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Private Enterprise- To mars

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Qoais
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« Reply #60 on: August 22, 2007, 03:07:58 pm »

Well, it stands to reason that if a thing needs fixing, someone will find a way to do it:

Over the past decade, the development of nanomaterials has progressed rapidly toward their eventual use in products ranging from solar cells to medicines. However, tests of possible toxic effects of these substances on human health and the environment have been slow to get under way. Recently, an experiment raised concern about the soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecules commonly known as buckyballs. Now, other chemists confirm that finding and report an innovation that might disarm potentially toxic buckyballs.

To preempt the same kind of public backlash that genetically modified crops have received, governments and industry are starting to look at nanomaterial toxicity more closely, says Kristen Kulinowski, executive director of Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology in Houston. "Over the last year and a half, there's been an enormous upswell in interest and funding for research into the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials," she says.

The subcellular size of these materials endows them with valuable properties but could also permit them to interact with living cells in unanticipated, potentially hazardous ways. For instance, this year, researchers found that buckyballs can damage fish brain cells by disrupting their membranes (SN: 4/3/04, p. 211: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040403/fob1.asp).

To see whether the same effect occurs in human cells, a group of researchers led by Rice University chemist Vicki Colvin exposed lab-grown human liver and skin cells for 48 hours to solutions containing varying concentrations of buckyballs. The team found that a dilute solution—20 parts per billion—could kill half the cells.

"This study really validates our findings," says Eva Oberdörster at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who conducted the buckyball-toxicity studies in fish.

The Rice researchers extended their experiment by adorning the carbon spheres with simple chemicals, for example, hydroxyl or carboxyl groups. They found that the more decorated the buckyballs, the less toxic they became. In fact, for those buckyballs with the largest number of chemical groups, the concentration needed to kill half the cells was more than 10 million times that required with naked buckyballs.

The Rice team's findings will appear in the Oct. 13 Nano Letters.

The researchers offer a possible explanation for the drop in toxicity. Naked buckyballs aggregate in solution, they note. Those clumpings generate reactive chemicals known as free radicals, which can attack cell membranes. Chemically coated buckyballs didn't clump, and the researchers detected no free radicals in solutions of those molecules.

Further analyses revealed that aggregates of naked buckyballs didn't harm DNA inside the cells, reducing the likelihood that these nanomaterials could be carcinogenic, says team member Christie Sayes.

The buckyball coatings in the Rice experiment might not decrease toxicity in all situations, Oberdörster notes. In the environment, for example, ultraviolet light from the sun might break off the hydroxyl groups, rendering the spheres toxic again. On the other hand, in the body, the coated buckyballs might remain intact and safely serve as drug-delivery vehicles.

The Rice team plans to test the potential toxicity of other nanoscale materials, such as the titanium dioxide nanoparticles that are used in cosmetics and sunscreens, and to investigate whether their toxicity is affected by size and shape.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20041002/fob1.asp

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Qoais
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« Reply #61 on: August 22, 2007, 03:19:10 pm »

To get us our supply of product, we could commission "crystal farms" and grow the fullerene crystals Grin  Make the rocky ground a profitable enterprise!



Wikipedia has a good article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerene
« Last Edit: August 22, 2007, 03:22:00 pm by Qoais » Report Spam   Logged

An open-minded view of the past allows for an unprejudiced glimpse into the future.

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HereForNow
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« Reply #62 on: August 22, 2007, 04:00:14 pm »

Nice! Very, very Nice! Now, for my contribution to the thought.

Tobias Hertel, Robert Walkup, Richard Martel and Phaedon Avouris at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center found that van der Waals forces -- attractive forces among atoms and molecules -- hold Nanotubes firmly against the surfaces they are placed on. Thus the researchers were able to change the Nanotubes' positions and orientations, and to alter their shape, by bending them. They distorted the Nanotubes in various ways using calibrated AFM forces; the strong interaction with the surface then stabilized the distorted Nanotubes. By applying particularly large forces, the researchers were able to cut the Nanotubes. For that to happen, however, the Nanotubes had to be anchored to the surface more firmly than normal, by means of chemical bonds rather than the physical van der Waals forces.

