Concerning a way to pay for an Unconditional Basic Income that grows instead of fails or remains just enough to relieve severe poverty:
A Basic Income project was announced at Transhumanity.net on November 24, 2014.(1) The approach described involves a practical way of enlarging the space economy so as to create ongoing revenue for eliminating global poverty.
We no longer live in the technological era reflected in today’s space missions. This is critically important to realize because it empowers socially-responsible people to recognize that we can use technology ethically to end suffering and rehabilitate our planet, and do so by systemically growing profits in very large markets for that purpose. A handful of companies recognize the potential and are positioned to earn staggering, unprecedented wealth. As explained below, the same can be done by a socially-responsible team acting for the good of humankind as a whole.
The method explained at Transhumanity.net is feasible for the following reasons:
The project does not require huge space budgets like those we are used to seeing with NASA’s Space Program and others.
NASA budgets have been continually slashed to the point that NASA relies on private ventures to help develop space.
There is no longer any barrier to preventing the private sector from working to develop space. Legislation has been enacted allowing for property rights ownership of resources exploited from space, and some companies are investing in automated space mining with the expectation of unprecedented wealth.
Today’s space computing and other electronics have not led to profitable space development. They do not perform well enough in the ionizing radiation and temperature extremes of outer space. This project instead involves highly-advanced electronics and computing (based on diamond microcircuitry film – DMF) that, owing to the properties of diamond, will readily tolerate very harsh space conditions.
Conventional radiation-hardened space computing can tolerate space conditions to a certain extent. But it sacrifices intelligence for the radiation-hardening process itself. As such, space computing operates at the level of primitive Earth computers, and this does not provide enough AI to allow robotics to perform tasks as well as industrial robots do on Earth. But this changes dramatically with DMF because diamond is naturally radiation hardened (and so is very ionizing radiation tolerant) – and DMF can bring highly-advanced light-based computing to space development missions.
Because DMF tolerates both hot and cold temperature extremes, it allows for miniaturized electronics (robotics, computing, etc.) that do not require the bulky heating and cooling systems that make payloads large and expensive to launch. No dangerous nuclear reactors (that can come crashing to Earth during those all-too-frequent launch failures) are necessary for solving the problem, either.
A great many types of optical and electronics devices can be made from DMF. DMF can also be used to radiation-shield devices that cannot be made with DMF.
Synthetic diamond film (from which DMF is made) has dramatically reduced in price over the decades – to the point of no longer being an expensive material.
The project initially concentrates on profitable space ventures (several are listed below), rather than on sending people into space – the latter of which is extraordinarily costly and unprofitable.
The project uses small devices and indigenous space materials to robotically build space facilities and otherwise perform work in space. This means relatively little material must be launched from the Earth, which greatly minimizes costs (no heavy-launch rockets are required).
The project utilizes the GEO-DMF System (geopolymerization + DMF + appropriate power sources for given space environments). That is, in addition to space-tolerant DMF electronics, it uses the rock-making chemistry of geopolymerization. This chemistry enables the robotic production of solid rock blocks at space destinations. DMF robotics pour specific minerals (which are available in great quantities on the Moon, Mars, the Earth, etc.) into molds, and the molded materials cure into solid rock. As such, using indigenous mineral resources, sturdy protective structures (needed for large manufacturing plants or drilling and mining in the low- and near-vacuum of space and low gravity conditions, etc.) can be constructed by molding solid rock blocks in place at various space destinations. Earth industries (notably Rio Tinto mining) already utilize totally automated mining systems, and the same can be done in space when using highly space-tolerant computing, robotics and other electronics.
Because the water used in the rock-making process becomes chemically bound in the cured stone, it will not freeze even close to absolute zero (which is -459.67 °F). Freezing and thawing cycles cause cracking and decomposition in Portland cement concretes (of which most of today’s Earth buildings and infrastructure are made) and many other structural materials, making them unsuitable for space construction.
Space-tolerant DMF computing and other DMF electronics automates and otherwise brings the sturdy space structures to functionality, so that mining can be carried out, and they become equipped to automate the manufacture of next-generation products in low gravity that cannot be made on Earth, etc. DMF robotics also maintain and gradually enlarge and connect structures, and build needed infrastructure (roads, landing pads, etc.), according to engineering instructions.
Earth markets using the GEO-DMF System (large potential markets are listed below) can pay for the space program in advance and also begin to generate money to help eliminate severe poverty prior to significant space development.
When the space project progresses to the point of manufacturing DMF at space facilities (using the carbon on Mars, the Moon, etc.), DMF robotics will be building DMF robots in space, which will build more DMF robots in space and so on. At that point, space development becomes exponential, and when it does it can return increasingly more profits to the Earth.
As is further explained below, GEO-DMF System projects (on Earth and in space) have the potential to generate enough income to support universal basic income.
In sum, without expensive manned missions or heavy-launch vehicles, and by using highly-intelligent, more dexterous space-tolerant robotics, and indigenous building materials that require no heavy lifting or heavy machinery for construction projects, a space program can concentrate on building a multiplicity of industries designed to enlarge the space economy so as to increasingly bring more wealth to our planet. The enduring system can also continue working in space, to gradually customize our solar system, and set up infrastructure, architecture, and technological complexes that allow humans to safely expand into space. But there is an initial emphasis on these fundamental factors, a) building Earth markets for space program sponsorship and helping to relieve extreme global poverty, b) concentrating on automated near-Earth space mining to bring back the most amount of wealth possible in the shortest amount of time, and c) prioritizing exponential robotic growth in space so as to provide for growing space industries that result in increasingly higher basic income.
Enlarging the Space Economy:
The idea is to greatly enlarge the space economy to provide for everyone who needs income on our planet. The program can work to help relieve severe poverty more immediately, depending upon how soon and how much profits can be earned from GEO-DMF System applications on Earth. As space and Earth industries grow, more income becomes available for distribution. Space development will become exponential when DMF robotics can be manufactured in space, primarily with carbon from the Moon, Mars, or elsewhere in space. So, exponential growth is a high priority. It is encouraging that diamond has long been made with devices as small as a washing machine.(2) The smaller the payload the smaller the launch costs.
The Technological Promise of the GEO-DMF System:
DMF can be used to make small, enclosed automated devices (such as desktop-sized factories) to perform specific tasks on other worlds. Whereas, the GEO-DMF System provides for automated architecture and infrastructure that forms a foundation for operating other emerging and existing technologies needed to facilitate very extensive space development.
