ACEIZE Tracking the current state of Science and Technology

In this delightful TED talk, James Kunstler lays out a strong argument against the urban and suburban planning of post World War II America. He goes on to make a few recommendations for improving the use of urban space in America. Improvements which, he says, are necessary in the face of current global uncertainties.

This is a great presentation, a must watch.

A sheet of carbon nanotubes is heated to produce the mirage like effect seen in the video. This work is being done by Ali Aliev of the University of Texas. I wonder what, exactly, is meant by 'sheets of carbon nanotubes'. Is it 'strands', or actual sheets. Incidentally someone has made 3ft by 6ft (~1m x 3m) sheets from carbon nanotubes.

Following the announcement of apparently faster than light neutrinos from CERN, eyes have turned towards one of the two labs in the world which can recreate the neutrino experiment, Fermi Lab outside of Chicago. It turns out that they are about to shut down the resident atom smasher, the Tevatron.

A rocket costs about $50 million. The fuel for a single launch costs about $200,000. A great way to save money is to keep the rocket after each launch. People realized this a while ago. The space shuttle was an attempt to move in the direction of reusable space craft. Now Space X is making some noise on the reusable craft scene. They recently announced that they will start attempting to develop a reusable launch platform.

Their announcement comes complete with an animation that is impressive for it's technological vision and the quality of animation itself.

Forty-nine years ago, on Sept 12, 1962, John F. Kennedy spoke at Rice University giving us the bold words, 'We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things; not because they are easy, but because they are hard.'

In this same speech he also said, '‎This country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward.'

This is the full speech, take 17 minutes of your day to be inspired.

From MIT's Lincoln Laboratory comes a new drug called DRACO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers). Apparently DRACO is able to successfully treat 'nearly any viral infection'. This is accomplished because DRACO targets cells which have a type of RNA (double stranded RNA, dsRNA) which is only found in cells infected with a virus.

To date this anti-viral drug has been tested to be successful against 15 different types of viruses.

Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) has been a dream of science fiction fans for decades. The idea goes back at least to 1941 when Issac Asimov described a SBSP system in the book Reason¹. The first related patent was awarded to Dr. Peter Glaser in 1973 for microwave transmission of power². During the 1970's the L5 society and others championed the cause of SBSP with seductive images of toroidal geosynchronous colonies providing enough electricity for the entire planet. In 2007 the National Security Space Office (NSSO) published a report which investigated the architectural feasibility of SBSP. They concluded that there was a need for both national energy security and battlefield preparedness, and that work on demonstrating key technologies should proceed immediately.

This slideshow presentation gives some compelling reasons why we should aim to return to the moon. Namely exploration and science. Shackleford's exploration of Antarctica gets some attention, especially in terms of the unexpected scientific advances that the exploration provoked. Also, this is a well put together group of slides -- these are not your typical bullet point list of 'talking points' that end up being the only existing notes for the speech. These look like real talking points.

SpaceX, Elon Musk's launch company has developed a rocket called the 'Falcon Heavy'. It can deliver a payload of 53,000kg (117,000 lbs) to low earth orbit. This is twice the payload of the retiring space shuttle. The total cost for a 2013 launch is $80-125 million, or $1509 - $2358 per kg ($683 - 1068 per lb). This represents a significant reduction in launch costs from 2007 when a study by The Tauri Group found that the average launch cost was $21,000/kg.

While poking through Educated Earth I saw the video presentation from Shimizu Construction. They have a 'dream project' wherein they would build a ring of solar panels around the moon. This ring of solar panels would then beam the electricity back to earth using lasers and microwave beams.

Upon visiting their website, I notice that they also have a number of other 'dream projects'. These include floating pyramid cities, space hotels, and a desert 'aqua net' (lakes in the desert).

Fantastic! I want to have a few glasses of saki with these guys.

I have recently been digging into the concept of Space Based Solar Power. After a little bit of reading on the subject, I put together a quick graphic outlining the major pieces of infrastructure that would be needed or infrastructure that would need to be improved in order to make SBSP a long term reality. It seems that test systems can be constructed with much less infrastructure, but in the long term space infrastructure may start to look at little more like this graphic.

Here's a nice piece from the folks at Top Gear, the TV show from Britain. They drive the buggy around, and even get to try on the space suits which double as an exit hatch. There's even a nice bit of nostalgia about watching the first people tool around on the moon in the 60's.

From what I can gather, a gent named Brian McConnell put together this neat idea for a water powered space craft. The craft would be propelled with Electrothermal engines. These engines would be powered by large solar panels on the craft. The engines will then super heat water and vent the vapor into space in order to produce thrust. The Electrothermal engines are said to be very efficient.

Obviously, this would require a lot of water. The craft itself, however, is designed like a giant water tank. There are several habitable modules on the craft, and they are all surrounded by water. This would provide the inhabitants with some protection against radiation. It would also provide them with plenty of water for drinking and showers.

One trouble with this idea is getting the massive amounts of water needed into space. The article claims that water could be mined from the moon or mars in order to make this happen.