First thoughts are this is a very bad idea, on the other hand, knowledge of nuclear weapons fabrication is “inevitable” to most of the nations of the world through time. Political will over time are less “inevitable”
So I propose an idea that would make nation states that withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty without sanctions a fustian bargain.(A) the nation-state must be a democracy (B) The nation-state must agree to joint development of nuclear weapons and of joint control.(C)joint control means that use of the weapons must require that the nation states heads of states must all jointly agree to use of said weapons and this means simultaneous input of heads of states keys into a common arming code mechanism.
In the case of Donald Trump’s suggestion this would mean Japan and Korea, however, in the 1970’s there was a secret Taiwanese Korean nuclear weapons effort that the CIA Uncovered. Both states were under totalitarian governments and the Americans aborted the effort.
In my suggestion Taiwan could secretly sign on to this agreement with the idea to deny but with the idea that no one could invade any member state without a possible response.
Oddly my idea allows an isolationist Trump America to withdraw troops from this region but it would be a mistake to do so, America could leave some troops under this Donald scenario but Trump would be making a mistake to abandon influence. In an emergency, with no time the triad could have a Norad like command with Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese commanders.
We here, however, suggest a Ballistic submarine where Taiwanese and Korean and Japanese triad of commanders would be required to launch an attack as stated above and that any land-based deterrent have the
In space Noble gas inflatable structures or Xenon Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator ( X-HAID) Or ( HAID-Xe2)
SEP propellants kept at cryogenic temps at fuel depots transfer fuel to inflatable by inflating with noble gas, Inflatable solar array a plus.Transfers payload and/or becomes itself the payload at destination.This post is meant to feature the idea below.
inflatable aerodynamic decelerates spacecraft at Uranus to inter orbit. Could be inflated with noble gases that are then re purposed as propellant for the orbiter saving the weight of the traditional gas used.Risk of puncture by debris and micrometeorites informs us to use the ion engine early in mission to conserve thruster propellant. This concept most likely works best with a probe outfitted in mission design from the start with the.
A post from several years ago suggested that a commercial crew/cargo capsule with a HAID could decelerate at Uranus so perhaps capsule itself could also be pressurized with Noble gas without effect to the science payload?
For Hybrid chemical/SEP in space stages
Synopsis; (A)Cryogenic LH2 LO2 boil off cools tank of LAr and LNe with particles of metallic Iodine infused. (B)During operations, LAr/Ne gasify and pressurize the LO2 oxidizer tank(ullage gas). (C) In space liquefaction/fractionation device separates gases O2 from gases Ar/Ne and sends to IVF and ion engine systems.(D)Heater vaporizes Iodine into SEP engine propellant. (E) Most likely to avoid icing problems we need a 70% Ne or higher or lower to the Ar. Zenon is the best bet for SEP but most likely cannot be used in this scenario.(F)If metallic Iodine can’t be filtered out of the Ar/Ne ullage gas then stored in a separate tank.
Iodine needs to bypass O2 oxidizer tank and instead to SEP engine for Mixing with Ar/Ne. In the case of Methane/Oxygen launchers, Ar/Ne could pressurize both tanks in trade studies as to how much SEP fuel is needed for mission requirements. Cryogenic LH2 would cause icing problems with Ar/Ne as well.
We see Hybrid Chemical/SEP in space stages as spacecraft in their own right as long-lived value-added propositions to remove themselves from GTO orbits, deploys or carry secondary payloads(ride share) and share Nobel gases propellent with cargo by pressurizing cargo
In the case of the proposed Skylab-II, Bigelow and Cislunar habitats(all of them) we could pressurize them with xenon and its better properties as SEP propellent and not have to worry about icing as they are not required as Ullage gases, so in effect this a two stage in space system
For fun I estimate that the ISS if de-crewed could be pressurized with 6 metric tons of Xenon and docked with a ARRM derived stage with 11 Metric tons of xenon gets us to cislunar space( The ISS would be salvage) As for previous posts a Hybrid Chemical/SEP EUS stage for SLS with the Xenon-enhanced Skylab-II could increase SLS payload mass to destination.
Edit 2 April 2016 Cryogenic Argon/Neon mix would have considerably less volume in a dedicated tank per this master list of Cryogenic liquid to gas volume.I wonder if the force of evaporation of cryogenic Argon/Neon could be used as cogenerated power when spacecraft is on internal power
Environmental Health& Safety, Cryogenic Safety
2018 Hybrid Iodine/Xenon SEP study
Iodine particles as a colloid in cryogenic Neon could be a battery by producing power as it expands and then is also used as a SEP propellent
We propose that SLS EUS uses Argon/Neon ullage gases for a secondary use as a SEP propellant.We have chosen to research noble gas mixes that should not ice or freeze with the LO2, the Argon/Neon mix should not.A in space fractionation/liquidation unit would be needed to separate Gases propellent oxidizer noble gases.Its intended the EUS utilize both IVF and SEP after the chemical burn.It’s also intended that the EUS could be refueled with chemical fuel.