Building Space Architecture with Indigenous Space Materials: One of the aspects of the GEO-DMF System that makes it practical is that, as I show (using NASA mineral mapping surveys) in my book ‘Moon Base and Beyond,’ the Moon, Mars and other solid celestial bodies in our solar system have all the materials needed to geopolymerically construct solid-rock facilities possessing such high-strength, mass, solidity, freeze-thaw resistance and endurance that they can be highly-protective and virtually permanent. We no longer have to visualize risky, isolated inflatable dwellings on the Moon or Mars, or complexes built of trailer-like tin cans. We can instead envision giant megalithic structures as enduring as the Great Pyramid, which required no steel reinforcement to construct and has survived for 4,500 years – despite severe earthquakes, including the one that devastated nearby Cairo in the Middle Ages. We can imagine large, automated structures that serve as space factories that produce valuable, unique products that cannot be made on Earth and conduct experiments that cannot be performed in Earth gravity.
Besides, unlike the manufacture of other synthetic rock equivalent to those found in nature (certain artificial gemstones), geopolymerization requires no high heat or high pressure to produce. Yet, once cured, geopolymerized rocks are equivalent to over 55% of the silicate rock that forms the Earth’s crust.(3) So, megalithic structures (that provide protection from cosmic radiation and small space rocks, etc.) can be robotically made by casting blocks in place (block by block). DMF-based robotics pour rock-making ingredients into molds, and reuse the molds to make more blocks as soon as the previously-made blocks cure. Robots stand on a finished tier, and move empty molds (taken from finished blocks) to that tier and continue to pour rock-making ingredients into molds and so on. Enormous stone blocks can be form-fitted and interlocking, and large blocks require no cement between them to hold them in place. Owing to the strength and other engineering properties of geopolymers, individual blocks can weigh 500 tons or more. With this kind of building system (resulting in molecularly-bonded rock), no shifting or moving of multi-ton building units is necessary at all when constructing rock structures hundreds of feet high.
In basic ways, this construction method is no more difficult than performing tasks already accomplished on the Moon (like scooping up and containing Moon rocks and regolith, moving things around, etc.). All of this means that permanent megalithic structures, built of monoliths of great size and strength, can be constructed – without heavy lifting or heavy equipment or metal reinforcements — on the Moon, Mars and key asteroids, etc. with indigenous space materials. The critical mission equipment required translates into very little transportation from the Earth to build fundamental rock structures at space destinations.
Only the first starter Moon Base prototype (for testing the GEO-DMF System on another world, i.e., after it has been tested in an Earth isolation chamber) will be built with transported materials – and even this phase does not require an expensive heavy launch rocket. Once a 10- to 60-ton initial prototype Moon Base is robotically built (requiring a few lunar days and mostly using lunar regolith) and running (electronically enabled to spot and warn us of wayward asteroids that cannot be seen from our vantage points on Earth, etc.), DMF robotics are left behind to continually work with indigenous lunar materials and the critical mission equipment they are provided with (molds, scoops, a small rover(s), containers, a power source like solar panels, communications equipment, etc.) as they interact with construction engineers on Earth to meet design requirements.
One potentially ideal situation is a large northern rim of Peary crater (close to the lunar north pole), because it receives near-constant sunlight.(4) Solar arrays mounted there simplify continual construction work, and minimize payload size, by eliminating the need for an energy storage system that functions during bleak lunar nights (which last just short of 15 Earth days and cool down to -387 °F ). Peary crater is otherwise exceptional because its southern floor is perpetually shaded from the Sun, and this produces a cold trap that affords the opportunity to eventually set up technologies running on superconductivity. Peary crater also appears to have water ice in its secondary craters.(5) Shackleton crater, at the Moon’s south pole, also almost continually receives sunlight and is believed to contain water ice. Its interior is perpetually in shadow and so can function as a cold trap, too.(6)
Automating Space Structures: Robotically-built rock constructions are brought to functionality by ultra-smart, highly space-tolerant DMF robotics, which automate, maintain, and gradually enlarge and connect space facilities they construct. The Moon is very rocky almost everywhere, and so the same robotics will work to smooth out paths (to simplify vehicle transport) that connect mineral sources and water ice (which they must also melt and contain) for construction and other purposes. Unlike today’s Martian robots that take a month to perform a task a human can do in an hour, ultrafast light-based DMF computing intelligence can be built into DMF robotics – either as straightforward optical computing or optical quantum computing. Electron-based computing, or all three types mentioned here, can also be built into DMF. Highly-intelligent, more wholly robotic devices will work much faster and with much more dexterity and speed.(7)
Diamond’s Technological Sparkle:
Many conditions cause conventional electronics to fail, including excess current, ionizing radiation (from direct hits by solar flares and coronal mass ejections, etc.), mechanical impact, excess heat or cold, etc. So, it is not surprising that conventional electronics fail in space. Such failures can shut projects down or prove fatal when humans are aboard a spacecraft or in another space environment wholly dependent on working electronics.
Ionizing Radiation: Diamond has a high tolerance for ionizing radiation. Radiation-hardened technologies in spacecraft tolerate more than 100 megarads.(8) Whereas, diamond and other gemstones are known for much higher radiation tolerances. Diamonds take exposures of up to 8000 megarads during color enhancement treatments.(9) The gemstone will tolerate a tremendous amount of high-energy particle radiation of various types, too. Diamonds are subjected to neutron bombardment in nuclear reactors.(10) During color enhancement, diamonds are subjected to proton bombardment in cyclotrons.(11) Diamonds are exposed to highly-accelerated deuteron and alpha-particles by cyclotrons.(12)
These very high-energy processes are what it takes to knock carbon atoms out of place in a diamond’s crystal lattice. Over eons (or if performing much closer to the Sun or Jupiter that conventional electronics can), DMF will eventually turn black from prolonged radiation exposure. Earth’s carbonado diamonds (black diamonds) are blackened from prolonged radiation exposure, and are proven to have originated in deep interstellar space.(13) They formed about four billion years ago through the explosive shock waves emitted by a dying star. This provides a very rough idea of the intense punishment DMF electronics could take in space before becoming inoperable. Diamond machine parts can be made friction-free, too, such as when constructed with smooth, round nanodiamond spheres as a lubricant for joints. Friction-free machine components virtually never wear out, an important prerequisite for economically and continually mining (and in the process gradually taking apart potentially dangerous asteroids so they never hit the Earth), and building extensive space facilities that produce new wealth for our planet.
Software running today’s spacecraft is sometimes corrupted by intense electromagnetic solar radiation.(14) This can result in the complete failure of a spacecraft.(15) Blasts of charged particles from the Sun can cause this to happen to Earth-orbiting satellites by punching down on our atmosphere, leaving satellites more exposed. The Moon and Mars have negligible atmospheres and no magnetosphere to help provide protection. So, there is nothing to protect these celestial bodies from being much more heavily blasted by protons, heavy ions or highly-charged electrons (that create a powerful magnetic field carried by the solar wind out past Mars). The condition can be so severe that we receive less moonlight on Earth – because a great quantity of fine, electrostatic lunar regolith becomes elevated on the Moon. The solar wind also induces pulses of current into the ground on the Moon. Apollo 16 astronauts narrowly missed a harmful solar flare by a week during their trip to the Moon.(16) The X2-class flare was strong enough to wipe out their electronics, and such a failure would have left them stranded to perish.
