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Space-Age Houses
An anonymous reader writes "The dream of building the Jetson's Skypad Apartment may come to true because technology designed for space could become the basis of the
new German Antarctic station. The same ultra-light composites that ESA uses onboard its spacecraft for antennas and solar panels, will be used to make a self-supporting lightweight shell-like structure able to withstand severe earthquakes. This approach is in sharp contrast to many contemporary design solutions that use ever more steel and concrete..."
Cool! Literally! *sigh* I should probably be modded down to hell for that lame joke.
as long as my Space Age House has a Space Age refrigerator thats connected to the internet so it can order my groceries for me........
-Teiresias
Should be perfect for Florida and other places with "high winds", using ultra-light composites... :-)
Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
"The house is designed to be autonomous. It uses energy-efficient solar power as well as advanced systems for recycling and cleaning water. Another idea, now on the drawing board, is to include a system to remove pathogenic particles in the sub-micron range from the air."
I think this is the coolest part about the house, not the ultra-light composites. Think about never having to pay an utility bill again! Sure, you can do that for just about any house, but one that's built with self-sufficiency in mind is nice.
Wasn't the 1960s the "space age"? If so, I live in a space age house!
Let's not forget that one can hate his government, but love his country.
So a light, shell-like structure would just ride the earthquake, as it does not have enough inertia to generate destructive internal stresses. But does this mean that anyone and anything inside the building would be shaken like beans in a maraca?
In its current design the SpaceHouse can withstand vibrations from earthquakes of up to 7 on the Richter scale, wind speeds of up to 220 km/h and up to 3 metres of flooding - specifications that came out of discussions with the insurance industry for a typical European location.
Wha-aah? Wow, that backpacking trip through Europe is looking a lot less attractive than I thought. No wonder they tried so hard to discover new worlds!
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All new SpaceHouses come with the band Kraftwerk.
can't sleep. clowns will eat me.
Now that the money is available an independent group will be set up to examine the requirements for the building and to decide whether to use the SpaceHouse concept as a basis.
Sounds like a waste of more resources than what they are trying to protect.
As a ferniture deliverer I see a problem. How the heck do you get large things like couches in it? A crane?
Moo!
All I want in my space aged buildings is a pneumatic tube for transportation - like a big version of what they have at the bank. Need to go to work? Jump in the pod and push SEND. Want to go the store? Jump in the pod and push SEND. Convenient and fun.
Give me that, and I can die happy.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Correct me if i'm stupid, but isn't it very cold in Antartica. It seems that lightweight structures would not exactly be the best choice because of the blowing away and being extrememly cold factors.
-- Checking emails and kicking cheats `till the day I die.
Because that technology was designed by there space program, doesn't mean that the space program has to waste time manufacturering it or using resources in order to put it in antartica. For instance, I doubt NASA is currently involved in the manufacture of Tang even though they developed the stuff. This won't waste any money of the space programs its just using technologies they developed(plans, documentation and practices on how to make that etc etc.)
Or by using these technologies today, it would enable more advancements through other industries, relieving some of the budget burdens...
It seems to me, living in a typical European location is a dangerous thing to do
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Fuck you and your free ipods. I hope if you get one, all your friends and neighbors that you suckered into this shit so you could have a 200 dollar piece of plastic shove it up your goddamn ass.
These houses totally look cool and the design is awesome, but they use exotic materials that are probably only produced in huge quantities when large institutions have the money to get someone to cook up a batch. Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (more commonly, just Carbon Fiber)? Can't buy that at Home Depot, last time I checked:)
It's a great exercise and it's exciting to the see the future take shape (literally!), but until regular folks can buy up some of this stuff to build homes out of, that's all it's gonna be.
The Space House: Good in space, good in Europe, good at the South pole, AND good at the bottom of the sea!
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This comes in handy when you slam your house directly into the ground, like during an earthquake or with a Mars probe.
The next obvious application would be a doghouse to protect your beagle.
How about typhoons and hurricanes?
There's some housing in the Florida keys built on concrete pilars which look a bit like this, except they're square, built to withstand trailer shreading winds and stay above the water.
