Since energetics is the key trumping factor for overcoming the earth's gravity well, we need more energetic power sources than mere chemical fuels. I've read that there have been some recent new successes announced in the past few months in nuclear isomer research. As we know, nuclear isomers are atomic nuclei whose protons and neutrons have absorbed extra energy to keep them at a higher energy state, analogous to the idea of electrons absorbing energy and being promoted to a higher energy state. But the far heavier mass of the protons and neutrons means they absorb way the hell more energy. This is the kind of energy we need to power space travel.
I'm surprised Slashdot hasn't reported on Prof T P Ma's proposal for Unipolar CMOS, which is structured to rely purely on negative channels, due to the higher electron mobility in comparison to hole mobility.
I'm wondering what the electron-to-hole mobility ratio is for graphene?
Living in caves could be a good start - the natural walls provided by Mother Nature. Just seal the openings.
I'd imagine that the elderly might like it on Mars, with its more convenient lower gravity. People could live there in their retirement, and spend their retirement years building a better world for future generations. That might be a very satisfying thing for older, skilled people to do.
Well, since all that nanobot stuff is just fantasy nonsense, how about robust biological organisms instead? I'm sure that we could engineer/adapt some extremophile organisms to the Martian environment over time. These in turn could reprocess local ores, minerals, etc into raw materials in a usable form. For instance, there are bacteria known to be able to manufacture substances in the form of tiny pellets. Such pellets could then be supplied to 3D printing machines, which could in turn create parts in any imaginable geometry.
Well, carbon is a locally available material, since the Martian atmosphere is made up mainly of CO2.
But I'm saying that the safest human existence would be underground, where there the walls are plenty thick to keep the air in. Personally, I'd be paranoid about fire safety, since one careless spark could kill everyone in an enclosed environment. You'd probably want everything to be made out of non-flammable materials that wouldn't react with oxygen.
The early domes would be composites, sure. But I'm talking about when the colonization and spread of humanity across Mars really takes off, then we'd be using graphene domes, which would be stronger and thus larger, as well as more transparent to let light through for crops. Aerogel could also great too, since it's also light and transparent, and can better absorb small meteor impacts. Maybe a composite of both graphene and aerogel could be best.
Well, it might be a bleak existence over time, but it's no different than being trapped on ISS, or stuck on a U-boat, or even in Antarctica.
I personally would devote every moment to expanding the comforts of home onto the new soil. That means non-stop building, "barn-raising" (more graphene domes), tunnel-pressurizing, etc. You could spend all your time designing self-sustaining eco-systems, the way an urban planner designs new neighborhoods.
And yes, make money off it.
When vital resources are located, then you find a way to create sustainable colonies/eco-systems near that spot.
Maybe tourism would become a big driver. Even if people won't want to live there for long, they might be very eager to visit for short periods of time. A booming tourism industry could arise, once the travel costs come down.
So find some ice-filled underground caverns and make the first colonies there. Build some large graphene "world domes" above them, as greenhouses to grow crops in. Mars is very geologically stable, so humans can expand their presence underground like an expanding ant colony, while building large graphene bubbles topside for agriculture.
India's economy has turned around due to technology outsourcing to India by the rest of the world. This outsourcing started happening when Indians began showing the outside world that Indians aren't just the hungry clamouring mobs always shown on TV. As the world realized this, they began to see value in sending work to India. By accomplishing things like Chandrayaan, or building the Tata Nano, etc, Indians demonstrate to the world their talents and abilities, which increases the world's willingness to trade and work with India, creating jobs and economic growth in the country.
Some Indians commenting here are unfortunately the backward navel-gazing types, who will never understand the basis for economic growth and alleviation of poverty. They still think in the most primitive backward terms about how to bring development, prosperity and relief to the masses. The lost opportunities and economic stagnation of the past 50 years under the social welfare state show how such narrow mindsets can wreak havoc on a country. The answer lies in Indians showing each other and the world how to be achievers, instead of just beggars forever clamouring with their palms outstretched.
Read this latest, from the American Institute of Physics:
http://ptonline.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_61/iss_9/47_1.shtml
Scroll down to the bottom and look at the bullet points:
# In 1982 China's premier Deng Xiaoping began the transfer of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and, in time, to other third world countries. Those transfers included blueprints for the ultrasimple CHIC-4 design using highly enriched uranium, first tested by China in 1966.