While conventional electronics are prone to failure from lightning strikes, a diamond wafer one centimeter thick can endure 10 million volts (17) – the voltage of a direct hit from a minor lightning strike. The same voltage will destroy silicon. Diamond tolerates exposures to high electron bombardment by Van de Graaff generators.(18) Diamond is a very efficient material for high frequency devices.(19)
DMF Space Computing: Diamond is increasingly becoming more well-recognized for its computing potential. For example, a 2014 headline reads, “New research shows that a remarkable defect in synthetic diamond produced by chemical vapor deposition allows researchers to measure, witness, and potentially manipulate electrons in a manner that could lead to new “quantum technology” for information processing.”(20)
Whereas, DMF does not depend on defects. Instead, electrons and photons useful for computing can be manipulated as desired. The reason is that a proton beam is used to draw circuitry (graphite channels through which electrons pass) under the surface of diamond film (or any single crystal diamond). The proton beam can also be used to draw graphite boxes, dots or any three-dimensional configurations or designs, and this allows for creating not only graphite electronic circuitry but also light channels (and light boxes, dots or other three-dimensional designs) right inside of the diamond crystal lattice. Light zones (boxes, etc.) are spaces left between the graphite channels drawn. This design flexibility allows for either electrons or photons or both to be guided according to designated patterns. It also allows light to be either reflected or blocked according to design. No metal connectors are required. Designs can be created to serve light-based quantum computing, straightforward light-based computing, electron flow, etc. for advanced space computing able to build in space and automate and maintain constructions. Robotics can be made very capable with this level of intelligence and very dexterous because of massive internal DMF circuitry.
Overcoming the Temperatures Extremes of Outer Space: What has held inexpensive mini-spacecraft launches back are the bulky heating and cooling devices needed to keep conventional electronics temperature stable throughout their mission.(21) We are all familiar with the way conventional electronics can overheat even in normal Earth settings, like computer rooms where equipment is closely configured. On the Moon, sunny places can reach 240 °F. Mars can be as warm as 130 °F in the summer.
But graphite is very radiation tolerant and is known to work in a temperature range from near absolute zero to 6330 °F in an inert atmosphere.(22) In DMF, graphite is protected by diamond, which is even more radiation tolerant. Diamond also tolerates very extreme cold and heat. The bond energy (the energy that holds atoms together by the attraction between negatively-charged electrons and positively charged atomic nuclei) of diamond at freezing and red-hot temperatures are almost alike.(23) Diamond is subjected to temperatures of up to 3,632 °F during color treatment and in other processes.(24) The melting point of diamond is listed at as high as 6,420 °F. But the matter is not so simple as just applying that kind of high heat to diamond. Instead of melting when exposed to such great heat, diamond transforms to liquid graphite. But in order for diamond to undergo this transformation, it must be subjected to great pressure as well as the tremendous heat. Diamond’s great hardness also makes it very difficult to melt. Diamonds can be burned instead of melted, but they do not burn easily. Burning a diamond requires intense heat and oxygen. Prolonged, direct heating with a hydrogen torch and liquid oxygen will cause a small diamond to glow and then burn.
In short, DMF will not freeze, melt or otherwise decompose when working in lunar or Martian environments or when routinely traveling through our solar system and beyond. Diamond also possesses great strength, and different forms of synthetic diamond (crystalline and polycrystalline) can be combined in systems to afford tremendous compressive strength and other ideal properties. Many kinds of miniaturized electronics devices for space development can be made with DMF.
Overview:
All of the above shows that we can realize a boon when launching fleets of miniaturized spacecraft with the advantage of DMF computing, robotics and other electronics. This will allow for asteroids to be surveyed and worked for precious metals (gold, the platinum group, etc.), while at the same time depositing small devices on potentially dangerous asteroids. Even small motorized and/or reflective devices can effectively cause them to gradually veer away from the Earth. Many of the smaller ones can likely be gradually dismantled as they are mined.
Obtaining precious metals from space is imperative. Gold is involved in an increasing number of high-tech products. Platinum is used at some stage of almost every industrial process – and is expected to be exhausted from the Earth’s crust within 20 to 50 years.(25) While we commonly read about running out of oil within about 50 years, without more incoming platinum most industrial products will either become too costly for consumers to afford or else platinum substitutes must not only be found but globally implemented to serve an estimated 9.6 billion people by 2050.(26) If the technologies the modern world depends on become too costly, a much larger segment of the global population will sink into poverty and near-poverty – and modern society as we know it will start to dismantle. Importing precious metals from space does not cause a market crash when industrial uses grow along with supply and demand. Instead, importation from space will grow industries and generate new wealth.
The total estimated metal wealth in a typical carbonaceous asteroid (the most common type) only 0.6 mile in diameter is over a trillion dollars. An example of a more highly-metallic asteroid is 2011 UW158, located out beyond our Moon. It is estimated to contain as much as $5.4 trillion in precious metals alone.(27) This is almost a third of the entire U.S. economy at roughly $18 trillion. We can begin to imagine the kind of wealth that could be brought back to Earth to end poverty and allow everyone to live comfortably and advance educationally so as to be able to creatively contribute to the advancement of society, etc. The reason many asteroids concentrate precious metals is that they are remains of planet cores (that have broken up), where the heaviest metals concentrate. Mining a dozen or so highly metallic asteroids could yield more platinum than could ever be mined or has ever been mined from the Earth’s crust (which contains far less platinum that its core).
We can imagine the placement of desktop-sized DMF manufacturing units at Lagrange Points in space. They will require no fuel to stay in position virtually permanently.(28) Owing to micro gravity, they will be able to produce valuable perfect crystals and/or conduct materials science experimentation that cannot be performed in Earth-gravity conditions. Perfect gems they make can be sold not only for their size and beauty, but such crystals can be used technologically to increase the threshold of artificial vision for understanding our universe. Next generation optical and other products that cannot be made on Earth become possible. In this way, more precision can be achieved for higher performance devices. For example, the roundest gyroscopes and most friction-free ball bearings could be made, allowing for higher performance in devices that depend on these mechanisms.
Because DMF can take present-day electronics and computing to a much more advanced state, and create new applications for science and technology and satisfy growing big data needs, there is a huge and growing potential market for the Earth and space. As such, DMF can be made to earn money to sponsor a space program designated to enriching everyone. ‘Moon Base and Beyond’ provides a sketch of how to industrialize and colonize the Moon, Mars, etc., and customize our solar system with the GEO-DMF System in order to benefit the Earth and its people through many profitable means of space development.
Keys to successful space constructions include working with indigenous materials (to eliminate as much materials transport from the Earth as possible) and with super-smart, space-tolerant robotics that can work around the clock to earn money to pay for their needed critical mission equipment payloads as they work to build, maintain, automate and connect facilities that earn profits to enlarge the space economy for the benefit of everyone – and build protective space facilities and the needed supporting technologies so that by the time people travel to Mars, etc., they will be sustained. This approach greatly minimizes risk to human life during future missions to Mars, etc.
