Proposal for The Foundation Society

BENEVECTORAS

The first space settlement in cycler orbit

Grumbo AerospaceImperial College London

25th April 2055

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Overall exterior view of the settlement

Docking hub

Exterior covered in solar panels

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The orbital construction point of Benevectoras is lagrangian point 4 (the construction hub of all lagrangian points) due to its many manufacturing operations being carried out there such as:

Spacecraft construction - Needed to build the main infrastructure.

Asteroid Harvesting - The main source of materials.

Materials refining - To purify the mined materials

Orbital location for construction of Benevectoras

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Communication Monitoring Device For constant communication between Benevectoras,

Earth and Mars, a monitoring system will be established based on the primitive feature of logic gates.

If no communication has been made for 7 hours, the emergency device will become activated and will transmit the signals to Earth and Benevectoras.

Satellites will be placed between the orbits and will be covering the Langrangian points.

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Propulsion

NASA’s Ion propulsion system most efficient on fuel consumption and power.

Works by electrically charging, or ionizing, a gas using power from solar panels

Use Xenon gas System emits ionized gas to propel the spacecraft in the

opposite direction. First used in Deep Space 1 (DS1) in 1998

Ours: bigger but lighter with reduced system complexity, extending lifetime & efficiency

Superior to chemical propulsion systems

Use two thrusters in opposed directions, to move/change velocity without ceasing to rotate, (protects gravity).

Thrusters need placement for all the desired directions of movement.

Minimum expectation: two for control rotation rate, and three to control orbital direction.

Water vapour condenses to form clouds

Plants grow on slopes to the side of the city

Central bar

Band of city supported above water

Band of water around equator

Xenon lamps

Docking hub

700 m500 m

700 m

1000 m

2000 m

250 m

Thickness: 5 m

Overview: Settlement LayoutS

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Overview: Settlement LayoutS

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700 m

Network of pipes for water to/from city

Body of salt water underneath city

Water runs through marsh and coral

Filtration system

60 m

Struts supporting city

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Construction processS

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Construction materials We calculated the thickness of the material based on:

– The shielding we needed– The appropriate thickness using the hoop stress

formula for a sphere. Stress = Pressure* Radius

2*ThicknessStress = 60,800,000/thickness

Titanium to be mined from lunar regolith by subcontractor, as it can be 10% TiO2

Refining of titanium oxide to be done on moon by subcontractor

Refined titanium to be launched via mass driver Build into walls with 20cm RFX1 to shield radiation

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Construction materials Infrastructure will be constructed using the

materials from the Earth, Moon, Mars and the Asteroid belt. Material Used Used for

Titanium Matrix Composite

To be used for high tensile strength and the keep the thermal environment stable.

Aluminium Matrix Composite

The material will used due to its property of low density. This makes the metal light yet strong thus good for the purpose of infrastructure.

RXF1 This material will be used to shield the space settlement from the harmful solar flares.

Carbon Nanotubes

This can be used for the protection of debris and for the structural support.

RTV 3145 Adhesive

This can be used for attaching the various layers of the infrastructure to each other.

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Windows (Space view)

Use of windows in not feasible due to radiation levels.

Light will reflected inside using mirrors.

All radiation will be absorbed by RFX1

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Provided by rotation where: g=w2r W=0.01rads-1

Earth Gravity: 1 rotation = 63.4s Gradually, throughout the journey, Earth gravity will decrease

to Mars gravity(1/3 Earth gravity) Mars Gravity: 1 rotation = 110s

Artificial Gravity & RotationS

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Living Requirements

Liveable conditions are 0.21->1.00 atm, it becomes uncomfortable at <0.5atm.

We will have 0.6 atm of pressure so it won’t be uncomfortable but the greater it is, the more expensive it is.

Based on previous closed system experiments, space requirements are 13.2 million m2 of land.

Living spaces in high gravity zones in a band giving each person ~100m2 plot.

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Air Supply• Due to the nature of the biosphere, the settlement will only

have to be filled with air once, as the whole system recycles it continuously.

• The volume of air in the settlement is approximately 3,625,921,521m3, and this volume must be filled in 8 months

• Filled at a rate of 175 m3s-1. • Oxygen drawn from the troposphere, to a geostationary filling

station 300km up. • The filling station will be attached to strengthened rubber-

plastic tubes. One end of each tube will be open to the vacuum of space, with a molecular filter just below.

• The filter will let a percentage of the air out into space, and direct the rest (around 50%) into the station.