I wonder how durable in extreme cold this stuff would be, particularly in cold climates, as much aluminum developes stress fractures. More surface area on the outside means more area to insulate, too.
BTW, if you've ever considered living in a geodesic home, consider that the roofing costs about 3x what a regular house does. I wonder what mantenance would be like on these in the long term.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
They say they want to use it in Antartica. As far as I know, a fresh layer of snow falls each year so that every building eventually gets snowed under. This is solved now by making 1 storage buildings which once a year can be moved on top of the new snow. How the hell will they be able to dig out these big leggs and move such a big structure? Anybody any experience with this?
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
...that should be played within:
Esquivel's "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music"!
"People" using "unnecessary" quotes should be "shot".
The only problem with this design is that the support legs are not in the magic chicken style, which is very useful in certain situations, such as during a flood, when one might want their dwelling to walk to higher ground!
Where's your imagination?
Pneumatic tubes? Pshaw!
Matter transporters!
"Scotty,2 Big Macs, large fries, and a chocolate shake to beam up!"
Scotty: "Me transportters kenna stand the strain!"
Because light is better than strong and heavy. In a gentle earthquake still most of the injuries are caused by fixtures and fittings flying around or objects falling from shelves. This increases but with the strength of the quake but almost all deaths are caused by crushing or suffocation when a structure collapses. Yes you would be flying around like seeds in a pod but unless your computer monitor decides to hit you back for all the times you whacked it then you can at least know you are going to survive with a few bruises.
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The dream of building the Jetson's Skypad Apartment may come to true because technology designed for space could become the basis of the new German Antarctic station.
Does that mean they're going to stick them on top of a mile-high pole?
Of course, you could also jump into your time machine and visit the house of the future at Disneyland, circa 1957.
It was made so well that the wrecking ball just bounced off of it when they tried to demolish it. They had to bring in a crew with saws.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
And they can get there in their flying cars. slashdot.org
"For instance, construction materials could include highly efficient fireproof material designed for space as well as a thin layer of 'Polymer' - a metal-covered plastic foil that could be applied to any part of the SpaceHouse to protect against lightening."
Why not just use a good old $30 lightning rod? That is of course if your looking to prevent electrical discharge, and not excess illumination from "lightening".
Well, the design goals that support these idea include :
- must be assembled in situ. So transporation dictates that the components must be fairly lightweight. Starting out lightweight also means that additional highly effective insulation materials can be added to minimise heat loss to the environment.
- must withstand cold. Space proven materials can already stand up to the extremes of cold.
- aerodynamic design. Carbon reinforced plastic is great for forming into non-flat shapes. Note that all the pictures in the article show structures that look like they are designed to have low wind resistance when compared to traditional cabin shapes.
- non-polluting at end of life. Lightweight structures that may be dissassembled and released from their ground tethers are better than traditional buildings that may have to use concrete foundations.
I wonder if this style of building is something that will spread to normal life. If it could be made low cost, then it would sure beat having a mobile home !!
Come to think of it, the Texas coast, just south of Galveston has some houses that look a bit similar to this, though the ones I've seen look more like they are made of sheet metal.
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
And that 7.0 Richter scale rating would need to be for reals.
Attention zealots and haters: 00100 00100
Maybe they'll name this one the Beagle III. I hope the residents enjoy disappearing into the Martian wasteland.
If you were someone that would actually get a chance to live in one of these in space, wouldn't you like to know that the structure could at least withstand the vigours of being in the Antartic before being placed on the moon or Mars?
Live forever, or die trying.
It's going to be tough moving in with just a ladder. How am I supposed to get my waterbed up there?
It would be cool to park under your house though. Then you can just slide down a pole to your car every morning, batman style.
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Scientist 2 : Why, no! Brilliant! Maybe if humanity comes together we could build standard residential housing that sits hundreds of feet in the air for no reason!
Scientist 1 and 2 : (imagine where they will make space in their office for the Nobel prizes)
Jack Valenti and the MPAA are to technology as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone
wow...
Melt snow and lift superlight structure all in one shot! Plus you can move to a better neighbourhood at will.
Eskimo crackwhores hanging around? Fire the boosters!
