Category Archives: Transhuman News

"Lunar outpost" redirects here. For NASA's former plan to construct an outpost between 2019 and 2024, see Lunar outpost (NASA).

The colonization of the Moon is the proposed establishment of permanent human communities or robot industries[1] on the Moon.

Recent indication that water might be present in noteworthy quantities at the lunar poles has renewed interest in the Moon. Polar colonies could also avoid the problem of long lunar nights about 354 hours,[2] a little more than two weeks and take advantage of the sun continuously, at least during the local summer (there is no data for the winter yet).[3]

Permanent human habitation on a planetary body other than the Earth is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology has advanced, and concerns about the future of humanity on Earth have increased, the argument that space colonization is an achievable and worthwhile goal has gained momentum.[4][5] Because of its proximity to Earth, the Moon has been seen as the most obvious natural expansion after Earth.

The notion of siting a colony on the Moon originated before the Space Age. In 1638 Bishop John Wilkins wrote ADiscourse Concerning a New World and Another Planet, in which he predicted a human colony on the Moon.[6]Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (18571935), among others, also suggested such a step.[7] From the 1950s onwards, a number of concepts and designs have been suggested by scientists, engineers and others.

In 1954, science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke proposed a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar dust for insulation.[8] A spaceship, assembled in low Earth orbit, would launch to the Moon, and astronauts would set up the igloo-like modules and an inflatable radio mast. Subsequent steps would include the establishment of a larger, permanent dome; an algae-based air purifier; a nuclear reactor for the provision of power; and electromagnetic cannons to launch cargo and fuel to interplanetary vessels in space.

In 1959, John S. Rinehart suggested that the safest design would be a structure that could "[float] in a stationary ocean of dust", since there were, at the time this concept was outlined, theories that there could be mile-deep dust oceans on the Moon.[9] The proposed design consisted of a half-cylinder with half-domes at both ends, with a micrometeoroid shield placed above the base.

Project Horizon was a 1959 study regarding the United States Army's plan to establish a fort on the Moon by 1967.[10]Heinz-Hermann Koelle, a German rocket engineer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) led the Project Horizon study. The first landing would be carried out by two "soldier-astronauts" in 1965 and more construction workers would soon follow. Through numerous launches (61SaturnI and 88 SaturnII), 245 tons of cargo would be transported to the outpost by 1966.

Lunex Project was a US Air Force plan for a manned lunar landing prior to the Apollo Program in 1961. It envisaged a 21-airman underground Air Force base on the Moon by 1968 at a total cost of $7.5 billion.

In 1962, John DeNike and Stanley Zahn published their idea of a sub-surface base located at the Sea of Tranquility.[8] This base would house a crew of21, in modules placed four meters below the surface, which was believed to provide radiation shielding on par with Earth's atmosphere. DeNike and Zahn favored nuclear reactors for energy production, because they were more efficient than solar panels, and would also overcome the problems with the long Lunar nights. For the life support system, an algae-based gas exchanger was proposed.

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Colonization of the Moon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He has flown jet fighters, travelled on the space shuttle and commanded the International Space Station. But nothing seemed to intimidate Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield quite as much as standing next to renowned physicist Stephen Hawking.

Let me just say how scared I am, Mr. Hadfield told a crowd of 300 people at the Canadian High Commission Thursday evening where he gave a speech and fielded a couple of questions from Mr. Hawking. I hope the question includes part of the answer.

Mr. Hawking, who has devoted much of his research to the study of the cosmos, is a keen devotee of space travel and he has spoken about his interest in flying into space one day. On Thursday he asked Mr. Hadfield about the long-terms effects of weightlessness on trip to Mars and whether the Canadian believed the solar system would ever be colonized.

Mr. Hadfield gave a long answer to the Mars question, saying that if the trip could be done in a month the effects could be managed. However, based on current technology it would take about six months to get there which would have a significant impact on the body and mind. The biggest challenge, he added, would be coping with the isolation. How do you keep your crew from going crazy? he asked. Within a month or so you wont be able to have a real-time conversation ever again with Earth, the delay [on a call] will be so longSo that crew within weeks will become Martians psychologically, they will no longer be of Earth.