Profits from Near-Earth Industries:
The initial incentive for the U.S. to go to the Moon was compiled in ‘Project Horizon,’ released in 1959 by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and led by aerospace engineer and space architect Wernher von Braun (1912-1977). ‘Project Horizon’ advocated establishing a permanent military presence on the Moon to protect the United States from nuclear attack, among other things.(29) Although the Moon has been largely abandoned as a space priority, we can nevertheless recognize a great many commercial benefits that were not technologically or economically feasible decades ago. Developing industries on the Moon and at other near-Earth space destinations alone, using the GEO-DMF System, can result in the following projects, among others, to enrich humankind:
Lunar gravity manufacturing (deposited as automated desktop-sized facilities at first; but later robotically constructed on the Moon as large-scale facilities).
Lunar mining: The Moon possesses numerous noble gases that are rare on Earth, and both rare and strategic minerals, and has a huge deposit of pink spinel (a gemstone that can be as beautiful as ruby and more so).
Owing to the properties of DMF, energy systems based on superconductivity can be established in the Moon’s ultra-cold double-shaded craters. This requires, among other things, removing some of the graphite from DMF and replacing it with a metal (capable of superconducting) and lowering an area of the crater’s temperature some).(30)
Implementation of cryogenics (in the Moon’s double-shaded craters) for ultra-advanced science and technology. Aside from energy systems based on superconductivity, applications include communications systems, cryogenically-based liquid rocket propulsion, infrared detector sensors, and storing many gases as solids.
Quantum phenomenon testing at a much greater distance than can be done on Earth. This can lead to new technological applications that depend upon quantum physics.
Increased scientific information from solar and Earth studies, needed for understanding aberrant solar activity and how to protect the Earth from it. This could save immeasurable costs and other damages in the future.
Visible-light astronomy and radio astronomy that can far exceed that done on Earth. Even a very small radio telescope deposited at an ideal location on the far side of the Moon would be able to detect radio waves from deep within the universe that would be impossible to detect from the Earth. While astronomy is not usually profitable, lunar-based astronomy will allow for better detection of dangerous and potentially dangerous asteroids from new vantage points – and afford more time for us to act on them as may become necessary. This could save immeasurable costs and prevent us from winding up like the dinosaurs.
Enhanced relativity testing can lead to industrial technology developments. For example, a better understanding of the nature of gravity may allow for artificially creating Earth-like gravity conditions in space environments, which is a critically important factor to maintaining human health in space.
A DMF-based satellite industry that utilizes lunar ground space for orbital placement. In this situation, the Moon itself supplies the stable orbit and prevents many new satellites from ending up as colliding and sometimes dangerous space junk in our upper atmosphere.
Particle physics testing from the Moon will drive more advanced technological innovations.
Nanoparticle production and assembly. Nanoparticles can be made without any need for a cleanroom because geopolymerizing lunar materials will produce silicon dioxide nanospheres that can be used as ink in 3-D printing for lunar applications, etc. Lunar regolith contains nano-sized iron spheres that can be extracted and used for printing and other purposes. These nano-products are useful for lunar industries, including low-gravity manufacturing processes.
The production of automated and self-maintained, rock-solid space real estate and infrastructure of all kinds.
Micro-gravity Lagrange Point manufacturing, etc. Lagrange Point are large areas in our solar system where the gravitational forces of orbiting bodies balance each other out (producing places where gravity is virtually equal in all directions). Desk-top sized microgravity manufacturing plants we place in these points will stay stationary (sometimes almost stationary) without requiring fuel. This feature also makes Lagrange Points ideal for positioning fueling stations, energy factories, relay and observational stations and other types of space facilities. Lagrange points are ideal locations for microgravity manufacturing because of the hard vacuum of space and lack of gravity. When manufacturing products, a miniature DMF factory docked at a Lagrange point would work with negligible gravity compared to the Moon’s gravity. Such a factory could also be made more self-sufficient if designed to capture and utilize passing space dust and debris, which is known to contain both rare and commonly needed materials (including micro-diamonds). Lagrange points are attractively close, too. L1 and L2 are both located about a million miles away from the Earth in opposite directions.
Over 13,000 near-Earth asteroids are cataloged, many of which contain heavy concentrations of precious metals. Smaller meteorites (pieces of broken asteroids) are very close because they orbit the Earth itself.
Even this short list offers a sense of how just near-Earth space development can result in major, sustained income from new industries to continually enrich the Earth and all of its people – and do so robotically starting on a modest space budget and able to continually pay for itself. Sustained basic income is needed to help people establish themselves in their own businesses or chosen careers without taking financially fatal risks. Most people have something creative or even unique to contribute if given a decent upbringing and opportunities.
In addition, orbital mapping surveys show that Mars has all of the indigenous resources needed to robotically build expansive habitation, greenhouses and other industrial complexes. Mars possesses tremendous resources of many kinds. Assuming DMF robots construct using our present and growing knowledge base, Mars can be developed in technologically progressive stages to earn profits and support lengthly human visitations to the red planet, too.
Profits from GEO-DMF System Earth Applications:
Automated Superstructures Built to Last: Today, it is common for roofs to blow off concrete buildings and for houses to blow away or otherwise be ruined by hurricanes. The GEO-DMF System can be used to build architecture that readily withstands these conditions and prevents huge, continued monetary losses in the many billions of dollars. For example, anyone familiar with Coral Castle, in Homestead, Florida, knows that it is made of large stone blocks. They average about 15 tons each, with the largest block at the site weighing 35 tons.(31) In 1992, Coral Castle survived a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane.(32) A Category 5 is the most intense on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.(33) Andrew wreaked an estimated $34 billion in damages throughout its course.(34) Homestead itself was heavily devastated.(35) But the stones at Coral Castle did not even shift.
The remains of Homestead’s concrete buildings, located a short drive from the ocean, are prone to attack from salty ocean air. Salt-laden air causes erosion in Portland cement-based concrete (from which buildings, sidewalks and roads are typically made) beginning within as little as ten years of construction. This will never happen with a geopolymer, which can even be made using saltwater.(36) Geopolymers will also survive the freeze-thaw cycles that badly deteriorate ordinary Portland cement-based concrete in cold climates.
Without any heavy lifting or heavy machinery, geopolymerized rock can be made (using rudimentary mineral materials like various alumino-silicates, rock aggregates, etc.) into architecture that is equally as massive as Coral Castle and much more so. The engineering properties of geopolymers are excellent and have been extensively tested.(37) Geopolymers are not phased by acid rain, either, which is ruining the beautiful historic limestone buildings in Washington, D.C. and causing sinkholes in large areas of the United States that are underpinned by limestone and subjected to acidic waters.(38) Geopolymeric binders can be used to strengthen limestone (and protect it from acidic environments) by converting it into a silicate-based limestone. This additional imperviousness prevents limestone from blackening because of dirt that otherwise becomes embedded, too (historic buildings can be cleaned and surface coated to prevent staining). Extremely hard, tough rock blocks can be made by using very hard, tough aggregates (like diorite or granite debris) as a filler with a geopolymeric binder.