Sounds like a maintenance nightmare. What if it cracks? And putting on an addition would be pretty tough.
The "autonomous" idea is mega-cool, however.
COOL!
What powers the legs and how fast does it crawl along?!
as an article on the ESA website dated November 13th 2001, already talk about the spacehouse, on earth, with a "true" picture of it!
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
1. This was a reply to a comment since modded troll, taking exception to the grandparent poster's sig. 2. I gunked it up in editing -
Not to mention it's very arguable who the terrorists would prefer. The Bush White House's squandering of world goodwill after 9/11 (even assuming they were right about the reasons for invading Iraq) has meant a recruiting and fundraising bonanza for terrorists. I'd bet a significant fraction of 'em (if not 100%) want to have Bush stick around another 4 years...
----
WWJD...For a Klondike Bar?
And if those pesky neighbors get on your nerves you can give them a taste of the old Death From Above.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
It looks so much like a Buckminister Fuller Dymaxion House that it's scary. Not the one that's in the Henry Ford Museum, but a different design that suspended the whole structure from a central pole. It was also designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, and designed from light-weight materials so it could be air-lifted into place.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Mr. ferniture deliverer man.
TFA does not say that they advocate replacing ALL current building methods with this. If you did RTFA you would have noticed this:
This was NOT designed for Florida, it was designed for Europe/Antarctica.
Hooptie
"Heavens, it appears that my weewee has been stricken with rigor mortis!" -- Stewie Griffin
Skip the real life stuff... I just want one of the models to play with. That would make the ultimate dollhouse/GI Joe fort. Unfortunately, it's not exactly Barbie sized, so my six-year-old sister might refuse to give me an excuse to play with it.... Darn that "I only want to play with Barbies" age....
Liora
The problem with housing innovation in the USA is not a lack of ideas for cheaper and better ways of doing things, it is local and municipal building codes and the multitude of construction trade unions that support their enforcement and expansion. In many areas, housing construction work will -not- get the building inspector's apporval unless he is certain that it was done by union laborers, and they are not interested in anything [pre-fab] that drastically cuts down on their earnings.
...magician
The sun is purple
3d dimensions (sic)
I am for mental extensions
As for cold - they make carbon fiber tanks for NASA(not sure of the matrix) intended for liquid hydrogen.
http://www.globalcomposites.com/news/news_fiche.a
And yes, making stuff from carbon fiber is very expensive. A case of the proverbial diamond in a goats *ss. (oh, now I've done it....)
Anyway, this thing isn't going to fly (intentionally) or be pulling 10Gs anytime soon. CF is stronger than GF but is certainly overkill. It seems more a marketing tool/cool engineer toy (screw the $, full steam ahead) =P
-Otto
Of course they don't use italics.
what contemporary design solutions are using more steel and concrete? concrete and steel have both become lighter and stronger
Funny you should mention "flying cars" now... I just saw (over at the drudge report) a link to a yahoo story about NASA and boeing teaming up to build flying cars to alleviate traffic crowding...
>10 out of 10 Terrorists agree - Anybody but Bush in 2004
A troll, because it's so easy to find out what the terrorists have to say about the man who let bin Laden get away.
For example, from the June 3 2004 issue of The Economist:
"A communiqué from a Saudi jihadi group expresses the hope that George Bush will be re-elected because his "haste to use force, his lack of wisdom and religious fanaticism have roused the Islamic nation"."
If that sig were a legitimate political statement instead of a troll it would say something like "Afghanistan is free of the Taliban", "Cheney is better qualified than Edwards", "2/3 of al Qaueda's leaders are now in Guantanamo or in Hell", "Support traditional values -- vote Bush", or something along those lines.
Sorry, but nonsense offends me.
Danger! Danger!
Where is the Jupiter Two?!
Hopefully, the septic system is not part of the package and certainly not in the bottom of the bowl. If they go past the nominal or limiting/breaking point, the thing could crash down on the slurry or mess.
DANGER! Danger!.
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Shake: So do you got any of those.. space age.. tube.. thingies?
