CHRIS – I’ve added notes of what we

said
Proposal for
The Foundation Society’
BENEVECTORAS

The First space

settlement in cycler orbit

Grumbo Aerospace
Imperial College London
25th April 2010
 Overall exterior view of the
settlement
Exterior covered in
Structure & Design

solar panels

Docking
hub

2
 Orbital location for
construction of
Benevectoras
Structure & Design

 The orbital construction point of

Benevectoras is lagrangian point 4
(the construction hub of all lagrangian
points) due to its many manufacturing
operations being carried out there
such as:
 Spacecraft construction - Needed to
build the main infrastructure.
 Asteroid Harvesting - The main source
of materials.
 Materials refining - To purify the mined
materials

3
 Communication Monitoring Device

Robotics For constant communication between Benevectoras,
Automation &

Earth and Mars, a monitoring system will be established

based on the primitive feature of logic gates.
 If no communication has been made for 7 hours, the
emergency device will become activated and will transmit
the signals to Earth and Benevectoras.
 Satellites will be placed between the orbits and will be
covering the Langrangian points.

4
 Propulsion
 NASA’s Ion propulsion system most efficient on fuel
consumption and power.
 Works by electrically charging, or ionizing, a gas using power
from solar panels
 Use Xenon gas
 System emits ionized gas to propel the spacecraft in the
opposite direction. First used in Deep Space 1 (DS1) in 1998
 Ours: bigger but lighter with reduced system complexity,
extending lifetime & efficiency
 Superior to chemical propulsion systems

 Use two thrusters in opposed directions, to move/change

velocity without ceasing to rotate, (protects gravity).
 Thrusters need placement for all the desired directions of
movement.
 Minimum expectation: two for control rotation rate, and three
to control orbital direction.

5
 Overview: Settlement Layout
Plants grow on
Water slopes to the side
Structure & Design

vapour of the city

Central bar
condenses
to form
clouds 700
m

m
1000
m
250

m
500

m
700
Docking
hub Band of
Xenon city
lamps supported
Band of above
water around waterThickne
equator ss: 5 m
2000
Structure & Design Overview: Settlement Layout

700 m

60 m
Filtrati
Struts on
support system
ing city Water runs
Body of salt Network of through
water pipes for marsh and
underneath water coral
city to/from
city

7
Structure & Design Construction process

8
 Construction materials
 We calculated the thickness of the material based on:
Structure & Design

– The shielding we needed

– The appropriate thickness using the hoop stress formula
for a sphere.
Stress = Pressure* Radius
2*Thickness
Stress = 60,800,000/thickness

 Titanium to be mined from lunar regolith by subcontractor, as

it can be 10% TiO2
 Refining of titanium oxide to be done on moon by
subcontractor
 Refined titanium to be launched via mass driver
 Build into walls with 20cm RFX1 to shield radiation

9
 Construction materials
Infrastructure will be constructed using the
Structure & Design

materials from the Earth, Moon, Mars and the

Asteroid belt.Used for
Material
Used
Titanium To be used for high tensile strength and the
Matrix keep the thermal environment stable.
Composite
Aluminium The material will used due to its property of
Matrix low density. This makes the metal light yet
Composite strong thus good for the purpose of
infrastructure.
RXF1 This material will be used to shield the space
settlement from the harmful solar flares.
Carbon This can be used for the protection of debris
Nanotubes and for the structural support.
RTV 3145 This can be used for attaching the various
Adhesive layers of the infrastructure to each other.
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Structure & Design Windows (Space view)

 Use of windows in not

feasible due to
radiation levels.
 Light will reflected
inside using mirrors.
 All radiation will be
absorbed by RFX1

11
 Artificial Gravity & Rotation
 Provided by rotation where:
Structure & Design

 g=w2r W=0.01rads-1
 Earth Gravity: 1 rotation = 63.4s
 Gradually, throughout the journey, Earth gravity will decrease
to Mars gravity(1/3 Earth gravity)
 Mars Gravity: 1 rotation = 110s

12
 Living Requirements
 Liveable conditions are 0.21->1.00 atm, it becomes
Structure & Design

uncomfortable at <0.5atm.
 We will have 0.6 atm of pressure so it won’t be
uncomfortable but the greater it is, the more expensive it is.

 Based on previous closed system experiments, space

requirements are 13.2 million m2 of land.
 Living spaces in high gravity zones in a band giving each
person ~100m2 plot.

13
 Air Supply
•
Human Due to the nature of the biosphere, the settlement will only
have to be filled with air once, as the whole system recycles it
Infrastructure &

continuously.
• The volume of air in the settlement is approximately
3,625,921,521m3, and this volume must be filled in 8 months
• Filled at a rate of 175 m3s-1.
• Oxygen drawn from the troposphere, to a geostationary filling
station 300km up.
• The filling station will be attached to strengthened rubber-
plastic tubes. One end of each tube will be open to the
vacuum of space, with a molecular filter just below.
• The filter will let a percentage of the air out into space, and
direct the rest (around 50%) into the station.