Megalithic geopolymeric stone structures can be made to protect against fire and earthquake damage, too. Because geopolymers are made purely of minerals (including natural rock aggregate fillers), they do not burn or release toxic fumes. When the Fire Research Section of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tested geopolymer composites, they were the only material the FAA had ever tested that did not burn, release smoke or any toxic fumes at all.(39) Thus, billions of dollars in fire damage could be spared. Megalithic constructions made this way will retain the beauty of natural rock because geopolymerization produces silicon dioxide nanospheres that cannot be seen with the naked eye or with an ordinary light microscope. So, natural rock aggregate fillers predominate in appearance.
When equipped with DMF electronics, the superstructures can be automated to varying degrees, and built-in DMF electronics and computing will also be made waterproof. Well-made geopolymers are impervious to water and so is diamond. This means that if a GEO-DMF superstructure is flooded, it will be as good as new when it dries out. When desirable, DMF electronics and computing components (to be developed) can be embedded right into the stone as it is molded and undergoes geopolymeric setting (a type of setting involving mineral polymerization). DMF devices like sensors, etc., can be sheathed between blocks to monitor Earthquake stresses, etc.
Structures like this can monitor and protect vulnerable nuclear weapons storage and security facilities that are undergoing corrosion, oxidation and other detrimental changes.(40) Owing to the many tons of plutonium they house, these decaying facilities must be better maintained and upgraded because they pose an immanent threat to life on Earth. Researchers estimate that plutonium-239 (PU-239) is so noxious that only a pound would be enough to kill everyone on our planet if it were so evenly dispersed in the air that everyone inhaled some.(41) As more and more PU-239 leaks into the environment from nuclear accidents, rundown facilities, and bomb test sites, etc., our risk of ill-health grows. The United States alone stores tens of thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel containing Pu-239 and other highly radioactive materials from the reactor cores of nuclear power plants, and the quantities increase worldwide as nuclear plants continue to operate.
Underwater Stations: Geopolymeric binders set up in a closed mold or underwater. They set via a chemical process and not by drying. Owing to the engineering properties of geopolymerized rock, engineers can create deep underwater observatories (for monitoring the health of oceans and rivers, etc.) that require great strength to tolerate heavy water pressure. DMF can supply the electronics.
The advantages of building architecture that can endure powerful winds, floods, fire, and earthquakes are enormous in terms of saving lives, preventing property damage and social instability, and for saving billions of dollars in annual budgets. Truly sustainable civilizations need at least a certain amount of fundamental, virtually permanent, massive architecture and infrastructure that will help ensure survival and foster extreme longevity.
Big Data and Household Robots: The dream of owning a household robot that eliminates mundane tasks and makes life better in a myriad ways is transforming into the nightmare of lost jobs and killer robots. However, machine learning projects have proven that robots can be taught ethics and always act for the benefit of humans.(42) Robotics have improved in recent years to the point where it no longer takes an hour for a robot to fold a towel.(43) But even sorting and folding laundry requires more intelligence and dexterity than is built into today’s robots. In a very small brain space, DMF computing can provide the needed light-based AI to take household robots to an advanced state. Given the small size of the electrical zones in DMF, electronics can be made to thoroughly saturate machine parts to provide for more robotic dexterity. DMF-based optical computing (straightforward light-based and/or quantum-optical) can be engineered to meet the needs of ever-increasing big data markets, too, and earn profits from these markets.
Protecting Power Grids and Earth-Orbiting Satellites: Owing to the properties of diamond and graphite, DMF is ideal for producing tiny Earth-orbiting satellites that will not malfunction when hit by solar storms. Owing to the properties of diamond and graphite, DMF is also useful for building devices that protect power grids from dangerous, unpredictable solar flares of the magnitude able to knock us back into the eighteenth century or into a prolonged state of social chaos.(44) A 2014 headline from the New York Post dramatizes the danger: “Solar flare nearly destroyed Earth 2 years ago: NASA.”(45) In short, solar threats present good applications for DMF, and tremendous harm could be prevented by marketing DMF to solve these problems.
Moon Base and Beyond Reviews:
Reviews of ‘Moon Base and Beyond,’ which appear in the science journal Space Policy (2013) and at the website Moon Daily, express the great promise of the GEO-DMF System for outer space development:
“Moon Base and Beyond is a valuable resource for any space enthusiast. Morris identifies the need for inexpensive, strong structures, robust computing and robotic construction and automation. She offers a solution to these challenges via the GEO-DMF System. She presents a treasure trove of well-researched applications while covering numerous facets of living in and exploring through space.”
ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Dr. Jason Cassibry is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and affiliated with the Propulsion Research Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. His research involves thermonuclear fusion for interplanetary propulsion. He has advised 14 advanced degree students to completion and co-authored 17 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of advanced propulsion, thermonuclear fusion, and plasma physics.
“A remarkably comprehensive look at technologies that solve space habitat construction, life support, and commercial development problems, and slash the costs of permanently operating in space. The system explained can usher in the much-anticipated, but grievously delayed, era of continuous human presence on the Moon, Mars and elsewhere. Meticulously researched, superbly organized, and absorbing, this work is a real page-turner and highly recommended for space professionals, science fiction enthusiasts, students, and the general public. Most definitely not the ‘same-old-same-old’!”
ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Dr. Albert A Harrison, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis, author of ‘Spacefaring: The Human Dimension’
“A readable, unique work offering many new ideas — a valuable must-read for anyone interested in colonizing extraterrestrial bodies.”
ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Daniel Berleant, PhD, author of “The Human Race to the Future—What Could Happen and What to Do”
“’Moon Base and Beyond’ integrates technologies into a system that may very well constitute the unpredictable wild-card that breaks the long-standing bottleneck that has prevented humankind from permanent, affordable deep space settlements. Morris addresses, in a highly-readable fashion, the disciplines critical to building a permanent lunar habitation and one on Mars and far beyond. Her presentation is unique and powerful enough to re-ignite excitement by the general public in advancing space activities. Her book can strongly inspire students to direct their interests and disciplines to the evolution and survival potentials of modern humankind and its biotechnological descendants.
“I highly recommend ‘Moon Base and Beyond’ as required reading for students pursuing all college and post graduate curricula. It is an excellent, informative, and easy-read for high school, undergraduate and post- graduate students regardless of their specific interests and disciplines of study and research.
