Recently, mankind has entered the threshold of the third millennium. What awaits us in the future? Surely there will be many problems requiring binding solutions. According to scientists, in 2050 the number of inhabitants of the Earth will reach 11 billion people. Moreover, 94% of the growth will be in developing countries and only 6% in industrialized countries. In addition, scientists have learned to slow down the aging process, which significantly increases life expectancy.
This leads to a new problem - food shortages. At the moment, about half a billion people are starving. For this reason, around 50 million die every year. To feed 11 billion, it will be necessary to increase food production 10 times. In addition, energy will be needed to ensure the lives of all these people. And this leads to an increase in the production of fuel and raw materials. Will the planet withstand such a load?
Well, do not forget about environmental pollution. With increasing production rates, not only are resources depleted, but the planet’s climate is changing. Machines, power plants, factories emit so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the greenhouse effect is just around the corner. With an increase in temperature on Earth, melting of glaciers and an increase in water level in the oceans will begin. All this will most negatively affect the living conditions of people. It can even lead to disaster.
These problems will help to solve space exploration. Think for yourself. There, it will be possible to move plants, explore Mars, the Moon, and extract resources and energy. And everything will be the same as in films and on the pages of science fiction works.
Energy from space
Now 90% of all earthly energy is obtained by burning fuel in home stoves, car engines and boilers of power plants. Every 20 years, energy consumption doubles. How much natural resources will be enough to satisfy our needs?
For example, the same oil? According to scientists, it will end in as many years as the history of space exploration has, that is, in 50. Coal is enough for 100 years, and gas for about 40. By the way, atomic energy is also an exhaustible source.
Theoretically, the problem of finding alternative energy was solved back in the 30s of the last century, when they invented the fusion reaction. Unfortunately, she is still uncontrollable. But even if you learn to control it and receive energy in unlimited quantities, this will lead to overheating of the planet and irreversible climate change. Is there a way out of this situation?
3D industry
Of course, this is space exploration. It is necessary to move from a “two-dimensional” industry to a “three-dimensional” one. That is, all energy-intensive production must be transferred from the surface of the Earth to space. But at the moment, doing this is economically disadvantageous. The cost of such energy will be 200 times higher than the electricity received by heat on Earth. Plus, huge cash injections will require the construction of large orbital stations. In general, you need to wait until mankind will go through the next stages of space exploration, when technology will be improved and the cost of building materials will decrease.
Round the clock sun
Throughout the history of the planet, people have been using sunlight. However, the need for it is not only in the daytime. At night, it takes much longer: to illuminate construction sites, streets, fields during agricultural work (sowing, harvesting), etc. And in the Far North, the Sun does not appear on the horizon for six months at all. Is it possible to increase daylight hours? How realistic is the creation of an artificial sun? Today's successes in space exploration make this task quite feasible. It is enough to place an appropriate device on the planet’s orbit to reflect light on the Earth. At the same time, its intensity can be changed.
Who invented the reflector?
We can say that the history of space exploration in Germany began with the idea of creating extraterrestrial reflectors, proposed by German engineer Hermann Obert in 1929. Its further development can be traced to the works of the scientist Eric Kraft from the USA. Now Americans are closer than ever to this project.
Structurally, the reflector is a frame on which a polymer metallized film is stretched, reflecting the radiation of the sun. The direction of the light flux will be carried out either by commands from the Earth, or automatically, according to a predetermined program.
Project implementation
The United States is making serious progress in space exploration and has come close to realizing this project. Now American experts are exploring the possibility of placing the corresponding satellites in orbit. They will be located directly over North America. 16 installed reflector mirrors will extend the daylight hours by 2 hours. Two reflectors are planning to direct to Alaska, which will increase daylight hours there by as much as 3 hours. If you use reflector satellites to extend the day in megacities, this will provide them with high-quality and shadowless lighting of streets, highways, construction sites, which, of course, is economically advantageous.