These studies led to the important conclusion that the van der Waals interaction between the Nanotubes and the surfaces on which they rest is itself strong enough to change the shape of Nanotubes. In general, they tend to adapt to the shape of the surface on which they sit by bending and becoming slightly squashed. Those changes can cause the properties of Nanotubes on surfaces to differ from those of perfect Nanotubes, which are straight and have circular cross-sections. This raises the possibility of tailoring Nanotubes' properties by intentionally changing their shapes.

 IBM researchers using an atomic force microscope (AFM), an instrument whose tip can apply accurately measured forces to atoms and molecules, have recently devised a means of changing a nanotube's position, shape and orientation, as well as cutting it.

http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/news.20010425_Carbon_Nanotubes.html
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Qoais
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« Reply #63 on: August 22, 2007, 05:26:59 pm »

Unlike traditional solar cells, which are made from purified silicon, these cells are made from organic compounds: carbon nanotubes and carbon fullerenes (also known as buckyballs).

Here's how it works. The nanotubes are arranged with the buckyballs in a structure where they compliment each other. When photons of light strike this material, electrons are produced and captured by the buckyballs. The nanotubes act like wires, to extract the electrons, and allow the buckyballs to capture more. Connect it all together and you've got a power source.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/07/print-buckyball.html
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« Reply #64 on: August 22, 2007, 08:58:00 pm »

As cosmic material strikes the outer hull of the station, thus power is produced.
And there you have it folks..... Can we build a business plan based on this?
 Wink

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« Reply #65 on: August 22, 2007, 09:32:45 pm »

I was actually thinking of "solar power" for heat and light and possibly electricity.  Cosmic material striking the outer hull would be repelled by the nanotubes that are 900 times stronger than diamonds. Grin

A business plan in what area?  One where we get people to donate to science so the kinks can be worked out?  Or one that finances the crystal farms?  Or one that invests in making the graphite sheets?  Or one that invests in miniature robot production?  Or.........what?

I think we should get investors to finance a space probe to Iapetus so we can see how it was constructed and use it as a blueprint Grin
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« Reply #66 on: August 22, 2007, 09:54:19 pm »

How about anything that isn't wishful thinking or dreaming.

 Smiley

Then again, thats how things become realities...
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DDDnD3D
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« Reply #67 on: August 23, 2007, 02:20:07 am »

*** Yeah a mission to IAPETUS and ALPHA. Possible Constructs ? Lets Check Em Out? Lets bring an Asteroid into Orbit around Earth . . . mine it . . . hollow it out . . . build on it ? Why do we have to lift any material off the earth to build in Space when the material is already out there floating around? You need A Foundation To Build On ! Nanotubes [composites of plastic ] dont create a Foundation. Its like the skeleton of your house . . . the studs . . . the wiring and plumbing ! But Nanotubes are not the building material? Stone is the Foundation of all Spacecraft from the Past to Eternity ! For in Space Weight is irrelevant and only helps to create its own gravitational field and eventual propulsion systym out of this systym !       ***nD3*   c.
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HereForNow
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« Reply #68 on: August 23, 2007, 09:30:11 am »

*** Yeah a mission to IAPETUS and ALPHA. Possible Constructs ? Lets Check Em Out? Lets bring an Asteroid into Orbit around Earth . . . mine it . . . hollow it out . . . build on it ? Why do we have to lift any material off the earth to build in Space when the material is already out there floating around? You need A Foundation To Build On ! Nanotubes [composites of plastic ] dont create a Foundation. Its like the skeleton of your house . . . the studs . . . the wiring and plumbing ! But Nanotubes are not the building material? Stone is the Foundation of all Spacecraft from the Past to Eternity ! For in Space Weight is irrelevant and only helps to create its own gravitational field and eventual propulsion systym out of this systym !       ***nD3*   c.

My only concern would be an accidental collision with the moon or planet Earth.
What would happen if we made a mistake?
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« Reply #69 on: August 23, 2007, 10:11:56 am »

 Smiley  QUOTE FROM QOAIS:

Quote
Cosmic material striking the outer hull would be repelled by the nanotubes that are 900 times stronger than diamonds.


Actually I think the way the physics of this would work in this manner:

No matter how dense and how hard the material on the surface was, the force of any impact would be transferred to the space station.  Although the asteroid or meteor strike would not penetrate the surface protected by the nanotube buckyballs, the impact would send the space flying like a billiard ball struck by the cue ball, LOL.   The impact would also cause an incredible amount of heat that could possibly vaporize even buckyballs, (how heat resistant they are, I’m not aware of.)