“Morris’ Moon Base and Beyond’ is also a marvelous discussion piece for anyone concerned with the increasingly pressing issues of “Wither and Whether Humankind?” A seemingly ancillary issue, but certainly pressingly critical at the moment, is her discussion regarding the strong, positive impact on the global economy that can be gained by a genuinely global space program embracing permanent humankind migration and settlement off-Earth.”
ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Dr. George S. Robinson, LL.B., LL.M., and the first Doctor of Civil Laws in Space Law, served for 25 years as legal counsel for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and worked as an International Relations Specialist for NASA. He is a prolific author with 50 years experience in Space Law, and is by training and practice an evolutionary biologist.
“Now comes Margaret Morris’ Moon Base and Beyond, another mind-blowing volume on humanity’s future beyond Earth.
“Such publications create public awareness about our opportunities off-world and guidance towards achieving permanent lunar installations. Two factors will contribute to our taking advantage of space resources. Apart from China, it is the private sector that will likely provide this leadership aloft, particularly space entrepreneurs. But it is new technologies that will enable us to do this….
“She makes a telling case for how robotically to build automated, virtually permanent megalithic lunar architecture, and how to use the Moon (1) as a laboratory to create new technologies requiring lunar gravity manufacturing and various other systems (profitable and useful for the Moon and elsewhere); and (2) to demonstrate a new model for transforming other celestial bodies.
“Morris is a visionary who forecasts myriad applications of this innovative system aloft – from reducing new space junk (DMF is useful for creating radiation-tolerant small, super-smart satellites) to erecting lunar and Martian greenhouses and much more.”
ABOUT THE REVIEWER: Dr. Philip Robert Harris is a management/space psychologist. He is author/editor of some 53 published books. His Space Enterprise – Living and Working Offworld in the 21st Century was released in 2009. His novel ‘Lunar Pioneers’ was published in 2010.(46)
Satisfying the Most Rudimentary Global Income Needs:
Owing to the potential for very large markets that can yield tremendous new wealth, the approach discussed herein presents a way to end the massive suffering that manifests from poverty and near-poverty, lack of career opportunities, and under-education on our planet. Overcoming these problems can produce a point in history when a myriad of educated people are empowered enough to stop the wars and corruption at the heart of global problems. But dedicated people must be willing to secure this opportunity before it slips away. The GEO-DMF System project absolutely depends on volunteerism.
If people do not take up the cause for the sake of ending poverty and creating asserts to provide for basic income, rich investors will seize the opportunities and become vastly richer from developing space resources, including low-gravity (lunar, etc.) and micro-gravity (Lagrange point) manufacturing, precious and strategic metals and other mining, virtually infinite energy production, space architecture of all kinds (enormous factories, great habitat complexes, vast infrastructure, Martian greenhouses, etc.).
Everyone has already seen the relatively small extent to which the ultra-rich have used their wealth in order to end global poverty. The ultra-rich could pool their resources to build a couple of Google-sized corporations dedicated solely to providing for at least minimal humane relief, but they have not done so. So, it is really up to socially-responsible people to work for everyone’s sake and for the sake of our planet. According to a recent survey by the international confederation Oxfam, “The richest 1 percent is now wealthier than the rest of humanity combined, according to Oxfam, which called on governments to intensify efforts to reduce such inequality.”(47)
The approach to uplifting everyone financially described herein means that if taxation and other methods are resisted to the point of preventing a basic income guarantee from being successful, then creating much more wealth so there is enough to go around can be a way to make the concept a reality for everyone. Even if governments managed to relieve the prevailing global economic crisis by forever banning private central banks and starting to print their own government-issued money (without borrowing – so that there is no interest on the principal), everyone would still benefit from a greatly enlarged space economy established to provide income and end global poverty.
According to a recent estimate: “Currently, it costs $30 billion per year to eradicate global hunger and another $66 billion per year to provide a social safety net to help those in extreme poverty.”(48) Given the increase in population and increased ill-effects of environmental pollution, this estimate is in line with a 2005 estimate of $75 billion a year needed to provide basic health care, sanitation and education to everyone on the planet.(49) These kinds of figures could be realized by an organized effort to develop a new space program for and by the people. In other words, the basic idea here is to use the GEO-DMF System to grow the space economy (and Earth markets) to relieve severe poverty, and increase basic income as new wealth continues to increase.
Progress and Other Events So Far:
Geopolymerized Lunar Regolith Recognized as Valuable for Radiation Shielding: Since ‘Moon Base and Beyond’ began undergoing pre-publication peer review in the past few years, an American team of scientists has picked up on geopolymerizing Moon regolith for building protective structures. Their paper is: “Radioactive Shielding Material for Space Exploration Applications,” by Carlos Montesa, Kaylin Broussarda, Matthew Gongreb, Neven Simicevicb, Johanna Mejiac, Jessica Thamd, Erez Allouchea, and Gabrielle Davisa, published in Advances in Space Research, Volume 56, Issue 6, 15 September 2015, pp. 1212–1221.(50)
I have also been informed by a private, trusted source that a Chinese team (the names of team members have not been disclosed to me) has completed a geopolymer-lunar study that so far remains unpublished. China intends to build a Moon Base.(51) In 2010, China launched its Chang’e-2 probe to the Moon to collect data for a future landing site. In 2015, China deployed its Yutu rover on the Moon.(52)
Indirect Support: Transhumanity.net (originally the brainchild of transhumanist activist Hank Pellissier in 2012) has shown a serious interest, especially in the potential of DMF. In December of 2015, I posted an article at Transhumanity.net titled ‘Becoming the First Transhuman: A Call For The Right Stuff,’ explaining that developing DMF nanobots could speed up achieving the transhuman state.(53) If such a project develops the first DMF computer nanochip, it will automatically pave the way for DMF-based MEMS and larger DMF robotics that can build, mine and manufacture in our solar system and reach for the stars.
In the comments to that article, Transhumanity.net’s David J. Kelley – the Interim Chairperson of the Transhuman National Committee of the United States, expresses his support for DMF development and industrialization: He writes, “a large group of us are ‘doing’ something about this on fb https://www.facebook.com/groups/TNCTP/ working on starting a DC legal PAC to help ‘encourage’ law makers’ to move a more ‘transhuman’ agenda in DC Politics.”(54)
In other words, David Kelley is working to build and engage the Transhumanist Political Action Committee, as a prelude to the formation of a US-based Transhumanitst Political Party that fosters transhumanist goals and promotes technological advancements that can bring about and sustain the transhuman state for those who desire it. To join the Transhuman National Committee, register here: http://members.TranshumanPolitics.com/. Sustaining the transhuman state will also require lasting cities and infrastructure, and a means of sustaining income for all when AI and robotics occupy virtually all jobs and produce inventions, creative works, etc.