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
One of the things that was readily apparent to me was that you also have exposed the lower portion of the structure to the elements. Therefore, wouldn't the floor also need to be insulated and heated? Add an additional 40% for heating energy. No one gives a damn how strong the structure is if it's freezing cold inside.
Amen!
I quit Slashdot forever.
I, for one, welcome our space-age, bubble-track-housed overlords. Jawhol!
Take a close look at come of the high-res links. One of the scientists is wearing a three-piece suit, the other, some sort of summer dress. They have even included a park bench, a convertable, and little penguins in marching in line. How sweet.
I write my own sigs! Ask me how!
"The good reader is a rarer swan than the good writer."
All your Antarctic spage-age house are belong to us.
This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
Is that 'polymer' foil made with lead? That's what I'd use if I didn't want it lightening.
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress, folks.
NASA developed Tang? That's funny, I thought General Foods developed Tang in 1957 (original USPTO trademark registration #0670697, filed Oct 16, 1957, renewal [current?] #1974439), and NASA was signed into law in 1958.
Was anyone else at least slightly disappointed that the actual building in the Antarctic looked nothing like the numerous models?
Sigs are for suckers.
Well, sure. Soviet Russia was on the other side during the Space Age.
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
>1. Cost Carbon fiber is expensive compaired to concret block and wood trusses.
Earthen houses are incredibly cheaper than concrete block and wood. And way less energy goes into creating them. And less deforestation etc etc. More labor, but can be owner built for literally dirt cheap, and expanded over time.
>Not to mention noone knows how well they will stand up to UV for the long term. Houses should last for at least 100 years.
NO, houses should last as long as someone wants to live in them. There are cob houses in Devon that have been standing since the 1400's. Periodic replastering the lime on the outside will do it.
>2. Looks. Good greif think of what a sub divsion of those things would look like! It would be like
war of the worlds.
Well, that'd be cool actually, but one can do fascinating sculpture in cob, and each can be unique, unlike the fucking hideous clone-boxes that currently are marring america's landscape now.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
Rule 1: Never read Slashdot while you're eating.
Rule 2: See rule 1.
One would think that they would dedicate as much as they could to actual SPACE activities
The goal is permanent habitats on the surface of another planets (the moon and mars).
It's a very serious, very long-term goal.
It'a also the most important and revolutionary goal that our species has ever set for itself. We will become citizens of the solar system, not just our home planet. But to get there we need to build and focus - and master the required technology.
Both ESA and NASA have their own programs that are working towards this. I have no doubt that we could get a man to mars right now. Assuming he survives the trip, he'd die there after a couple of weeks. Miserable.. starving, cold and alone.
Progress is slow precisely because the technology and understanding of how to live and be permanently self-sufficient on another planet - with no possiblity of rescue if something goes wrong - is not something that humans usually do.
My mistake... http://www.retrofuture.com/spacefood.html While NASA did not develop Tang it appears as though they were using it on space missions and had asked General Foods to make more space friendly foods. Naturaly General Foods marketed Tang as space-food to sell more, that marketing ploy is likely where I got confused.
If water hits a wood house, everything it touches will rot and the water will seap through holes destroying everything inside, but it the house is made out carbon fiber inforced plactic, it could be percision made in prefab sections that could be water tight. With wood, raw materials are brought to the worksite, and sometimes people do a pretty shotty jom assembling it perfectally, but a plastic house could be shipped in in sections that you could coustomise, and assemble cheaply with less on an area for error.
You aren't to blame for being misled on this issue. NASA, like many other entities, has from time to time felt a need to justify its continued funding. In doing so, they will often bring up the issues of 'spinoffs', but what they tend to do is use a definition of 'develop' that includes 'bought a bunch of and promoted'. While the letter of the law might be satisfied, it is one of those things that is easily misleading for the average citizen.
NASA of course learned this trick from Congress, who tends to define plain English phrases with very specific meanings that are somewhat different from the way the average citizen would read them. Cumulatively this can lead to very misleading laws, when read out of context [the context being the entire body of the law]. This is a bit of a doublewhammy, as the definitions of those phrases can be widely dispersed throughout the body of the law, and are not often backreferenced when they are actually used. There may be rules about how far away the definitions can be, but I don't know what those rules might be.