Hi,
produced in space. Today, from TV and chairs to cars and lamps, all
are made by mass production in huge factories with large machines
and low payed labour costs.
In the future, in stations around Jupiter, for example, it will be
very expensive to send them containers of goods made in China, so
they'll have to manufacture themselves.
The question is how to produce those items in low scale and high
quality, directly in Space. Flexible manufacturing? New robotics?
Low scale authomatic production?
Any clue?
Omar Vega
Omar,
options. At first, in small habitats, you are not going to have enough
people to have all the skills needed to make everything a modern
civilisation needs (wants), interesting question by itself, how many
people/skills do you need to have a functioning, modern, hi-tech, space
based civilisation? You are going to have a need for skills that are not
needed down here and I mean need, not want, you can survive without pet
therapists but try it without industrial chemists.
Here is a possibility, lots of robotics and 3D printers, things like the
rapid prototyping, add to that advanced bio-tech that allows you to *grow*
many of your needs. I'm not suggesting that you will grow chairs or cars but
how about plants that produce plastic or micro-organisms that produce high
strength fibres and so on, we have already started on this track and I can
only see us going further down it. Peter Hamilton uses this a lot in his
stories (not that being in a story makes something inevitable), growing
*coral* into a house as an example, the possibilities are huge.
We may not need a huge industrial base to maintain a habitat, just a
versatile one and of course there is no reason why a habitat has to be a
solitary thing, they might be arranged in clusters, joined or just near each
other, this would give you a larger base to operate from.
Just some thoughts.
Darren
On 12/6/06 12:09 AM, "Omar E. Vega" wrote:
i beleive a lot of it will be made from recyled materials, melted
down (likely by robots controlled from a central console, so one man
could be responisble for building a lot of thing). also, since the
first stations will be build in earth orbit, and only gradually will
they move out that far, there will be many stations building
different things. they will possibly use light sails ships to trade
between each others. slow but steady, and realtively cheap. the main
expense of getting things from china would be defeating earths
gravity. that will not be a factor in station to station trading.
>
> Omar,
>
> Ignoring magic and super tech (same thing really) there aren't a
lot of
> options. At first, in small habitats, you are not going to have
enough
> people to have all the skills needed to make everything a modern
> civilisation needs (wants), interesting question by itself, how many
> people/skills do you need to have a functioning, modern, hi-tech,
space
> based civilisation? You are going to have a need for skills that
are not
> needed down here and I mean need, not want, you can survive without
pet
> therapists but try it without industrial chemists.
>
> Here is a possibility, lots of robotics and 3D printers, things
like the
> rapid prototyping, add to that advanced bio-tech that allows you to
*grow*
> many of your needs. I'm not suggesting that you will grow chairs or
cars but
> how about plants that produce plastic or micro-organisms that
produce high
> strength fibres and so on, we have already started on this track
and I can
> only see us going further down it. Peter Hamilton uses this a lot
in his
> stories (not that being in a story makes something inevitable),
growing
> *coral* into a house as an example, the possibilities are huge.
>
> We may not need a huge industrial base to maintain a habitat, just a
> versatile one and of course there is no reason why a habitat has to
be a
> solitary thing, they might be arranged in clusters, joined or just
near each
> other, this would give you a larger base to operate from.
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> Darren
>
> On 12/6/06 12:09 AM, "Omar E. Vega" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have always wonder how the products of mass consumption will be
> > produced in space. Today, from TV and chairs to cars and lamps,
all
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Omar E. Vega"
>
> Hi,
>
> I have always wonder how the products of mass consumption will be
> produced in space. Today, from TV and chairs to cars and lamps,
all
> are made by mass production in huge factories with large machines
> and low payed labour costs.
>
> In the future, in stations around Jupiter, for example, it will be
> very expensive to send them containers of goods made in China, so
> they'll have to manufacture themselves.
>
> The question is how to produce those items in low scale and high
> quality, directly in Space. Flexible manufacturing? New robotics?
> Low scale authomatic production?
>
> Any clue?
>
> Omar Vega
>
I would suspect that the new computer milling programs and equipment
will be really put to the test - and you would have a lot of storage
of a run to make it worthwhile. - good thing that room for storage
is not a real big problem - lots of room to put a container in space
and warehouses will be born lol
Hi Omar,
be used. At least for plastic and metallic products.
Nanotechnology (often considered a sub-class of rapid
prototyping) will also be of great value, at least for
the production of bulk materials. I imagine that
subtractive machining will not go away, and that parts
will continue to be made in machine shops either
manually or by NC methods. Food: greenhouses
w/artificial or reflected sun light, Chemicals:
processed from ISRU materials.