Reflectors in Russia
For example, if you illuminate five cities from space, which are equal in size to Moscow, due to energy savings, the costs will pay off in about 4-5 years. Moreover, the satellite-reflector system can switch to another group of cities without any additional costs. And how will the air be cleaned if the energy comes not from the smallest power plants, but from outer space! The only obstacle to the implementation of this project in our country is the lack of funding. Therefore, space exploration by Russia is not going as fast as we wanted.
Extraterrestrial factories
More than 300 years have passed since the discovery of the E. Torricelli vacuum. This played a huge role in the development of technology. Indeed, without understanding the physics of vacuum, it would be impossible to create either electronics or internal combustion engines. But all this applies to industry on Earth. It is difficult to imagine what opportunities vacuum will provide in such a matter as space exploration. Why not make the galaxy serve people by building factories there? They will be in a completely different environment, under vacuum, low temperatures, powerful sources of solar radiation and zero gravity.
Now it’s difficult to realize all the advantages of these factors, but it is safe to say that fantastic prospects are opening up and the topic “Space exploration by building extraterrestrial plants” is becoming more relevant than ever. If you concentrate the sun's rays with a parabolic mirror, you can weld parts made of titanium alloys, stainless steel, etc. When melting metals in terrestrial conditions, impurities get into them. And technology increasingly needs ultra-pure materials. How to get them? You can "suspend" the metal in a magnetic field. If its mass is small, then this field will keep it. In this case, the metal can be melted by passing a high-frequency current through it.
In zero gravity it is possible to melt materials of any mass and size. Neither molds nor casting crucibles are needed. There is also no need for subsequent grinding and polishing. And materials will be melted either in conventional or in solar furnaces. Under vacuum conditions, it is possible to carry out “cold welding”: well-cleaned and fitted to each other metal surfaces form very strong joints.
In terrestrial conditions, it will not be possible to make large semiconductor crystals without defects, which reduce the quality of microcircuits and devices made from them. Thanks to zero gravity and vacuum, it will be possible to obtain crystals with the desired properties.
Attempts to implement ideas
The first steps in implementing these ideas were taken in the 80s, when space exploration in the USSR was in full swing. In 1985, engineers launched a satellite into orbit. Two weeks later, he delivered samples of materials to Earth. Such launches have become an annual tradition.
In the same year, the Salyut NGO developed the Technology project. It was planned to build a spacecraft weighing 20 tons and a plant weighing 100 tons. The apparatus was equipped with ballistic capsules, which were supposed to deliver the manufactured products to Earth. The project was never implemented. You will ask why? This is a standard space exploration problem - lack of funding. It is relevant in our time.
Space settlements
At the beginning of the 20th century, a fantastic novel by K. E. Tsiolkovsky “Beyond the Earth” was published. In it, he described the first galactic settlements. At the moment, when there are already certain achievements in space exploration, you can take up the implementation of this fantastic project.
In 1974, Gerard O'Neill, a professor of physics at Princeton University, developed and published a project for the colonization of the galaxy. He suggested placing space settlements at the libration point (a place where the forces of gravity of the Sun, Moon and Earth cancel each other out). Such villages will always be in one place.
O'Neill believes that in 2074 most of the people will move into space and will have unlimited food and energy resources. The land will become a huge park, free from industry, where you can spend your vacation.
Colony Model O'Neill
The professor suggests starting peaceful exploration of space with the construction of a model with a radius of 100 meters. In such a structure can accommodate about 10 thousand people. The main task of this settlement is to build the next model, which should be 10 times larger. The diameter of the next colony increases to 6-7 kilometers, and the length increases to 20.
The scientific community around the O'Neill project has not yet subsided. In the colonies he offers, the population density is about the same as in earthly cities. And this is quite a lot! Especially when you consider that on weekends you can not get out of town. In close parks, few people want to relax. It can hardly be compared with the living conditions on Earth. And how in these enclosed spaces will things be with psychological compatibility and a craving for a change of place? Will people want to live there? Will space settlements become places of spreading global disasters and conflicts? All these questions remain open so far.