Rise in Basic Income Guarantee Discussion and Political Action: Recent years have brought a very positive rise in promoting the concept of a basic income guarantee for all.(55) Overall discussions sharply rose starting in 2013, probably because it has become increasingly evident that robotics and computerization are taking too many jobs and that the list of lost jobs will continue to grow.(56) Robotics can virtually work around the clock, and do so without receiving a salary or benefits or a retirement pension. Assuming the technological development pace continues, it is only a matter of time before mechanical devices will outperform humans on most tasks, including political decision-making and other jobs that require wisdom and/or higher education. The Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies (IEET) think tank has published several articles on Basic Income Guarantee:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/category/C376
IEET also fosters a program with a new video called Preparing for Technological Unemployment, dedicated to ways of correcting and preventing negative social consequences from the growing capabilities of robotics and other mechanical devices:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/polecon
Space Treaties and Upcoming Space Projects:
When writing ‘Moon Base and Beyond,’ I conferred with Dr. George S. Robinson, LL.B., LL.M., who has over 50 years of experience in Space Law and earned the first space law doctorate (Doctor of Civil Laws in Space Law). He served for 25 years as legal counsel for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and worked as an International Relations Specialist for NASA. As George and I discussed, although international space treaties already exist, it now becomes imperative that the public strongly secure the protection of space treaties or they will wind up favoring ownership of all space resources by wealthy investors. The awful reality is that expansive litigation usually wins out in court – despite laws and rights that are supposed to protect people. So, public participation is required in order to prevent international treaties from being interpreted in courts, and thereby legally enforced, in ways that prevent public benefits from space development. Space treaties are presently mostly ignored because developing space for profit has not been strongly realized so far.(57).
In late 2015, President Obama signed the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (CSLCA), which establishes property rights for celestial bodies.(58) Under CSLCA terms, asteroids and other celestial bodies cannot be claimed by any particular country or company. But precious metals and other resources can legally be extracted from them for commercial exploitation. That is, CSLCA recognizes the property rights of U.S. citizens to resources they obtain from space. Asteroid mining alone can result in trillions of dollars in precious metals, enough to transform our world so that starvation and iniquity disappears.
The tiny country of Luxembourg (with a population of about a half million people) announced its plans to support asteroid mining technologies.(59) The company Deep Space Industries, which is partly financed by Larry Page, CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., is among the U.S.-based companies working towards asteroid mining.(60) The Deep Space Industries website expresses bold enthusiasm: “We are Asteroid Miners Creating Wealth and Opportunity from Space Resources. We are Suppliers [-] Air, Water, and Materials to build a New Space economy. We are Prospectors Seeking, Scouting, Evaluating the resources of space. We are: Innovators [-] Technology, Spacecraft and Systems to solve your challenges.” Planetary Resources is another such U.S.-based company, and has already launched a spacecraft to the International Space Station to test asteroid mining technologies.(61)
Given that mining only a few asteroids would yield mineral wealth equivalent to the entire U.S. economy, these companies are positioned to be worth trillions of dollars in perhaps a decade. Enough socially-responsible people willing, this kind of wealth could also collectively belong to the Earth’s people. More than 13,000 near-Earth asteroids are cataloged, many of which contain precious metals including gold and the platinum group. A great many more exist further out in space, especially in the Asteroid Belt. So, even with competition from present and forthcoming companies, there is plenty of wealth to be gained by a citizen’s space program for and by the people.
Conclusion:
There is no longer any reason to think about outer space in the economical and technological frameworks within which space missions operate today. There is no reason to think space development cannot be extraordinarily profitable instead of draining national budgets. A quote from Harry S Truman holds true today, “Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” Conversation on space development radically changes when we introduce ultra-smart DMF robotics and the geopolymerization of indigenous space materials and other utilization of space resources. The discussion turns to matters of planning. The goal ahead can be accomplished by a dedicated group effort. Just as the Internet and search engines grew up rapidly because of human interest and input, society could quickly realize the benefits of an enlarged space economy built for the people by the people.
It is my sincere hope that 2016 will bring grassroots discussions, volunteerism and planning that supports utilizing the GEO-DMF System to build a sustainable future for all of humankind – before the opportunity slips away so that the rich continue to grow richer while most everyone else sinks further into poverty and inequity.
The GEO-DMF System project depends upon volunteerism. It only requires a small fragment of the population to get involved so that everyone benefits.
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What You Can Do:
Most importantly, volunteer: Help brainstorm and organize for everyone’s sake. For more information, contact: Margaret Morris: matmargaretmorrisbooks.com
Share this article with at least one friend, colleague, family member; post it on Facebook, Twitter or your blog or other website, etc. Help popularize the concept. https://payhip.com/b/5IrW
To learn more about DMF, see this article:
Becoming the First Transhuman: A Call For The Right Stuff
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/morris20160117
Margaret Morris
Image credit:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2014/07/29/why-the-us-military-needs-to-control-the-moon-and-space
References:
1. http://transhumanity.net/diamond-based-quantum-computer-poc-project-start/
2. http://news.ufl.edu/archive/1999/08/simply-brilliant-ufrussian-team-makes-gem-quality-diamonds.php
3. Refer to Davidovits, J., GEOPOLYMERS: Inorganic polymeric new materials, presentation at “Real Advances in Materials” Symposium, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 1994, pub. Journal of Materials Education, Vol. 16 (2,3) (1994), 91–138.
4. See: “Sunny spot picked out for future lunar base,” https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7263-sunny-spot-picked-out-for-future-lunar-base/)
5. WATER ICE DETECTED AT SECONDARY CRATERS ON PEARY FLOOR USING MINI-SAR & MINIRF. OPN Calla, Shubhra Mathur, and Monika Jangid, International Center for Radio Science, Ranoji Ka Baag, Nayapura, Mandore, Jodhpur Rajasthan India: http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/sudbury2013/pdf/3008.pdf
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shackleton_(crater)
7. For DMF computing, see these links:
8. http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/cables/coaxialmicrowave/radiation_resistance.html
9. Pollak, Richard D, (pub. date 1992), US Patent 5084909 titled “Method of processing gemstones to enhance their color.”
10. Christopher Nebel, et al., Thin-Film Diamond II: (part of the Semiconductors and Semimetals Series), Academic Press, Amsterdam, etc. (2004), p. 299.
11. Mohsen Manutchehr-Danai, Dictionary of Gems and Gemology, Berlin, Springer (2013), p. 121.
12. Mohsen Manutchehr-Danai, Dictionary of Gems and Gemology, Berlin, Springer (2013), p. 121.
13. Infrared absorption investigations confirm the extraterrestrial origin of carbonado diamonds, by J Garai, SE Haggerty, S Rekhi, M Chance The Astrophysical Journal Letters 653 (2), L153.
14. http://www.advantage77.com/2012/02/03/15-causes-of-hard-disk-corruption/
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/2015/20150526-software-glitch-pauses-ls-test.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
15. http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/tech/se-sat-en.php
16. http://listosaur.com/science-a-technology/10-notable-solar-storms-in-history/
17. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/0401_sciencen.html
18. Società italiana di fisica (A. Paoletti A. Tucciarone, eds.), The Physics of Diamond, IOS Press, Amsterdam, etc. (1997), p. 300.
