Casey Kelby is Dunmore's Aerospace Project Engineer and newest space geek. She recently graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, minors in math and astronomy, and a raging case of "Let's Go Hokies!" Casey resides at 1AU.
Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze.
Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Have you ever felt the need to go beyond yourself? A need to explore, achieve, and persevere? Wanderlust is a feeling most people have had at some point or another. The need to go on a vacation, experience a new culture, or, at least, move into a new home. For others, like Carl Sagan or Erik Wernquist, the need is a bit extraterrestrial.
If you haven’t spent countless hours marveling at the vast darkness of the universe, the idea of space travel seems more sci-fi than realistic. Other than a few moon landings and space stations humankind has stood relatively still. We’ve traveled mountains and oceans, developed vast cityscapes and viewed foreign lands without ever leaving the couch. In a world that seems so small and globalized Erik Wernquist brings us Wanderers, the animated short that challenges us to leave low earth orbit (LEO).
Wernquist’s thought provoking and awe inspiring cinematic short Wanderers creates scenes from around our solar system from Cape Verde, Mars to an extraordinary view of Jupiter from Europa. The stunning digital recreations combines scientific concepts with photos and map data to bring an astonishing and realistic view of our nearest planetary neighbors. This video is guaranteed to encourage interstellar wanderlust in each of us.
Wernquist spends his days in Stockholm, Sweden as a graphic artist, making illustrations and animations; his making of Wanderers was a bit of a side project for him. He was able to mix his passions of amateur astronomy and planetary science with his love for science fiction to create a one-of-a-kind short film detailing our solar system in a way you’ve never seen it before: filled with humans. He “thought that a good idea was to show a few places from the solar system and put people in the visuals, or at least traces of people in the form of vehicles and buildings, just to get sort of a human perspective on it.” His addition of humans was to effectively scale the images and scenes we’ve often viewed from the perspective of a planetary probe.
Admittedly, Wernquist took a little bit of creative license with the addition of the structures but says they were all inspired by concepts created by science fiction authors and studied by engineers. (His primary influences? Kim Stanley Robinson, Arthur C. Clarke, and Chesley Bonestell.) Concepts like airships, space elevators, and gravitationally spun asteroids—all visuals inspired by concepts that were once bound to text—now visualized. The vocals of Carl Sagan reading his Pale Blue Dot was more of a spiritual inspiration and provided the appropriate romantic tone for the film. Many of the scenes in the film are based on real space images taken by various probes, all of which are in the public domain. Human settlements and actions in the film are based on scientific principle and theory to make the scenes as realistic as possible. From fighting urges to have the clouds of Jupiter swirl ferociously to being specific about how many stars to show, Wernquist represents the solar system in a way most sci-fi films struggle to do so: realistically.
His methodology for shooting the film itself is rather extraordinary; he used live action to shoot all the people in Wanderers. Low gravity is simulated by shooting at high frame rates and then slowing down the action. While some think the scene of people walking on Europa is too dramatized, Wernquist utilized a narrow frame lens to create the view of Jupiter filling the sky based on a photo of the moon Io on a backdrop of immense Jupiter. A shaky lens helps viewers to understand that this is not a human view, but rather a cinegraphic visualization.
Wernquist’s film has received a lot of notoriety among the space community to his surprise; even being contacted by “Alan Stern, who is [the] principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and he commissioned me to make a film about the New Horizons mission” he divulged. His concern with Wanderers was what he calls “nitpicking” or when hardcore space enthusiasts tear apart his rendition of the technologies of human space exploration and potentially even the space visuals themselves. While some critics had concerns about dirigibles on Mars and some of the other concepts, the majority of the criticism has been positive, “what has been very rewarding is that there has been very little nitpicking…I’m really happy that that was the case because I strived hard for making it as realistic as possible.” Wernquist’s other concern with the film is that he didn’t want people to think he didn’t care about the sacrifice we will make to venture the solar system: “I deal with basically nothing of the harshness and how dangerous any of this would obviously be, and I’m a little bit afraid that maybe some people seeing it thinks that it’s just a matter of, ‘Let’s go, why aren’t we jumping off cliffs on Miranda already?’” He emphasized that safety is the main concern regarding space exploration and understands the process is slow; he hopes to see people on Mars in his lifetime but not at the risk of human life. He stated “I’m extremely impressed with all the exploration that is going on, and I hope to see a lot more before I disappear…but when it comes to humans in space, we have to take it slow.”