# A Pakistani derivative of CHIC-4 apparently was tested in China on 26 May 1990.
---
Why was this published only now? The US has known about this information for quite some time, but sat on it, for security reasons. But now the US is finally telling China that enough is enough, and that it can't expect to wantonly proliferate nuclear weapons technology without facing consequences.
Well, that's what Left-wingers like to do -- impose their own views in totality, under the guise of freedom. eg. "Democratic People's Republic" of North Korea
Maybe the solution will come when we abandon charge-states as our means of information processing, and instead shift into photonics. These components will then be immune to ionizing radiation.
I wouldn't mind something like a "dragonfly pack" so that we could fly around like Tinkerbell. Perhaps with enough wingbeats per second, it could dynamically adjust to instabilities caused by the movement of your body, etc.
Where's the damn color? I don't understand why after all these decades, it's so hard for them to take color photos. Just slap a damn Sony camcorder on there if you have to, and take some regular color pictures, to show what our own eyes would perceive if we were there.
Okay, but where is SuperPursuit Mode? I'll really need that shotgun fake-sonic boom effect to wake me up in the middle of the movie, when I'm falling asleep.
Scientists are searching for small molecules that can have epigenetic effects of switching genes off or on. So these new epigenetic maps of active and silenced genes can help guide research on which genes to target for small molecule therapy. Also, RNA interference (RNAi) is another method for genetic activation/deactiviation, and as that technique improves, it may be possible to use it for therapeutic medicine in humans.
Sort of reminds me of how Geraldo Rivera was born Gerry Rivers.
Both seem to be grandmasters at grandstanding.
I don't buy that Gary Kasparov is a legitimate good-faith democratic reformer, any more than I buy that Geraldo is a good faith investigative journalist. All I see is demagoguery. The fact that Russia has a lot of valuable oil that the West COVETS certainly doesn't help matters.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, if they can do it for bones, can they do it for dental repair?
Since energetics is the key trumping factor for overcoming the earth's gravity well, we need more energetic power sources than mere chemical fuels. I've read that there have been some recent new successes announced in the past few months in nuclear isomer research. As we know, nuclear isomers are atomic nuclei whose protons and neutrons have absorbed extra energy to keep them at a higher energy state, analogous to the idea of electrons absorbing energy and being promoted to a higher energy state. But the far heavier mass of the protons and neutrons means they absorb way the hell more energy. This is the kind of energy we need to power space travel.
I'm surprised Slashdot hasn't reported on Prof T P Ma's proposal for Unipolar CMOS, which is structured to rely purely on negative channels, due to the higher electron mobility in comparison to hole mobility. I'm wondering what the electron-to-hole mobility ratio is for graphene?
Living in caves could be a good start - the natural walls provided by Mother Nature. Just seal the openings. I'd imagine that the elderly might like it on Mars, with its more convenient lower gravity. People could live there in their retirement, and spend their retirement years building a better world for future generations. That might be a very satisfying thing for older, skilled people to do.
Well, since all that nanobot stuff is just fantasy nonsense, how about robust biological organisms instead? I'm sure that we could engineer/adapt some extremophile organisms to the Martian environment over time. These in turn could reprocess local ores, minerals, etc into raw materials in a usable form. For instance, there are bacteria known to be able to manufacture substances in the form of tiny pellets. Such pellets could then be supplied to 3D printing machines, which could in turn create parts in any imaginable geometry.
Well, carbon is a locally available material, since the Martian atmosphere is made up mainly of CO2. But I'm saying that the safest human existence would be underground, where there the walls are plenty thick to keep the air in. Personally, I'd be paranoid about fire safety, since one careless spark could kill everyone in an enclosed environment. You'd probably want everything to be made out of non-flammable materials that wouldn't react with oxygen.
The early domes would be composites, sure. But I'm talking about when the colonization and spread of humanity across Mars really takes off, then we'd be using graphene domes, which would be stronger and thus larger, as well as more transparent to let light through for crops. Aerogel could also great too, since it's also light and transparent, and can better absorb small meteor impacts. Maybe a composite of both graphene and aerogel could be best.
