collapse on you like the rabbit hole. I interviewed a mechanic who's working with NASA and asked her what nature inspired design will become a settlement in space. She said that a beehive would be a good decision because its strong and she also said that as long as it has all that they need, then it will work. The needs are what it has to have, so if we wanted to live in space the design needs to be able to have the needs like strength and sustainability Question three What could be the challenges of structural design for life in outer space? There are many dangers in outer space like asteroids and black holes. I went to the Carter Observatory and found out there are many dangers in outer space like during a spacewalk, you can float away. There is also the chance of a fire and oxygen leak and the air turning poisonous and many more because there is no air or food. In the I.S.S they orbit around Earth so when they're near the sun for 24 hours, it is extremely hot and when they're not near the sun it’s extremely cold. That is very dangerous so if you want to build in
space, you will need a lot of supplies and materials and no wood since it would have rotted on the trip there. There are a lot of problems and not many solutions. Here are a few solutions to a few problems in a space station. If there is a problem, all astronauts go to the main control deck to see what is wrong. So you can be safe in space but only if you have all the things you need Conclusion Living in space will not be easy but well designed space stations can make it easier. Over 16 different countries have explored the ideas of living in space and tried to design perfect space stations where humans can stay and thrive. Their main objective is to enable humans to live in space for a long period of time up to 5 years and to survive and explore. The best design for living in space I found was 8 The beehive because it is extremely strong and it is a good settlement in space that meets all of the needs like air, water, shelter and food. Finally I found there are a lot of dangers with space design and living in space. These dangers include losing all your materials on the way there, having your base sucked into a black hole or you might have an air leak in your base. Perhaps some time in the future these problems will be solved and living in space will be easier. Bibliography http://school.ebonline.co.nz/levels/primary/article/441741 http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131201-‐how-‐to-‐set-‐up-‐home-‐in-‐space
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