14
 Food production and storage
Human
 Fridge spaces: 19,800m3 for 9 months
Infrastructure &

 Cupboards space: 79,200m3 for 9 months

 Total space: 99,000m3 for 9 months

 Why soil?
 Very little effect on the biosphere, little waste compared to
hydroponics
 Low maintenance
 Tried and tested in the 1900s. In biosphere 2-8 people, for two
years. From a 2500m2 plot.
 Wider range of crops can be grown, due to lack of submersion
in water.
 Multipurpose robot to reduce labour to minimum- 3 robots
 Residents may roam among idle fields
15
 Use of interior areas

Human Biosphere is an analogue of Earth
Some elements were removed
Infrastructure &


 High levels of agriculture based on the Biosphere 2

16
 Interior Usage

Human Education: One large building (11,750 m2) which serves flexi-
education: primary, secondary and university, further
Infrastructure &

education, trades, professional development, hobbies

•Medical: One large
building (20,000 m2)
to act as a GP clinic
as well as for
emergencies

•Entertainment:
Number of facilities,
including a cinema,
music venue,
fitness centre within
the education
building

17
 Accommodation
 Single; Couples; Family 2 bed; Family 3 bed
Human
Infrastructure &

24m 10 single units share

1 kitchen, 1 communal “lounge” area.
Studio
bedroom
2
(bed, en suite, table/desk, storage)
(6x4m)
Shw
r

Couples Unit: 1 bedroom, kitchen,

bathroom, storage and lounge - total
45 m2

Family unit: 2 bedrooms, kitchen,

“lounge” and storage - total 65 m2

Family unit: 3 bedrooms, kitchen,

“lounge” and storage - total 75m2
18 (includes small building services
 Psychological Considerations
 Education system will help people transitioning from Earth
Human
Infrastructure &

to their new environment

 Housing relies on family size factors, viewed as fair
compared to other factors
 Recreational facilities will greatly help society to transition
into their new home
 Parks 150,000m2 park with bandstands and an Eden
project style building with plants from Earth to remind
residents of Earth.

19
 Day and night cycle
provisions
 At the centre of our space station we would have a
Human
Infrastructure &

100MW red lamp that will generate red spectrum light for
the plants around the inside surface.
 Around the towns, we would install smaller 20MW lamps
that emit ‘white’ light to simulate daylight. This will prevent
‘seasonal affective’ disorder in humans.
 Heat will be generated by the 100MW red lamp and by
photosynthesising plants and respiring organisms. The
heat will be conserved by the space station’s insulating.

20
 Water
 Required volume of water = 1km³
Human
Infrastructure &

 Vulture Aviation owns a virtually inexhaustible supply of water

having ‘snagged’ a comet into L5 orbit.
 Buying surplus water also allows us to create oxygen through
electrolysis.

 Sewage/waste is pumped out of the city and into pipelines.

 Waste carried to treatment centres outside the city.
 Purified water is pumped out to the farmlands or back into the sea
to be filtered through coral before returning to the city’s pipes.

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 Water Treatment

Human Water treatment is a three stage process:
Infrastructure &

 Primary – water from the city is pumped into a series of still

pools and screens, scum rises to the surface and solids sink
as the water settles. This removes 50% of solids + organic
materials/bacteria – solids + scum can be recycled as fertilizer

22
 Water Treatment
 Secondary – sand filtration – water is then passed through sand
Human
Infrastructure &

beds (3.6m wide, 4.0m long and 1m deep. As the water passes
through particles are removed by direct collision, Van der Waals
forces and surface charge attraction. The purified water is then sent
for tertiary treatment
 Tertiary – ions such as phosphorus are removed by chemical
precipitation. Ferric Chloride + NaOH are added. The positively
charged metal ions combine with colloid particles, neutralizing their
charge. These particles no longer repel each other, and so coagulate
to form large particles.
These will be filtered out
by the coral reefs under
the city.
Water for crop irrigation is
removed after tertiary
treatments and piped to
the farmlands.
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 Power Supply & Lighting
 All solar powered
Structure & Design

 10,000,000m2 of panelling on sphere exterior

 5,600,000 x 1.8m2 panels
 640MW in Earth orbit
 300MW in Mars orbit

 Constant 100MW output specifically for farmland

 Red light for agricultural areas, less intense than sun but
using GM plants designed to cope with lower light levels.
 Reflected light to be utilised as well.
 Human comfort needs addition of 20MW for “white light”

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 Transport

Human Transport of materials in space will be done by Grumbo
Jumbos
Infrastructure &

 Basic logistics will be done by robots communicating

 On the interior, robots will control trains.

25
 Network Systems

Robotics Open system which all computers and devices access and
Automation &

share data with.