Professor Komerath, an Dept. of Aerospace Eng. at
Georgia Tech., is working on "Tailored Force Fields,
for Space-Based Construction", a interesting idea. I
have done a tiny bit of research into a similar idea
using MHD technology.
To be economically attractive, all new space colonies
would need to be net exporters. They would trade with
earth and other colonies, but would need to export
more than they import. This leads to a discussion on
space transport, but I fear that I may have already
stepped outside of the simple answer to your question.
regards,
Dave Handwerk
--- "Omar E. Vega" wrote:
>
> Hi Omar,
>
> Rapid Prototyping is the technology that will probably
> be used. At least for plastic and metallic products.
> Nanotechnology (often considered a sub-class of rapid
> prototyping) will also be of great value, at least for
> the production of bulk materials. I imagine that
> subtractive machining will not go away, and that parts
> will continue to be made in machine shops either
> manually or by NC methods. Food: greenhouses
> w/artificial or reflected sun light, Chemicals:
> processed from ISRU materials.
>
Do you got more info? More details?
I read about Rapid Prototyping years ago, and also about 3-D
printers and stuff like that. I would like to know how much the
field has advanced.
> Professor Komerath, an Dept. of Aerospace Eng. at
> Georgia Tech., is working on "Tailored Force Fields,
> for Space-Based Construction", a interesting idea. I
> have done a tiny bit of research into a similar idea
> using MHD technology.
>
> To be economically attractive, all new space colonies
> would need to be net exporters. They would trade with
> earth and other colonies, but would need to export
> more than they import. This leads to a discussion on
> space transport, but I fear that I may have already
> stepped outside of the simple answer to your question.
>
What about producing, for example, a hand driller or a TV set. It is
possible to develop tech so that just three workers could
manufacture them from row materials? I wonder if that is really
possible or if it will be in the near future.
Regards,
Omar Vega
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Omar E. Vega"
>
> What about producing, for example, a hand driller or a TV set. It is
> possible to develop tech so that just three workers could
> manufacture them from row materials? I wonder if that is really
> possible or if it will be in the near future.
>
most of hand tools are made on assembly lines now. it will not take
much more work to put them into robotic ones.
machines in the near future. most things are close to that stage now.
those that can, will be controlled by small number of ppl. the ones
that arent, can be done by the ppl freed up by the robots
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, Dave Handwerk
>
> To be economically attractive, all new space colonies
> would need to be net exporters. They would trade with
> earth and other colonies, but would need to export
> more than they import. This leads to a discussion on
> space transport, but I fear that I may have already
> stepped outside of the simple answer to your question.
>
i dont see how all of them can be net exporters. if they are that
means they are slowly sending out all of their resoruses. they should
be a net zero importer/exporter. that means that they have as much
coming in as going out. granted some of what they have going out will
be waste that they cant use for shielding.
--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Robert" wrote:
>
> --- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, Dave Handwerk
> wrote:
> >
> > To be economically attractive, all new space colonies
> > would need to be net exporters. They would trade with
> > earth and other colonies, but would need to export
> > more than they import. This leads to a discussion on
> > space transport, but I fear that I may have already
> > stepped outside of the simple answer to your question.
> >
> i dont see how all of them can be net exporters. if they are that
> means they are slowly sending out all of their resoruses. they
should
> be a net zero importer/exporter. that means that they have as much
> coming in as going out. granted some of what they have going out
will
> be waste that they cant use for shielding.
>
where there was always more coming in than going out - any colony
in this position will be the one that replicates early and has
tremendous influence - the ones who import more are losers and they
will always be on the bottom - all colonies can be net exporters
as long as earth is there.
being a net exporter means they would constantly be looking for new
materials. your forgetting that they are not on a planet with its own
resouses. they are in a world that is created from things they import.
hopefully they will import it from asteroids or the moon, but once
they are on a ongoing basis, they have to ballance things coming in
with things going out. otherwise they either have a build up of
unusable material or they end up with less material than they need to
survive. even if they export a lot of material to earth, they will
still have to import material from asteorids or earth to ballace it.
We want to achieve high scale for export to earth.
everything in appropriately spinning and non-spinning facilities, as needed.
We expand according to any growing customer demand. And conversely downsize
or change things as needed depending on market demand.
Keep in mind that demand for certain products is already there. We already
know what people buy and how much they buy.
George
cygo.com
On 6/11/06, Omar E. Vega wrote: