SPACE COLONISATION AND

RESOURCES IN SPACE
-ADITYA A IYER, H M DARSHAN
NATIONAL HILL VIEW PUBLIC SCHOOL, BANGALORE.
THE UPHILL TASK THAT IS AHEAD
OF US:

DEPARTURE IN- FLIGHT

ARRIVAL SURVIVAL

WITHOUT OVERCOMING THESE PROBLEMS, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO

ACHIEVE INTERSTELLAR EXPLORATION.
TAKEOFF:
• Getting off Earth is a little like getting divorced:
You want to do it quickly, with as little baggage
as possible. But powerful forces conspire against
you—specifically, gravity. If an object on Earth’s
surface wants to fly free, it needs to shoot up
and out at speeds exceeding 25,000 mph (or 11
km/s i.e. escape velocity) without considering
the excess weight of the astronauts themselves.
• Now in simple terms, speed=money in the space
world, thus the engine required to carry such a
heavy payload out of the atmosphere of the
earth is no small feat
SOLUTION:
The main reason that a manned space mission is not called for
the vast budget and capital that is required to launch the
actual project into space. As stated before, speed and money
share a directly proportional relationship. Thus, the
expenditure on speed must be compensated elsewhere. We
believe the key to cost-cutting is reusability. Thus using
technologies developed by SpaceX such as the Falcon-9 rocket
with its reusable boosters can cut down up to 60% of the
expenditure. This is very significant as the Mangalyaan mission
spent close to 40% of its budget on the launch itself. Thus, we
will use re-usable rockets to cut costs and ensure safety.
PROPULSION:
Hurtling through space is easy. It’s a
vacuum, after all; nothing to slow you
down. But getting started? That’s a bear.
The larger an object’s mass, the more
force it takes to move it—and rockets are
kind of massive. Chemical propellants are
great for an initial push, but your precious
kerosene will burn up in a matter of
minutes. Thus, Propulsion needs a radical
new method, or else our ships will get
nowhere.
SOLUTION:

• Old-Fashioned jet propulsion might get us to the moon, but any further
would be herculean task for the tiny jets of hot gas. Hence to launch our
interstellar rover, we need to revamp the propulsion systems.
• Our total payload is estimated to have an initial mass of 54,000 tonnes
including 50,000 tonnes of fuel and 500 tonnes of scientific payload. It will
be a two-stage spacecraft. The first stage would operate for two years,
taking the spacecraft to 7.1% of light speed (0.071 c), and then after it was
jettisoned, the second stage would fire for about 2 years, taking the
spacecraft up to about 12% of light speed (0.12 c), before being shut down
for a specified year cruise period.
• Due to the extreme temperature range of operation required, from near
absolute zero to 1600 K, the engine bells and support structure would be
made of molybdenum alloyed with titanium, zirconium, and carbon, which
retains strength even at cryogenic temperatures. This would be beneficial as
approx. 11,000 tonnes of molybdenum is mined every year from the Rakha
mines in Jharkhand and the Malanjkhand mines in Madhya Pradesh
combined. If any deficit of other metals is present, they can be imported.
• Our Module would be propelled by a fusion rocket using pellets of a
deuterium/helium-3 mix that would be ignited in the reaction chamber by
inertial confinement using electron beams. The electron beam system would
be powered by a set of induction coils trapping energy from the plasma
exhaust stream. Even if only 250 pellets would be detonated per second, and
the resulting plasma would be directed by a magnetic nozzle. The computed
exhaust velocities of 10,600 km/s. Due to scarcity of helium-3 on Earth, it
would be mined from the atmosphere of Jupiter by large hot-air balloon
supported robotic factories over at least a 20-year period, or from a less
distant source, such as the Moon.
SPACE DEBRIS:
It's a Minefield Up There!!
Before you break into outer space, a rogue bit of
broken satellite comes from out of nowhere and
caps your second-stage fuel tank. No more rocket.
This is the problem of space debris, and it’s very
real. The US Space Surveillance Network has eyes
on 17,000 objects—each at least the size of a
softball—hurtling around Earth at speeds of more
than 17,500 mph; if you count pieces under 10
centimetres, it’s closer to 500,000 objects. Launch
adapters, lens covers, even a fleck of paint can
punch a crater in critical systems.
SOLUTION:
• So, there is a two-step process that will be followed to
protect our module from space debris.
• AVOIDANCE: Our module would carry 18 autonomous sub-
probes that would be launched before the main craft
entered the target system. These sub-probes would be
propelled by nuclear-powered ion drives and would carry
cameras, spectrometers, and other sensory equipment. The
sub-probes would fly past their targets, still traveling at 12%
of the speed of light, and transmit their findings back to the
module’s second stage, mothership, for analysis and hence,
would continuously monitor the surroundings of the
module. Thus, Large as well as small objects can be
detected and avoided.
• PROTECTION: Spallation which is the main threat
due to collisions, is what happens when there is
no other path for energy transfer to take place. So,
it shatters the side opposite to the point of impact.
To tackle this, we will use a Whipple shield which
is a multi-layer shield designed specifically for this
purpose. It has several layers with gaps between
them. The task of a Whipple shield is to disperse
any debris that might hit the shield and to provide
a path for the energy from the collision to
disperse. In essence, it protects the spacecraft
from bearing the direct force of the impact.

SPALLATION DUE TO
IMPACTS
FOOD AND WATER:

We celebrated a new milestone recently when the first

lettuce leaves grown in space that were grown for the
first time was consumed by the astronauts. But large
harvests of plants on a space ship are a distant dream.
Thus, when we are on a mission, they are in limited
supply. But growing food in zero G’s is very hard. But all
this is nought if you run out on water, The present
system used requires constant maintenance and has a
life of about few years, which is very short. (On the ISS,
the pee-and-water recycling system needs periodic
fixing, and interplanetary crews won’t be able to rely on
a resupply of new parts.)
SOLUTION:
• The module has a separate container that gives plants
a little more guidance by using “plant pillows.” These
pillows are bags of dirt, fertilizer, and nutrients
equipped with wicking material that soaks up water.
Astronauts can glue seeds onto the wicking material
directionally, so that their roots will grow toward the
bottom of the bag and the stems will grow outward.
LED lights shine above to give the plants the energy
they need to grow, and expandable plastic walls
provide protection for the leaves as they get taller.
Thus growing plants in space and being self-sufficient
becomes a real possibility.
• The module will also carry a 3-D printer not only
capable of printing new parts, But also printing food
using its high-precision nozzles. Thus every astronauts
dream of having pizza in space becomes real.
HARMFUL RADIATION:

• Space Turns You Into a Bag of Cancer!!!

• Outside the safe cocoon of the earth’s atmosphere and its
protecting magnetic field, Sub-Atomic particles and the
fundamental building blocks of matter zip around at almost the
speed of light. This is space radiation. It can not only cause cancer,
but other fatal diseases like cataracts and Alzheimer’s.
• These are however over-shadowed by the secondary radiation
when the particles knock off electrons form the metal atoms of
the hull of the ship.
SOLUTION:
For dealing with this particular problem, we have come up with a 3-layered solution.
a. ASTEROID CLAY: The whole module will be lined with 2-3 inches of asteroid clay that will
absorb about 50% of the radiation bombarding the space-ship.
b. POLYTHENE: There will be multiple layers of high-tensile polyethene plastic that will act as a
further inhibitor of the radiation and it will not give off excess electrons like aluminium would.
c. BERYLLIUM SHEILD: This would be up to 7 mm thick and considering that it is light-weight
and yet it has high Latent heat of vaporization. This would filter out 99.99% of the radiation from
the medium.
d. ALUMINIUM: This will serve as the final layer of protection. It is malleable and tensile and
can bear huge amounts of shear strain. Thus it is ideal for the innermost lining of the module.
They’re light and strong, and they’re full of hydrogen atoms, whose small nuclei don’t produce
much secondary radiation. Another Solution could be a magnesium diboride superconductor
that would deflect charged particles away from a ship. It works at –263 degrees Celsius, which is
balmy for superconductors, but it helps that space is already so damn cold.
RESOURCES:

• When space caravans embark from Earth, they’ll

leave full of supplies. But you can’t take everything
with you. Seeds, oxygen generators, maybe a few
machines for building infrastructure. But settlers
will have to harvest or make everything else. Thus
actual sustenance of life on other exoplanets is a
major hurdle.
SOLUTION:
• Luckily, space is far from barren. “Every planet has
every chemical element in it. The moon has lots of
aluminium. Mars has silica and iron oxide. Nearby
asteroids are a great source of carbon and platinum
ores—and water. Since blasters and drillers are too
heavy to ship, they’ll have to extract those riches
with gentler techniques: melting, magnets, or metal- STAIN OF C. metallidurans( metal
digesting microbes. Digesting microbe).

• We can also use 3-D printed material for

constructing whole buildings or small replacement
parts.
GENERATION SHIPS:

EMBRYO CRYOPRESERVATION

Theodore Berger, a biomedical engineer

and neuroscientist at the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles, designed
silicon chips to mimic the signal processing that
those neurons do when they’re functioning
properly—the work that allows us to recall
experiences and knowledge for more than
a minute.
DEEP SPACE COLONISATION:
WHY DO WE NEED TO COLONISE SPACE?

• Survival of human civilization

• Vast resources in space
• Expansion with fewer negative consequences
• Alleviating overpopulation and resource demand
 MATERIALS:

• Colonies on the Moon, Mars, or asteroids could extract local materials. The Moon is deficient in
volatiles such as argon, helium and compounds of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen.
• the Cabeus crater contains material with 1% water or possibly more. Water ice should also be in other
permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles.
• Launching materials from Earth is expensive, so bulk materials for colonies could come from the Moon,
a near-Earth object (NEO), Phobos, or Deimos. The benefits of using such sources include: a lower
gravitational force, no atmospheric drag on cargo vessels, and no biosphere to damage.

ENERGY:
• Harvesting solar energy using Large solar power photovoltaic cell arrays or thermal power plants. These
power plants could be at a short distance from the main structures if wires are used to transmit the
power, or much farther away with wireless power transmission.
• Another solution to this can be nuclear power.
LIFE SUPPORT POPULATION SIZE
• In space settlements, a life support system must • Researchers in conservation biology have
recycle or import all the nutrients without tended to adopt the "50/500" rule of thumb
"crashing.“ initially advanced by Franklin and Soule. This
rule says a short-term effective population
• The Biosphere 2 project in Arizona has shown
size(Ne) of 50 is needed to prevent an
that a complex, small, enclosed, man-made
unacceptable rate of inbreeding, whereas a
biosphere can support eight people for at least a
long‐term Ne of 500 is required to maintain
year.
overall genetic variability.
• "open loop"—extraction oxygen from seawater,
• The Ne = 50 prescription corresponds to an
and typically dumping carbon dioxide overboard
inbreeding rate of 1% per generation,
is what we use now, although they recycle
approximately half the maximum rate tolerated
existing oxygen. Recycling of the carbon dioxide
by domestic animal breeders. The Ne = 500
can be done using the Sabatier process or
value attempts to balance the rate of gain in
the Bosch reaction, Hence facilitating a closed
genetic variation due to mutation with the rate
loop system.
of loss due to genetic drift.
THANK YOU