Day in and out I take comfort in the white noise of manufacturing; a forklift reverse alarm and trucks driving by our building are not a nuisance, but rather the bustling noise of life in my cubicle. It’s hard to believe that everything we touch and see throughout our day have all been built here, on our Pale Blue Dot — that is, until recently.
As additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping here on Earth have taken off with the commercialization of 3D Printing, one new space venture looked up. Made in Space is a five year old company based in Moffett Field, California who has successfully sent and tested a 3D printer on the International Space Station (ISS).
3D printing is like printing a brochure or email. But instead of using ink to print on a flat piece of paper, a 3D printer uses plastic “ink” to build up a three dimensional shape. Like the stacking of Legos, a 3D printer lays down semi-solid plastic filament in a pattern designed in any CAD-like software. Printing can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on the size of the unit, the density of the filament, and the speed of the mechanical motors that guide the printing nozzle. The most basic of 3D printing machines can cost as low as a thousand US dollars.
The 3D printer in space is discovering how microgravity affects the printing process. The printer was redesigned from the ground up for the ISS to address gravity and cleanliness challenges. The printer departed for the space station in September 2014 aboard SpaceX’s CRS-4 mission. Eight months and 21 printed objects later, the printed tools were sent back to Earth via SpaceX CRS-5. The return payload arrived at NASA Marshall in April 2015 where the study of the tools and testing began. Keep up with the project on NASA’s 3D Printing In Zero-G website.
Its implications are much greater than just a cool gadget in space. The days of quick-fixes with Apollo 13’s duct tape and ISS’s spare toothbrushes could end in future endeavors where “fablabs” may be the norm. The vision behind this technology demonstration is to reduce the amount of tools and spare parts needed during spaceflight. 3D printing not only reduces shipping weight but makes more room for scientific payloads and food. Furthermore, reducing the dependance on Earth makes missions to other planets more attainable.
What’s next for Made in Space? They are working with NASA Marshall to debug their printing test bed; the AMF or Additive Manufacturing Facility is a fablab that the company is hoping to deploy using the lessons learned from the Zero-G printer. They are also in the process of designing a recycler, the R3DO that could recycle and reuse printed or leftover filament. This could greatly reduce waste from the process while increasing time between resupply missions.
In other news, ULA’s new Vulcan rocket is expected to save over $1 million US dollars through 3D printing of polymer and metal parts. They are considering 150 different parts to be printed. This is just another way additive manufacturing is redesigning the space industry.
Internet speed and reliability are hot current topics, with cellular providers pushing data plans and home service providers peddling everything from service bundles to home security.
On the other hand, it’s hard to believe that over a third of the global population doesn’t know the difference between a bird call and a post to Twitter. Nearly 4.4 billion people have never been online. Last week, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, announced his newest venture to provide reliable and fast internet to the masses via his new constellation satellite program that still remains unnamed. The proposed constellation would be comprised of a network of 4000 small satellites weighing between 100 and 500 kilograms and could make global internet service a reality.
Google has its own similar endeavor, but is interested in using high altitude balloons to give off LTE internet signals from within the Earth’s atmosphere. Because of the similarity of these missions, Google and Fidelity announced that they will invest 1 billion US dollars in SpaceX. But why is Google so interested in SpaceX when they have their own system?
Turns out there is another player in the race for global connectivity. Greg Wyler, CEO of start-up OneWeb, is looking to launch a 700 satellite constellation to meet the same end. Not to be underestimated, Wyler worked for Google briefly before he branched out on his own nailing investors like Virgin Group and Qualcomm. His plan appears to be cheaper, proposing a mere $2 billion system compared to SpaceX’s $10 billion. He has experience – in 2003 he launched Terracom which provided Rwandans with 3G and fiber optic internet. This sparked his idea for lower altitude satellites a mere 5,000 miles from Earth, with only 12 satellites named O3b Networks. O3b services connect countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and small island chains to cruise ships, formulating the largest internet provider in the Pacific. And he has the rights to the spectrum for the system. In fact, he took the rights to the spectrum when he left Google, which does not leave enough physical space for any other venture of this kind. Time will tell if collaboration or monopolization allow these projects to flourish or flop.
On a different note: Wyler and Musk not only know each other, but are friends. Musk welcomes the competition because he and Wyler disagreed on the system’s architecture. Talk about some friendly competition! According to Musk, his project is more than 5 years out whereas Wyler’s may come to fruition sooner, although he has just as many hurdles to overcome.
What does this mean for the world of telecommunications? It means a booming industry with no single entity monopolizing on big data and internet services. According to Musk, these new systems could increase internet speeds dramatically since “the speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber”. On the materials side, it increases the need for mission critical components, including DUNMORE’s mutli-layer insulation (MLI) and other spacecraft materials.