As for colonization, Mr. Hadfield, 54, said he believes the solar system will be colonized one day but only when there is a real need to do it. And he is convinced there will be some form of colonization of the Moon within his lifetime.

With Mr. Hawking looking on, Mr. Hadfield also sang David Bowies Space Oddity, which he famously sung during his stint on the space station. And he took other questions from the audience, including what happens when someone sneezes in space? Not much, was the answer.

In an interview afterward, Mr. Hadfield, who has retired from the Canadian Space Agency, said Canada continues to play an important role in space research. Canada is involved right across the board, he said. China just landed on the moon. India just went to Mars so there is huge opportunity for Canada.

And he said young people are still showing a keen interest in science, math and space travel. They are optimistic. They want to do things, he said. We are one of the leading countries in the world in science and math. We do a wonderful job. We can do it better, sure. We sure could do it a lot worse.

It was clear that meeting Mr. Hawking, 71, had an impact on Mr. Hadfield. The two took a picture together and Mr. Hadfield said he was honoured to meet the physicist.

Later as Mr. Hadfield signed copies of his book, An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth, Mr. Hawking posed for pictures and answered a few questions with the help of his long-time assistant, Judith Croasdell.

Originally posted here:
Former astronaut Chris Hadfield gives Stephen Hawking insights on space

Recently retired astronaut Chris Hadfield has predicted that humans will establish a fully functional moon colony within the next 30 to 40 years, and could establish a similar base on Mars within the next 70 years.

Hadfield, who concluded a 35-year career as an astronaut earlier this year by handing over command of the International Space Station, made the comments in a speech at London's Science Museum, explaining that such colonization was the next logical step in human exploration.

"It's a pattern we have been following for the last 70,000 years," Hadfield said. "We gradually made our way around the world. In the last 100 years we have got to Antarctica and now there are people who live there for months at a time."

"The next logical step is to go the Moon. I am really hoping that within my lifetime we will start living on the Moon," Hadfield said later in his speech, adding "We have found out in the last couple of weeks that there is water in the soil of Mars. So I am also really hoping that in the lifetime of our children we will be able to start digging that up that on Mars as well."

Hadfield also expressed the belief that a permanent moon base would involve contributions from China and India. Both nations have seen their space program make strides this year, with China's first lunar rover making a successful soft landing over the weekend and Beijing's government expressing their intent to launch the first manned lunar missions since NASA's Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s.

Hadfield praised China's successful lunar mission as a "great step forward ... It's extremely complex and demanding to land something on the Moon."

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Former astronaut Chris Hadfield predicts humans will establish moon colony within 30-40 years

The newest area of Poptropica is Lunar Colony, an out-of-this-world astronaut adventure that takes you from Earth to the Moon and back, complete with a rocket launch, asteroids, lunar landings, zero gravity, and more! Written Walkthrough:

(scroll down for the complete video walkthrough below)

The newest area of Poptropica is Lunar Colony, an exciting mystery that takes you from astronaut training to the surface of the moon!

The AreasThere are 11 areas on the Lunar Colony map. Two before you reach the moon and nine on the surface. Six of the areas are reachable from a lunar rover, similar to the ship map on Skullduggery Island or the horse travel on Wild West. The final area, the Alien Base, can only be reached once you raise the sunken alien monolith (more on that below).

(From Crew Vehicle Bay, using the lunar rover map you can reach:)

OverviewIn order to complete Lunar Colony, you must first get to the moon, then find the missing scientist Salerno, and finally raise the last alien monolith to uncover the hidden alien base.

Part One: Get to the Moon Part Two: Find Dr. Salerno Part Three: Uncover the Alien Base

PART ONE: Get to the MoonComing out of your blimp, you land on a street in Cape Carpenter. Excited tourists tell you that they cant wait to see the imminent launch of the very last space mission (their kidsnot so much). Walk right until you reach former astronaut Captain Gordon on the stage. You can click on his photo memorabilia as well as his fizzy drink. Youll be coming back for that drink in a minute.