Large asteroid and meteor strikes on earth melt the solid rock hundreds of feet below the ground.  It’s only the shear amount of material in the earth’s crust that protects the integrity of the structure of the planet.  Our space station might be better protected by something soft and impact absorbent. 

ANOTHER QUOTE FROM QOAIS:

Quote
Why do we have to lift any material off the earth to build in Space when the material is already out there floating around?


Now it seems to me that this was what I originally suggested, LOL.  No?  In outer space it really doesn’t take much energy to send “weightless” space debris flying off to where every you want it to go.  Stopping it is more of the challenge in space, LOL. 

What we really need is some sort of technology that “eats” raw space debris and “chemically’ reforms the material into a defined structure.  Kind of like the way “Jorel’s crystal” reformed the artic water into Superman’s “Fortress of Solitude” in the 1st Superman the Movie with Christopher Reeves, (if you’ve seen it).   Cool


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HereForNow
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« Reply #70 on: August 23, 2007, 10:43:55 am »

After doing a little bit of rethinking on this, it seems that several systems of extracting material and energy should be put into place. First, how could we make the skin able to absorb the raw materials/energies?
Next; How can it be made to extract what we need?

I keep seeing this image of a large buckyball shape, inside of still an even larger that is in the largest one.
Materials small enough to pass through and be caught by collectors would be processed and refined.
Other things to large to pass, an on board super computer able to evade or destroy if need be to make it small enough to bounce right off, and even absorbed. I think anything that would be capable of cause serious damage should be trackable and avoidable/shootable. Our computer power will have to be superior to what they use for on-board computers now. We need something that will not only be able to see everything from blue to red. We would need a guidence system that would interact with evasive manuvering. Q has already provided many insightful things to ponder about how bucky balls work. With that in mind, our most outer giant flying bucky ball would have to be used for protection and sensitivity. Perhaps the next one should be absorbent and conductive, and the inner most one should be designed for the soul purpose of protecting human/other life. The entire structure could be a self-sustaining mechanism designed to be the final say in space station technology. The rotation of the station would create a sentrifical force that would act as a kind of artificial gravity combined with the mass of the object ofcourse.

A Robotic nursing mechanism that ressembles robotic spiders could be used to make any upgrades or repairs all over the station automatically by detecting damage that might occur. Even big holes could be repaired with a webbing of layered cables that will be made from nanowires.

Now, let's shoot it full of holes and see what we end up with.


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« Reply #71 on: August 23, 2007, 11:23:40 am »

With rotation in mind, what system can we put into place for propultion?
 Smiley

I'm guessing that we might be without gravity only temporially until we might to our desired speed.
Volitzer? Any ideas?
« Last Edit: August 23, 2007, 11:25:40 am by HereForNow » Report Spam   Logged

HereForNow
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« Reply #72 on: August 23, 2007, 12:31:50 pm »

Then again, maybe the inner most portion of the station would need to rotate.
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HereForNow
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« Reply #73 on: August 23, 2007, 12:38:21 pm »

I was actually thinking of "solar power" for heat and light and possibly electricity.  Cosmic material striking the outer hull would be repelled by the nanotubes that are 900 times stronger than diamonds. Grin

A business plan in what area?  One where we get people to donate to science so the kinks can be worked out?  Or one that finances the crystal farms?  Or one that invests in making the graphite sheets?  Or one that invests in miniature robot production?  Or.........what?

I think we should get investors to finance a space probe to Iapetus so we can see how it was constructed and use it as a blueprint Grin


Maybe one of these needed systems for the space station, and a business plan to fund the needed research and developement could be up to several teams of people that want to make the maiden voyage.
Each using a proposed business plan that involves needed materials, and taking on the responsibility for networking with the other teams in progressive developements and distribution of funding for any of the businesses showing financial weakening. In hopes that other networking corperations might be interested in investing in to generate greater overall capital. Assets+Liabilities=Owner Equity/Capital.

 
« Last Edit: August 23, 2007, 12:45:27 pm by HereForNow » Report Spam   Logged

Volitzer
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« Reply #74 on: August 23, 2007, 01:08:45 pm »

Inside stator.

Outside (equator) rotor.

 Smiley
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