 All users/personnel on the network use an ID card type system
to log in to terminals and other such devices.
 OLED technology provides flexible low-energy screens
 Each person on the settlement a portable touch screen
computer that can connect to the network.
 Network access from any location, for remote operation etc.
via an ‘oyster card’ style system.
 Passengers would not have access to robot controls or
administration functions.
•Residents’ security
clearance depends on
jobs
•Several backups of all
data in multiple data-
centres in case of
emergency.
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 The Network
• Computers are located throughout the settlement:
Robotics
Automation &

• In all buildings
• By airlocks, transport and administration areas etc.
• In farmland to monitor robots
• The neural network with its many sensors will constantly
monitor the hull strength, oxygen and water levels
• For high security data, there will be iris recognition as well
as ID cards

27
 Communication systems
Technology Features Equipment Used Data
Used Transfer/
Robotics
Automation &

Time taken

Laser - The level of data - Solar powered Data

`Technolog transfer is great. technology. transfer:
y - It can have a greater - The satellites should 12Tbps
wavelength thus this be equipped with the Time-
type of technology laser and radio 11mts
can be used for high technology.
bandwidth
communications.
- The power
requirements for this
will be low.

Radio - High frequency - Solar powered Data

Waves waves- 5GHz-60Ghz technology. transfer:
- Continuous - The satellites should 7TBps
connection with the be equipped with the Time-10mts
Earth, low band laser and radio
width operations. technology.
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 Technologies involved in communication
Technolog Important Features
Robotics Equipment Used Band
Automation &

y Used Width

Fibre -Fast and well- Fibre Optic 62TBps

Optics organized with no Cables
loss of data.
- The central server will
communicate with
the residents
through the Fibre
Optic Network.
WLAN - Range-60km -Routers create 15Tbps
(Wireles -Entire Benevectoras hotspots
s Local will be WLAN through the
Area enabled. access points
Networ -Frequency Range- on the ceilings
k) 5GHz-65GHz. of the
29 settlement at
regular
 Automation design and
services
 The Robots are utilised both outside and inside the ship
Robotics
Automation &

 The robots will be stored within the ship and transported

to where they need to be by rail
 We will send 100 robots up who will mine and build a
factory which will make other construction robots
 While in space, we will use long range wi-fi to give a
network while the ship is under construction

30
 Docking facilities
 The dock is a large,
sealed
Structure & Design

 1,219,200m2 (enough
150
to fit Grumbo Jumbos
of 610m in length and m
Docking
passengers) hub
 Ships are clamped in
place as the box is
closed, sealed and

m
700

m
500
filled with air. To

m
50
 Passengers leave in storage
50
‘zero-g’ using wall-
m
handles for stability.
 Exit at poles in lifts
travelling the city.

Elevator
s to city

31
 Space suits

32
 GANTT Chart for building activities
Months 1 4 81216 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 12
0 4 8 2 6 0 4 8
Build Factory for Robots      

       
Mining For Raw Materials (and
transport)
   
Build Band (includes constructing
rocket engines for rotation)
   
Build Core
Build Hull        

Build Air systems    

Pressure Testing  

Attach Solar Panels    

       
Build Water Facilities and low-g
handholds
                                     
Rotation
Create Infrastructure (wiring,        

piping)
Welfare Construction    

Medical Construction    

Education Construction    

     
Construction of Recreational
Facilities
       
Software
       
Residential Construction
Landscape parklife            

Systems Testing  

Lanscape Agriculture                

 
Becomes Habitable

33
 Timescale
 Building Factory to build robots – takes 8 months due to the
extensive processes involved in the building process, as well
as the fact that there would be relatively few robots to build it
 There is a huge amount of raw materials, and hence, even
with large numbers of robots, this will take time
 The building of the core, band and hull happen
simultaneously, however, the hull is much larger so will take a
longer time. Nothing else can happen at this point as the rest
of the process relies on the framework being in place
 Building the air systems is a very complicated process, and
will therefore take time
 Pressure testing is necessary to ensure the hull is safe
 Attaching solar panels will be performed by Dougeldyne
Astrophysics, greatly reducing the expected time

34
 Timescale
 Building the water facilities is a specialist task and one that will
take a long time. Some humans may need to be involved in the
intricacies of the system
 The rotation then begins, as the rest of the build will occur in
gravity
 The infrastructure is then installed to allow the building process to
begin
 The various building projects begin. Time scale depends on
project size
 Systems testing then takes place during agriculture beginning .
This ensures that the system is completely functional and
habitable
 The landscaping of agriculture then begins - it takes time as
there is a large amount to do.
 The break is to allow the agriculture to fully grow, before it
becomes habitable

35
 Cost
Cost Reasons
Materials $ 170,000,000,000 Complicated calculations
Air $
5,300,000,000
Water $ bought water from vulture
2,645,547,144
Residential $ cost per unit $9000 x 7800 modules
Buildings 70,200,000
10% of materials $
cost for 17,000,000,000
maintainance
Building Factory $ 10% of cost of building materials -
17,000,000,000 roughly one tenth of the size
Automation $
Costs 130,798,880
Social And Comm $
Facilities 2,500,000
Infrastructure $
Costs 26,250,000
Space Suits $ 20 space suits
5,000,000
Employees for $ 25 robotics employees at $50,000 a
36 Robobtics 13,750,000 year
Solar panel $
Questions
 Does the coral have time to grow? Yes,
because that is already done quickly in
aquariums.
 Do the air suction straws work? No, we were
just tired.
 Does the biosphere break? No, earth is a
biosphere and hasn’t broken.
 Is it too much like Earth? Yes, but the best
way of surviving in space is to emulate Earth.
 I can’t remember any more.