MOON COLONY

-----------PREAMBLE----------------------------------------------
++Dome over the craters of the moon, self-sustaining pockets of life.
  First great objectives - dispersal of life to other planets.
++Foliage in lush groves; flocks of bird in pastel clouds; waterfalls make 
  deep pools, and streams flow in barren moonscape.
++Disseminate humans into space, Habitat and lunar/mars colonies.

++Asteroid 30kps->earth lava, tidal, dust, no sun, acid rain, we die.
++Nuclear missiles launch -> wipe out life on earth.

++20m bubble in Low earth orbit = first outpost; 
  then moon to secure raw materials,
  then network of mass launchers & lasers. 
++Mass Driver can lift 1500ton H2O to orbit in 4 days = way station.
  Orbital Habitat, the moon and outlying destinations.
++Of Habitat's 6.6 million tons, oxygen constitutes 5.7 million tons, 86% of the total.
++Lots O2 within easy reach : Moon rocks ar 40% O2 by weight.
++Get O2 by lunar soil-> heat moon dust @ 1300C, w/ focused sunlight, O2 product
++Extraction of valuable metals and elements in abundance.
++O2 for H2O and air; Si for glass, fiberglass and silicone polymers; 
  Al, Mg & Ti for reflective coatings; machinery, and reinforcing cables; 
  chromium and manganese for metallic alloys; 
  Na, K and Ca for process chemistry; and 
  Rare isotopes: Helium3 to fuel fission reactors.
++Launch 1 ton payload @ Earth = 22 x energy for Moon launch
  2.4kps vs 11.2kps Earth escape velocity.
++Around 2.3kwh/kg, at 5 cents/kwh, energy cost 11.5cents/kg.
++10% of the materials needed in space aren't on the Moon
  H2 is essential to form H2O. Carbon, Nitrogen, Sulfur, 
  Ca needed for biology , advanced engineering plastics.

-----------AA ASTEROID MINING------------------------------------
++3 main types of asteroid: the iron, the stony-iron, and the stony.
++Stony variety, come in 2 types - carbonaceous & carbonaceous chondrites.
++Rich sources of H2O, nitrogen, and carbon.
++Carbonaceous chondrites contain up to 20% water.
++Heated to 100C
++Carbonaceous chondrites are a good source of H2O 4% of its
  "bituminous fraction" by weight.
++Energy to get anywhere in space not how far away but accessibility.
++All is moving, Going place to place = speeding up or
  slowing down -> match velocity of moving destination.
++Minimum energy Hohmann orbit from the asteroid belt to the Earth = 1.5yr
++Apollo and Amor Asteroids near earth.
++Apollo asteroids cross Earth's orbit, Amors graze it.
++Number of AA asteroids, w/ diam >= 1km = ~1600; 300000 with diam > 100m.
++Retrieved from 433 Eros, for a /\v of less than 4kps.
++Small solar-powered mass driver propel payloads to Earth/Moon system.
++Asteroid->shared orbits @ sun, w/ nav impulses @ key points in asteroid orbit.

-----------LUNAR MINING COLONY-----------------------------------
++Lunar outpost will be a rough-hewn mining camp.
++Lunar base, mining camp.
++Deep crater near equator - open-pit mines  e.g. Landsberg Crater
++Find Al, Ti and metals.
++Make mass launcher
++w/ lunar mass launcher, send O2, Si fiberglass , Al, Ti to Orbital Habitat.
++Track accelerates cargo at 25gs -> orbital velocity in <7sec.
  The bulk cargo launcher : liquid O2 for Habitat's H2O shield and atmosphere, 
                            silicone sheeting for bubble membranes, 
                            Al beams for telecommunications stations,
                            Ti cable for reinforcing nets.
++Lunar Mass launcher will use powerful FEL (laser) array.
++The lunar lasers require larger focusing mirrors (vs Earth's) 
  to project power deeper into space.
++Accelerate on EM track, sleds recovered by magnetic deceleration.  
  Only the wave rider is propelled into space.
++Wave riders atmosphere and gravity in combinations,
  atmosphere for braking maneuvers, and gravity to provide acceleration.
++Rendezvous with Habitat.
++Solar power bubbles, bubbles in halo orbits at Lagrangian points, L1, L2.
++Lunostationary orbit
++Convert electrical output to microwaves beamed to lunar surface.