19. C.M. Li, et al., “An amazing semiconductor choice for high-frequency FET: H-terminated polycrystalline diamond film prepared by DC arc jet CVD,” Physica Status Solidi, Volume 11, Issue 11-12, pp. 1539–1721.
20. https://carnegiescience.edu/news/diamond-defect-boosts-quantum-technology
21. Worden, S. P.; Weston, A. R.. “Small Spacecraft in Support of the Lunar Exploration Program,” LEAG Workshop on Enabling Exploration: The Lunar Outpost and Beyond, held October 1-5, 2007 in Houston, Texas. LPI Contribution No. 1371, p. 3019.
22. Erik Oberg, et al. Machinery’s Handbook 29th Edition, Industrial Press, NY (2012), p. 1399.
23. Robert M. Hazen, The Diamond Makers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1999), p. 32.
24. For diamond tolerating temperature of 3,632°F, see http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/diamonds-made-from-gas-harder-than-the-real-thing.aspx?pageID=438&n=diamonds-made-from-gas-harder-than-the-real-thing-2004-02-27
25. http://www.mining.com/infographic-why-asteroid-mining-is-necessary-88718/
26. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/un-report-world-population-projected-to-reach-9-6-billion-by-2050.html I
27. http://fortune.com/2015/07/20/asteroid-precious-metals/
28. For the Lagrange Points, see Gunter Faure, Teresa M. Mensing, Introduction to Planetary Science: The Geological Perspective. Springer, The Netherlands (2007), pp. 99-100.
29. Wernher von Braun (1959). Project Horizon Volume II: Technical Considerations and Plans, United States Army. p. 307.
30. Morris, M., ‘Moon Base and Beyond,’ (Scribal Arts, 2013), pp. 72-75.
https://payhip.com/b/5IrW
31. http://coralcastle.com/
32. http://www.hurricaneville.com/andrew.html
33. For the hurricane scale, see NOAA National Hurricane Center http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php
34. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew
35. See footage of the wreckage.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAQtTkwpyBM
36. Davidovits, J., “Ancient and Modern Concretes: What is the Real Difference?,” Concrete International: Design and Construction, American Concrete Institute, Detroit, Michigan, Vol. 9, No. 12 (December 1987), 23–28.
37. In general, Davidovits provides the following engineering properties for geopolymers: Specific heat: 900 J/KgK°; Thermal conductivity: 0,7 W/mK°; Coefficient of Thermal Expansion: 7 10–6/°C; Flexural Strength: 35–50 Mpa; Flexural Modulus: 15 Gpa; Compressive Strength: 115–130 Mpa; Shrinkage: 0,1 per cent at 500C. For many free publications on geopolymerization, visit the Geopolymer Institute website: http://www.geopolymer.org/.
38. https://capitolhillscience8.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/acid-rain-and-chemical-weathering-in-washington-d-c/comment-page-1/
39. The carbon fiber reinforced geopolymeric composite tested by the FAA does not ignite, burn or release any smoke even after extended heat flux exposure. Refer to Lyon, R., “Fire Response of Geopolymer Structural Composites,” Report DOT/FAA/ AR–TN95/22, Federal Aviation Administration (January 1996); Foden, A., Balaguru, P.N., Lyon, R., Davidovits, J., “High Temperature Inorganic Resin For Use in Fiber Reinforced Composites,” ICCI’96, Fiber Composites in Infrastructure, Tucson (1996) USA, 166–177; Lyon, R., Sorathia U., Balaguru, P.N., Foden, A, Davidovics, M., Davidovits, J., “Fire Response of Geopolymer Structural Composites,” ICCI’96, Fiber Composites in infrastructure, Tucson (1996) USA, 972–981; Lyon, R, Balaguru, P.N., Foden, A., Sorathia, U., Davidovics, M., Davidovits, J., “Fire–resistant Aluminosilicate Composites,” Fire and Materials, Vol. 21 (1997), 67–73.
40. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nukes-cost-20141109-story.html
41. Tim Janakos, Collected Writings From Soka University of America, Second American Renaissance Press, Escondido, 2011, p. 54.
42. http://www.hartford.edu/news/press-releases/2010/11/press-release1.aspx.
43. http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/19/407736307/robots-are-really-bad-at-folding-towels
44. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/10/29/white-housereleases-action-plan-to-confront-real-and-present-space-weather-threats/
45. http://nypost.com/2014/07/24/solar-flare-nearly-destroyed-earth-two-years-ago-nasa/
46. See reviews of ‘Moon Base and Beyond’ published at these sites:
https://payhip.com/b/5IrW
http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Moon_Base_and_Beyond_999.html
Space Policy, Volume 29, Issue 4, November 2013, pp. 276-277,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02659646/29
47. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-18/richest-1-now-wealthier-than-the-rest-of-the-world-oxfam-says
48. “Currently, it costs $30 billion per year to eradicate global hunger and another $66 billion per year to provide a social safety net to help those in extreme poverty.”(46)
49. The statistic comes from Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg’s 2005 TED talk, “Our priorities for saving the world.” His talk appears online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtbn9zBfJSs. Bjorn Lomborg heads the Copenhagen Consensus, which has prioritized the world’s greatest problems. He cited a United Nations statistic of $75 billion annually. Bjorn Lomborg is the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and was named one of the “50 people who could save the planet” – UK Guardian, 2008.
50. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117715004019
51. http://www.iflscience.com/china-wants-land-moons-far-side-first-time-and-build-lunar-base
52. http://www.space.com/28810-moon-history-chinese-lunar-rover.html
53. See ‘Becoming the First Transhuman: A Call For The Right Stuff’:
54. See ‘Becoming the First Transhuman: A Call For The Right Stuff’:
For Transhuman National Committee of the United States, see these links:
http://www.TranshumanPolitics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TNCTP/
55. https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=universal+income&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=basic+income+guarantee
56. http://www.wired.com/brandlab/2015/04/rise-machines-future-lots-robots-jobs-humans/
57. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_law
58. H.R.2262 – U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2262/text
59. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/03/luxembourgs-asteroid-mining-plan.html
60. https://deepspaceindustries.com/
61. http://www.planetaryresources.com/#home-intro
June 25, 2016 at 7:06 pm
Thank you very much Kate for helping to spread the word. As I said, the “highly-metallic asteroid…2011 UW158, located out beyond our Moon…is estimated to contain as much as $5.4 trillion in precious metals alone.(27) This is almost a third of the entire U.S. economy at roughly $18 trillion. We can begin to imagine the kind of wealth that could be brought back to Earth to end poverty and allow everyone to live comfortably and advance educationally…” But securing such income for the people requires organized volunteerism by the people — or else when it and others like it are mined, it will not likely be for the benefit of the people as a whole. Thank you again very much Kate. — Margaret