Head right to the next area: Mission Control. Enter the Mission Control Station, where youll run into two technicians. Talk to the gray-haired lab tech to find out just how overworked and understaffed they are. Their boss, Flight Director Slayton, will storm in asking you who you are and why no ones paying attention to Hatcher, the astronaut on the screen whos sick to his stomach. You offer to help, so go back to where Captain Gordon was in Cape Carpenter and grab the GINGER ALE sitting on the table.

Head back to Mission Control and continue to the right until you are on the launchpad elevator. Click the button to lower the platform, jump on, then click it again to go up. At the top, run left and enter the capsule.

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Poptropica Cheats for Lunar Colony

Moon Designations Adjective lunar, selenic Orbital characteristics Perigee 363,295 km (0.0024 AU) Apogee 405,503 km (0.0027 AU) Semi-major axis 384,399 km (0.00257AU)[1] Eccentricity 0.0549[1] Orbital period 27.321582d (27 d 7 h 43.1 min[1]) Synodic period 29.530589d (29 d 12 h 44 min 2.9 s) Average orbital speed 1.022km/s Inclination 5.145 to the ecliptic[2] (between 18.29 and 28.58 to Earth's equator)[1] Longitude of ascending node regressing by one revolution in 18.6years Argument of perigee progressing by one revolution in 8.85years Satellite of Earth Physical characteristics Mean radius 1,737.10km (0.273 Earths)[1][3] Equatorial radius 1,738.14km (0.273Earths)[3] Polar radius 1,735.97km (0.273 Earths)[3] Flattening 0.00125 Circumference 10,921 km (equatorial) Surface area 3.793107 km2 (0.074 Earths) Volume 2.19581010 km3 (0.020 Earths) Mass 7.34771022 kg (0.012300 Earths[1]) Mean density 3.3464 g/cm3[1] Equatorial surface gravity 1.622 m/s2 (0.165 4 g) Escape velocity 2.38 km/s Sidereal rotation period 27.321582 d (synchronous) Equatorial rotation velocity 4.627 m/s Axial tilt 1.5424 (to ecliptic) 6.687 (to orbit plane)[2] Albedo 0.136[4] Surface temp. min mean max equator 100 K 220 K 390 K 85N[5] 70 K 130 K 230 K Apparent magnitude 2.5 to 12.9[a] 12.74 (mean full moon)[3] Angular diameter 29.3 to 34.1 arcminutes[3][b] Atmosphere[6] Surface pressure 107Pa (day) 1010 Pa (night)[c] Composition Ar, He, Na, K, H, Rn

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth[d][7] and the fifth largest moon in the Solar System. It is the largest natural satellite of a planet in the Solar System relative to the size of its primary,[e] having 27% the diameter and 60% the density of Earth, resulting in 181 its mass. Among satellites with known densities, the Moon is the second densest, after Io, a satellite of Jupiter.

The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, always showing the same face with its near side marked by dark volcanic maria that fill between the bright ancient crustal highlands and the prominent impact craters. It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, although its surface is actually dark, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its prominence in the sky and its regular cycle of phases have, since ancient times, made the Moon an important cultural influence on language, calendars, art and mythology. The Moon's gravitational influence produces the ocean tides and the minute lengthening of the day. The Moon's current orbital distance, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth, causes it to appear almost the same size in the sky as the Sun, allowing it to cover the Sun nearly precisely in total solar eclipses. This matching of apparent visual size is a coincidence. The Moon's linear distance from the Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.820.07cm per year, but this rate is not constant.[8]

The Moon is thought to have formed nearly 4.5 billion years ago, not long after the Earth. Although there have been several hypotheses for its origin in the past, the current most widely accepted explanation is that the Moon formed from the debris left over after a giant impact between Earth and a Mars-sized body.

The Moon is the only celestial body other than Earth on which humans have set foot. The Soviet Union's Luna programme was the first to reach the Moon with unmanned spacecraft in 1959; the United States' NASA Apollo program achieved the only manned missions to date, beginning with the first manned lunar orbiting mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned lunar landings between 1969 and 1972, with the first being Apollo 11. These missions returned over 380kg of lunar rocks, which have been used to develop a geological understanding of the Moon's origins, the formation of its internal structure, and its subsequent history.