Well, it might be a bleak existence over time, but it's no different than being trapped on ISS, or stuck on a U-boat, or even in Antarctica. I personally would devote every moment to expanding the comforts of home onto the new soil. That means non-stop building, "barn-raising" (more graphene domes), tunnel-pressurizing, etc. You could spend all your time designing self-sustaining eco-systems, the way an urban planner designs new neighborhoods. And yes, make money off it. When vital resources are located, then you find a way to create sustainable colonies/eco-systems near that spot. Maybe tourism would become a big driver. Even if people won't want to live there for long, they might be very eager to visit for short periods of time. A booming tourism industry could arise, once the travel costs come down.
So find some ice-filled underground caverns and make the first colonies there. Build some large graphene "world domes" above them, as greenhouses to grow crops in. Mars is very geologically stable, so humans can expand their presence underground like an expanding ant colony, while building large graphene bubbles topside for agriculture.
Here's a glimpse of where India wants to go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipBOotJDJ1k But I agree, it's something for everyone to be proud of. Here's a website from a Mexican fan of India's space program - he's got a paper model of India's GSLV rocket that can be printed out and assembled: http://www.chihuahuadepapel.com/ingles/gslv.htm
India is going to be sending another mission to the Moon in 2011, this time putting a rover on the surface.
lookin to get a piece of that action?
India's economy has turned around due to technology outsourcing to India by the rest of the world. This outsourcing started happening when Indians began showing the outside world that Indians aren't just the hungry clamouring mobs always shown on TV. As the world realized this, they began to see value in sending work to India. By accomplishing things like Chandrayaan, or building the Tata Nano, etc, Indians demonstrate to the world their talents and abilities, which increases the world's willingness to trade and work with India, creating jobs and economic growth in the country. Some Indians commenting here are unfortunately the backward navel-gazing types, who will never understand the basis for economic growth and alleviation of poverty. They still think in the most primitive backward terms about how to bring development, prosperity and relief to the masses. The lost opportunities and economic stagnation of the past 50 years under the social welfare state show how such narrow mindsets can wreak havoc on a country. The answer lies in Indians showing each other and the world how to be achievers, instead of just beggars forever clamouring with their palms outstretched.
Time to invade
Read this latest, from the American Institute of Physics: http://ptonline.aip.org/journals/doc/PHTOAD-ft/vol_61/iss_9/47_1.shtml Scroll down to the bottom and look at the bullet points: # In 1982 China's premier Deng Xiaoping began the transfer of nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan and, in time, to other third world countries. Those transfers included blueprints for the ultrasimple CHIC-4 design using highly enriched uranium, first tested by China in 1966. # A Pakistani derivative of CHIC-4 apparently was tested in China on 26 May 1990. --- Why was this published only now? The US has known about this information for quite some time, but sat on it, for security reasons. But now the US is finally telling China that enough is enough, and that it can't expect to wantonly proliferate nuclear weapons technology without facing consequences.
Well, that's what Left-wingers like to do -- impose their own views in totality, under the guise of freedom. eg. "Democratic People's Republic" of North Korea
Maybe the solution will come when we abandon charge-states as our means of information processing, and instead shift into photonics. These components will then be immune to ionizing radiation.
Scramjets are the best for long-distance travel around the world, because they will save the most time.
I wouldn't mind something like a "dragonfly pack" so that we could fly around like Tinkerbell. Perhaps with enough wingbeats per second, it could dynamically adjust to instabilities caused by the movement of your body, etc.
Where's the damn color? I don't understand why after all these decades, it's so hard for them to take color photos. Just slap a damn Sony camcorder on there if you have to, and take some regular color pictures, to show what our own eyes would perceive if we were there.
I Like to Move It, Move It
I'd recently read that the world's supply of Helium is running out, with no real plans for any substitute.
So would the price of helium then become too expensive to run a ship like this?
Okay, but where is SuperPursuit Mode? I'll really need that shotgun fake-sonic boom effect to wake me up in the middle of the movie, when I'm falling asleep.
Scientists are searching for small molecules that can have epigenetic effects of switching genes off or on. So these new epigenetic maps of active and silenced genes can help guide research on which genes to target for small molecule therapy. Also, RNA interference (RNAi) is another method for genetic activation/deactiviation, and as that technique improves, it may be possible to use it for therapeutic medicine in humans.
Sort of reminds me of how Geraldo Rivera was born Gerry Rivers.
Both seem to be grandmasters at grandstanding.
I don't buy that Gary Kasparov is a legitimate good-faith democratic reformer, any more than I buy that Geraldo is a good faith investigative journalist. All I see is demagoguery. The fact that Russia has a lot of valuable oil that the West COVETS certainly doesn't help matters.