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Food production and storage

Fridge spaces: 19,800m3 for 9 months Cupboards space: 79,200m3 for 9 months Total space: 99,000m3 for 9 months

Why soil? Very little effect on the biosphere, little waste compared to

hydroponics Low maintenance Tried and tested in the 1900s. In biosphere 2-8 people, for

two years. From a 2500m2 plot. Wider range of crops can be grown, due to lack of

submersion in water. Multipurpose robot to reduce labour to minimum- 3 robots Residents may roam among idle fields

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Use of interior areas Biosphere is an analogue of Earth Some elements were removed High levels of agriculture based on the Biosphere 2

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Interior Usage Education: One large building (11,750 m2) which serves flexi-

education: primary, secondary and university, further education, trades, professional development, hobbies

•Medical: One large building (20,000 m2) to act as a GP clinic as well as for emergencies

•Entertainment: Number of facilities, including a cinema, music venue, fitness centre within the education building

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Accommodation Single; Couples; Family 2 bed; Family 3 bed

24m2 (6x4m)(bed, en suite, table/desk, storage)

10 single units share 1 kitchen, 1 communal “lounge” area.

Couples Unit: 1 bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, storage and lounge - total 45 m2

Family unit: 2 bedrooms, kitchen, “lounge” and storage - total 65 m2

Family unit: 3 bedrooms, kitchen, “lounge” and storage - total 75m2

(includes small building services area and access panels per unit)

Shwr

Studio bedroom

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Psychological Considerations Education system will help people transitioning from Earth

to their new environment Housing relies on family size factors, viewed as fair

compared to other factors Recreational facilities will greatly help society to transition

into their new home Parks 150,000m2 park with bandstands and an Eden

project style building with plants from Earth to remind residents of Earth.

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Day and night cycle provisions At the centre of our space station we would have a

100MW red lamp that will generate red spectrum light for the plants around the inside surface.

Around the towns, we would install smaller 20MW lamps that emit ‘white’ light to simulate daylight. This will prevent ‘seasonal affective’ disorder in humans.

Heat will be generated by the 100MW red lamp and by photosynthesising plants and respiring organisms. The heat will be conserved by the space station’s insulating.

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Water

Required volume of water = 1km³ Vulture Aviation owns a virtually inexhaustible supply of water

having ‘snagged’ a comet into L5 orbit. Buying surplus water also allows us to create oxygen through

electrolysis.

Sewage/waste is pumped out of the city and into pipelines. Waste carried to treatment centres outside the city. Purified water is pumped out to the farmlands or back into the

sea to be filtered through coral before returning to the city’s pipes.

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Water Treatment Water treatment is a three stage process:

Primary – water from the city is pumped into a series of still pools and screens, scum rises to the surface and solids sink as the water settles. This removes 50% of solids + organic materials/bacteria – solids + scum can be recycled as fertilizer

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Water Treatment Secondary – sand filtration – water is then passed through sand

beds (3.6m wide, 4.0m long and 1m deep. As the water passes through particles are removed by direct collision, Van der Waals forces and surface charge attraction. The purified water is then sent for tertiary treatment

Tertiary – ions such as phosphorus are removed by chemical precipitation. Ferric Chloride + NaOH are added. The positively charged metal ions combine with colloid particles, neutralizing their charge. These particles no longer repel each other, and so coagulate to form large particles.

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These will be filtered out by the coral reefs under the city.Water for crop irrigation is removed after tertiary treatments and piped to the farmlands.

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Power Supply & Lighting

All solar powered 10,000,000m2 of panelling on sphere exterior 50,600,000 x .18m2 panels 640MW in Earth orbit 300MW in Mars orbit

Constant 100MW output specifically for farmland Red light for agricultural areas, less intense than sun but

using GM plants designed to cope with lower light levels. Reflected light to be utilised as well. Human comfort needs addition of 20MW for “white light”

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Transport Transport of materials in space will be done by Grumbo

Jumbos Basic logistics will be done by robots communicating On the interior, robots will control trains.

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Open system which all computers and devices access and share data with.

All users/personnel on the network use an ID card type system to log in to terminals and other such devices.

OLED technology provides flexible low-energy screens Each person on the settlement a portable touch screen

computer that can connect to the network. Network access from any location, for remote operation etc.

via an ‘oyster card’ style system. Passengers would not have access to robot controls or

administration functions.

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Network Systems

•Residents’ security clearance depends on jobs•Several backups of all data in multiple data-centres in case of emergency.