After the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the Moon has been visited only by unmanned spacecraft. Of these, orbital missions have dominated: Since 2004, Japan, China, India, the United States, and the European Space Agency have each sent lunar orbiters, which have contributed to confirming the discovery of lunar water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the poles and bound into the lunar regolith. The post-Apollo era has also seen two rover missions: the final Soviet Lunokhod mission in 1973, and China's ongoing Chang'e 3 mission, which deployed its Yutu rover on 14 December 2013.

Future manned missions to the Moon have been planned, including government as well as privately funded efforts. The Moon remains, under the Outer Space Treaty, free to all nations to explore for peaceful purposes.

The English proper name for Earth's natural satellite is "the Moon".[9][10] The noun moon derives from moone (around 1380), which developed from mone (1135), which derives from Old English mna (dating from before 725), which, like all Germanic language cognates, ultimately stems from Proto-Germanic *mnn.[11]

The principal modern English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar, derived from the Latin Luna. Another less common adjective is selenic, derived from the Ancient Greek Selene (), from which the prefix "seleno-" (as in selenography) is derived.[12]

Several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moon's formation 4.527 0.010 billion years ago,[f] some 3050million years after the origin of the Solar System.[13] Recent research presented by Rick Carlson indicates a slightly younger age of between 4.4 and 4.45 billion years.[14][15] These mechanisms included the fission of the Moon from the Earth's crust through centrifugal force[16] (which would require too great an initial spin of the Earth),[17] the gravitational capture of a pre-formed Moon[18] (which would require an unfeasibly extended atmosphere of the Earth to dissipate the energy of the passing Moon),[17] and the co-formation of the Earth and the Moon together in the primordial accretion disk (which does not explain the depletion of metallic iron in the Moon).[17] These hypotheses also cannot account for the high angular momentum of the EarthMoon system.[19]

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Moon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WASHINGTON The Mars One colonization project plans to bring live video of the surface of Mars to Earth via a privately built communications satellite and lander to launch as part of an unmanned mission to the Red Planet in 2018.

"When we land on Mars, we will have the most unique video footage in the solar system," Mars One co-founder and CEO Bas Lansdorp said in a news conference on Dec. 10. "Anyone with Internet access will be able to see what the weather's like on Mars."

Lansdorp said public engagement is a driving force for Mars One, which aims to land humans on the Red Planet by 2025. The Netherlands-based nonprofit has said it plans to finance the settlement mission in part through a reality TV show, for which a live video feed will be crucial. [Photos: How Mars One Wants to Colonize the Red Planet]

- Mars One CEO Bas Lansdorp

For its unmanned mission in 2018, Mars One has partnered with Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd. (SSTL) to develop a concept for the communications satellite, which will be in Mars-synchronous orbit and provide a high-bandwidth link to relay data and live video from the planet's surface.

"Surrey has specialized over the last three decades on changing the economics of space," SSTL executive chairman Sir Martin Sweeting said at the conference. He added, "the commercialization of space exploration is vital in order to bring down costs and schedules and fuel progress."

SSTL has been a pioneer in the small-satellite industry, beginning in the 1970s with its use of commercial off-the-shelf components. The British company, which is owned by the Astrium group, made the first European Galileo lunar satellite, and the Mars One orbiter will be based on technology that started with that system, Sweeting said.

The high radiation levels that will be experienced during the journey to Mars pose a challenge, but SSTL gained experience working in such environments during the development of its moon-studying spacecraft. Sweeting said that in some ways, the Mars orbiter will be easier to operate than lunar orbiters, because the satellite maneuvers for Mars will be a bit simpler.

Mars One has contracted with security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin to develop a mission concept for the lander, which will be based on the design of NASA's Phoenix lander, which found evidence of water ice on Mars. The Mars One lander will be equipped with a digging arm and several demonstration experiments, including a water-extraction experiment, officials said.

Lansdorp and officials at SSTL and Lockheed Martin expressed excitement for the first private mission to Mars.

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Live video from Mars