The year 2014 was a significant one for space related endeavors, both milestones and anniversaries alike.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Speaking of Mars, in September 2014 the red planet received two new satellites, NASA Goddard’s MAVEN and ISRO’s MOM. Both satellites are monitoring and measuring the Martian atmosphere for key elements and compounds that may uncover the history of the planet.
The Rosetta mission, after venturing 10 years to get to comet 67P, launched its Philae lander to the comet’s surface in November 2014. This European Space Agency (ESA) mission was the first to ever successfully land onto the surface of a comet, although the mission is in question after power failed on the lander. Little Philae and its orbiter counterpart is truly a feat of the ages. Rosetta is expected to send data back to Earth at least until December of 2015.
Image Credit: ESA
The commercial space industry had a significant year, although not without sacrifices. The losses of Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo’s co-pilot Michael Alsbury, Orbital Science’s Antares rocket and its payloads, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Grasshopper test-bed in August show that human sacrifice and highly-experimental spaceflight is not without trials and tribulations.
Orbital and SpaceX continued their International Space Station (ISS) resupply missions in 2014. Additionally Sierra Nevada, SpaceX, and Boeing all fought for a NASA contract to develop the next manned capsule for trips to the ISS. In the end Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Dragon v2 won out over Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser (which is continuing development despite the loss.)
Image Credit: NASA
NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), launched in September 2013, received instant celeb-status from its frog-laden launch, which made national news. More recently, LADEE executed its planned crash landing into the far-side of the moon, as planned in April 2014. The moon-satellite was designed to study the pre-sunrise glow that was witnessed during the Apollo missions in addition to studying the lunar atmosphere and its structure. From Apollo-aged myths to 21st century milestones, LADEE studied the moon beyond its 100-day science mission around the moon and utilized NASA’s first dedicated two-way communication laser instead of radio transmissions.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), designed to replace the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), also reached critical milestones in its development. Such milestones included finalization and testing of its solar shield, which is the size of a tennis court. JWST is expected to be ready for launch by 2016.
While all of the above have truly made 2014 a space-milestone year, NASA’s successful test flight of its Orion capsule on December 5th, 2014 may have been the most important event. What’s the big deal about this seemingly Apollo replica? Orion, and its proposed crew of 4 astronauts, is the Space Shuttle of the 2020s. However, instead of merely flying back and forth to the ISS and capturing and deploying satellites, Orion will take humans farther than they have ever been: to an asteroid, to Mars, and possibly even out of the solar system. This first successful test flight is the dawn of a new era with roots in the space race of the 60s with the technology, aided by Dunmore materials, to propel mankind beyond the Earth and Moon.
Image Credit: NASA
While you may be familiar with Laika, the Russian dog that was launched into space in 1957 and became the first animal to orbit the Earth, you probably weren’t aware that space programs are still sending animals into space. That’s right, we are still sending non-human organisms into space, only this time we aren’t paving the way for mankind to go into space but studying organisms’ amazing adaptations in a microgravity lab. You know this lab as the International Space Station or ISS.
Russian and American scientists just can’t let up on testing on animals; in fact, they published a paper in 2011 about snails in microgravity. The paper highlighted snails unique ability to not only be the best little astronauts but their profound skills in balance and motion detection. According to snail-scientists, the little terrestrial slime balls orient themselves to gravity using a unique inner-ear mechanism. A pool of snails was chosen, half were sent to the ISS and the other half stayed on Earth. The astonishing conclusion when the snails were reunited, was that astro-snails responded much more quickly to changes in orientation than Earth-snails. The tiny astronauts had actually adapted their inner-ear to be more sensitive to tiny fluctuations in gravity!
In a similarly-squishy scenario, squids were sent to the ISS aboard the Shuttle Endeavour in the same year. The 3-inch Squidwards have light-producing bacteria that live inside the cavity on the underside of its body. Scientists wanted to study the bioluminescent bacteria and see if this symbiotic bacterial colonization could occur in space. The relationship between the squid and its flashlight-bacteria is surprisingly similar to the beneficial bacteria that live in human immune and digestive systems. These tiny squids may help ensure that future astronauts can survive the trek to Mars.
Here at Dunmore, we are looking to support the life of your fauna in space, our multi-layered insulation films can protect even the squishiest of payloads. (Test tubes and Petri dishes sold separately.)
P.S. Your body houses 10 times more bacteria than cells, and you probably have upwards of 35 trillion cells. In cosmic terms, you have 300 times more bacteria in your body than there are stars in our galaxy.