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The Network• Computers are located throughout the settlement:

• In all buildings• By airlocks, transport and administration areas etc.• In farmland to monitor robots

• The neural network with its many sensors will constantly monitor the hull strength, oxygen and water levels

• For high security data, there will be iris recognition as well as ID cards

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Communication systemsTechnology

UsedFeatures Equipment Used Data

Transfer/Time taken

Laser`Technology

- The level of data transfer is great.

- It can have a greater wavelength thus this type of technology can be used for high bandwidth communications.

- The power requirements for this will be low.

- Solar powered technology.

- The satellites should be equipped with the laser and radio technology.

Data transfer: 12Tbps

Time- 11mts

Radio Waves - High frequency waves- 5GHz-60Ghz

- Continuous connection with the Earth, low band width operations.

- Solar powered technology.

- The satellites should be equipped with the laser and radio technology.

Data transfer: 7TBps

Time-10mts

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Technologies involved in communication

Technology Used

Important Features Equipment Used Band Width

Fibre Optics

-Fast and well-organized with no loss of data.

- The central server will communicate with the residents through the Fibre Optic Network.

Fibre Optic Cables 62TBps

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)

- Range-60km-Entire Benevectoras will be

WLAN enabled.-Frequency Range- 5GHz-

65GHz.

-Routers create hotspots through the access points on the ceilings of the settlement at regular intervals.

15TbpsAu

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Automation design and services

The Robots are utilised both outside and inside the ship The robots will be stored within the ship and transported

to where they need to be by rail We will send 100 robots up who will mine and build a

factory which will make other construction robots While in space, we will use long range wi-fi to give a

network while the ship is under construction

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Docking facilities The dock is a large,

sealed 1,219,200m2 (enough

to fit Grumbo Jumbos of 610m in length and passengers)

Ships are clamped in place as the box is closed, sealed and filled with air.

Passengers leave in ‘zero-g’ using wall-handles for stability.

Exit at poles in lifts travelling the city.

150 m

500 m700 m

50 m

50 m

To storage

Docking hub

Elevators to city

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Space suits

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GANTT Chart for building activitiesMonths 1 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128Build Factory for Robots

Mining For Raw Materials (and transport)

Build Band (includes constructing rocket engines for rotation)

Build Core

Build Hull

Build Air systems

Pressure Testing

Attach Solar Panels

Build Water Facilities and low-g handholds

Rotation

Create Infrastructure (wiring, piping)

Welfare Construction

Medical Construction

Education Construction

Construction of Recreational Facilities

Software

Residential Construction

Landscape parklife

Systems Testing

Lanscape Agriculture

Becomes Habitable

Timescale Building Factory to build robots – takes 8 months due to the

extensive processes involved in the building process, as well as the fact that there would be relatively few robots to build it

There is a huge amount of raw materials, and hence, even with large numbers of robots, this will take time

The building of the core, band and hull happen simultaneously, however, the hull is much larger so will take a longer time. Nothing else can happen at this point as the rest of the process relies on the framework being in place

Building the air systems is a very complicated process, and will therefore take time

Pressure testing is necessary to ensure the hull is safe Attaching solar panels will be performed by Dougeldyne

Astrophysics, greatly reducing the expected time

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Timescale Building the water facilities is a specialist task and one that will

take a long time. Some humans may need to be involved in the intricacies of the system

The rotation then begins, as the rest of the build will occur in gravity

The infrastructure is then installed to allow the building process to begin

The various building projects begin. Time scale depends on project size

Systems testing then takes place during agriculture beginning . This ensures that the system is completely functional and habitable

The landscaping of agriculture then begins - it takes time as there is a large amount to do.

The break is to allow the agriculture to fully grow, before it becomes habitable

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CostCost Reasons

Materials $ 170,000,000,000 Complicated calculationsAir $ 5,300,000,000

Water $ 2,645,547,144 bought water from vulture

Residential Buildings $ 70,200,000 cost per unit $9000 x 7800 modules10% of materials cost for maintenance $ 17,000,000,000

Building Factory $ 17,000,000,000 10% of cost of building materials - roughly one tenth of the size

Automation Costs $ 130,798,880 Social And Comm. Facilities $ 2,500,000 Infrastructure Costs $ 26,250,000 Space Suits $ 5,000,000 20 space suits

Employees for Robotics $ 13,750,000 25 robotics employees at $50,000 a yearSolar panel covering $ 134,000,000 Total $ 212,328,046,024 Total per year $ 19,302,549,639 Upkeep per year

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