Heat management, recycling, $, and space ores

--- In spacesettlers@y..., Al Globus wrote:
>
> Ed Minchau wrote:
>
> > -
> > > Maybe it's possible to form rings?
> >
> > Should be; a torus is just a sphere turned inside-out, and we
already
> > have buckyballs.
>
> Carbon nanotube rings have been observed along with many other
shapes. See
> Machine Phase Fullerene Nanotechnology, Al Globus, Charles
Bauschlicher, Jie
> Han, Richard Jaffe, Creon Levit, Deepak Srivastava at
>
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/Nanotechnology/publications/1997/fuller
eneNanotechnology/
>
> > I would think that a microgravity environment would be ideal for
> > creating buckyballs, nanotubes, maybe even Ian's buckytorus.
>
> As far as I know (and I probably would), there is no data
whatsoever on
> producing buckystuff in 0g and the influence of gravity on
production is not
> known. This would make a nice ISS experiment.

My gut feeling is that gravity just complicates the formation of
nanotubes, buckyballs, and the like; and that a serious approach to
nanotech CAD/CAM will require 0g. My molecular dynamics simulations
completely ignore gravity altogether - there isn't enough
experimental evidence of gravitational theory for distances less than
1mm; and any effects are overwhelmed by several orders of magnitude
by the electromagnetic field.

>
> > Detailed analysis of asteroids should be accomplished by these
> > rovers, lots of them; each equipped with different scientific
> > packages. The lander should contain enough fuel for rendezvous
with
> > at least two asteroids; Ida and Dactyl would seem good
candidates, as
> > they orbit each other (and takeoff from Dactyl would be relatively
> > easy).
> >
> I suspect hopping will work quite nicely for transportation around
> asteroids. I think there is a proposal along these lines working
through the
> system.
>

There are a few "faster,cheaper,better" missions on the go right now
at NASA; the upcoming rendezvous with comet Wild2 springs to mind.
Any further asteroidal missions should represent a quantum leap from
the NEAR Shoemaker mission - and they raised the bar themselves by
landing on 433Eros. So a simple lander won't do; neither will the
lander/rover used on the Sojourner mission to Mars. What is needed
is (a) multiple landers (b) multiple rovers per lander (c) autonomous
or semiautonomous rover operation (d) multiple target asteroids per
lander (e) different pieces of scientific equipment for each rover,
perhaps with multiple pieces of equipment per rover.

:) ed