-----------LUNAR COLONY------------------------------------------
++Lunar surface will simply be ground-based versions of Habitat.
++1. A bubble membrane reinforced with cable nets to contains atmosphere,
  2. water shield attenuates radiation, 
  3. an atmosphere of low-pressure oxygen, 
  4. electrical muscle and bone stimulation, and self-contained
  5. ecological loops based on algae.
++Craters = ready-made dome foundations in lunar surface
++Load-bearing network of cables, cables of lunar titanium 100000lb/in^2.
++Moon blocks half of all cosmic radiation;
++Water shield 2.5m deep reduces radiation in crater to < 0.5rem /yr
++12m water shield = thick enough to counter-balance air pressure in the dome.
++Weight of the shield eliminates pneumatic stress on the dome membrane.
++Very shallow, flat dome profile, we avoid this problem.
++Expanding the radius of curvature of the dome.
++But the water shield eliminates these stresses.
++Cylindrical tubes, confines shield water.
++Heated water moves out one coil, cooled water moves in from the other.

-----------DAY NIGHT CYCLE---------------------------------------
++Lunar day is a month long.
++Adjustable layer of polaroid film.
  Clear to dark , natural day-night cycle created .
++For day use mirrors, large, curved mirrors, in halo orbits @ L1 and L2.
++16km in diameter, 1600 m deep.
++Cement from lunar regolith, from Al and glass (from lunar soil).

----------MOVEMENT----------------------------------
++Rudimentary wings glide from tree to tree.
++Flying = rigorous exercise.  qv Flap w/ Dumbbell @ 1/10 body weight 
++Aircycling through, kangaroo hopping, air car.jet backpacks.
++Swiveling Turbofans, using powered by clean-burning H2, & 

----------ECOLOGY-----------------------------------
++Drip irrigation tubing embedded in soil (with vegetation) = hydroponics.
++Gravity on the Moon is only 1/6 on that on Earth,
++low gravity, trees can grow to huge height/proportions.
++Enough habitable space for several million people.
++Balances between pure nature preserves and human habitats.
++Animate matter persist with continual intervention of conscious matter.
++Disneyland versions of ecology.
++Subsurface hydroponic tubing network sustain plants.
++Nutrients into the regolith to create soil may take centuries.
++Small dung beetle robots roll up/pack away balls of manure. (recycling manure)
++Lunar Colony = Extended suburb (area 4400km^2) homes & community underground.
++Garden-like surface for dwellings / open space.
++Homes = simple tensile structures - high-tech tents.
++Shelter is more for creating a sense of place and privacy.
++Great dome provides the real shelter.
++Parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, lakes, paths, groves and gardens.
++oceania cities crater lake without crowding.
++Underground Infrastructure : Transportation corridors, malls,
  utilities, offices, schools, warehouses, and factories 
  (honeycomb the regolith).
++Umbilicals, utilities, 
++In (low lunar gravity) huge caverns excavated w/ high ceilings.
++Quarter of a million craters 600m across, 300m across totals a million
++A crater w/ diam=300m = 70000 m^2 area, cozy Moon village.
++Ecological preserves,
++On moon, safe from calamities threaten environmental, nuclear, or meteoric.
  Comet destroy a few lunar biomes, (vs destroy life @ earth)
  Synthetic threats, EM launchers & lasers virtually unassailable.
++Self-sustaining biomes replicate any ecology.
++Marine, Animal and plant life from the Arctic or tropical rain forests.
++Savannas, deserts, temperate forests, marine estuaries, alpine glades.
++Process of diversification will continue.
++Closed-loop ecologies, abundant solar energy, and low-gravity;
  costliest component = radiation shield.  Shield is 90% O2,
  (O2= most abundant element on the Moon).
++Industrial materials, especially glass and metals are also available.

-------------Electromagnetic monorail----------------------
++Routinely travel from one crater to another, experiencing new climates,
  new environments, cultures.
++Pod energizes magnets levitating on superconductive monorail.  
  Shading from sunlight -> achieve Temperatures required for superconductivity 
  (keeping the rail cold )
++Pulse of electrical energy on rail accelerates pod up to a velocity ~1kps.
++800km trip (DC to indy) = 25min
++In vacuum on superconducting electromagnetically levitated
  mono-rail : no (atmospheric or electrical)  frictional resistance.
++Superconductive, the energy losses are minuscule, and so are the costs.
  Energy cost of few watts.
++link lunar crater colonies in network of superconductive monorails.