The Payload is the proposed Skylab-II, we propose the uncrewed Skylab-II be pressurized with Xenon( no icing issues) or retain the EUS Argon/Neon for transfer to the EUS after it exhausts its supply.The Skylab-II would need its atmosphere restored with crew arrival.Some noble gases retained for SEP station keeping.Transporting crew air separate from the noble gas pressurized volume needs trade study.Crew O2 & N2 from local ISRU at destination makes the more hard to find and process Argon/Neon ullage/SEP propellent sensible.
Tanks for N2 and O2 for the Skylab-II are added weight; better to use a COTS program to preposition this at the destination( costs and programmatic) COTS preposition allows for single launch SLS with this truly hybrid SEP/chemical system to maximize mass to destination.
We advocate that any human crew habitat in transit to a destination as cargo or being propositioned could be pressurized with SEP propellent, inflatable habitats with their low weight to thrust ratio make a very attractive SEP tank.Bigelow inflated with Xenon or Argon/Neon are examples of this idea
Years ago the wet lab concept was conceived, our concept we propose is “SEP/Gas/lab”Our idea is in fact similar to ULA’s distributed launch.The large expensive launch vehicle and its cargo is greatly extended by the ISP of SEP and repurposing ullage gases, subsequent COTS vehicles refuel, resupply, preposition.
SEP/gaslab lends itself to pressurized space provisions/avionics/equipment while cryogenic wet lab concepts do not! Skylab-II could fly intact with lab equipment/avionics/provisions for crew intact with SEP propellants. Noble gasses are after all preservatives for food and DOD equipment.
How to reduce icing in Noble gasses used as ullage gas
Last year in a blog entry I suggested using the Xenon ullage gas repurposed as Ion propellant in The O2 oxidizer tank to slow icing problems(as compared to the LH2 tank), perhaps we can do better?Could we use Neon as a ullage gas in the LO2 oxidizer tank?Or in the alternative the use of an Argon/Neon gas mix in the cryogenic O2 tank?
A in space liquefaction/fractionation system would separate the gases O2 from the Argon and Neon for the IVF system and the ion engine system.Argon/Neon as well as Xenon could provide ullage to Vulcan and SpaceX Methane/LNG launch vehicle upper stages since Methane cryogenic temps lend themselves better to the idea presented here
2011-Godfrin-Cryogenic_fluids-v2
A mix of Argon/Neon will have depending on the ratio differing boiling points at 1 ATM so this tells us this sort of Ion/chemical hybrid upper stage works well with Methane but not Hydrogen as propellant. So perhaps trade studies need to be made with Methane/O2 and Argon/Neon and Hydrogen/Methane slushes/gels that have different boil temperatures.
EDIT A Chinese Helium ullage mixed with Hydrogen and Oxygen vapor
and
Modeling of Ullage Collapse Within Rocket Propellant Tanks at Reduced Gravity
(A)(1)Congress mandates that all MEO and GTO spent stages must have a 60 plus day life.
(A)(2) all such stages must be stored in LDRO or discarded into solar orbit(future ISRU ?)
(A)(3) Government will provide a small subsidy by deploying Cubesats into solar orbit from most spent stages(NEO missions)
(A)(4) Free lunar return and a Oberth burn might be possible for some upper stages.
(A)(5) Lunar flyby and IVF and SEP might make some planetary missions possible.
steven rappolee @rappolee 53 minutes ago @torybruno @Rand_Simberg @Astro_Zach @NASASpaceflight would there have been enough RD-180’s for CST-100(6)SNC(6) some orbital(?) and DOD?
The twitter question of the day?
What if Boeing CST-100 and SNC Dream chaser had won CSR2 contract along with some Cygnus lofted on Atlas, would there have been enough RD-180’s to go around along with DOD commitments?
And did this enter into consideration in regards to NASA’s thinking in regards to CSR2 contract award? CST-100 and SNC Dream chaser would have required 12 RD-180’s bought civilly (non DOD engine ban) Plus additional for how many Cygnus go up on Atlas.
As the award was awarded NASA places less reliance on the RD-180 and this is a case of dissimilar redundancy. We have Cygnus on Antares for some flights Atlas for some others; NASA wants to be able to tailor individual flight orders for up mass.On the other hand loss of RD-180 could shift flights back to wallops.Could policy? did the CRS2 NASA contracting team consider this?
Zipdrone
The idea behind #zipdrone is inspired by the Chinese autonomous flying vehicle, we suggest it could be capitalized by renting out vehicles by the ride much like a taxi service or the American Zipcar service.
an exceptionally sweet fare would be a fixed cost per minute so as to prevent gouging no matter the destination
A must see video !
Greetings to Mr Niebur
Enceladus sample return could be combined with Jupiter Trojan tour along with Earth flybys(to return sample) is the mission that strikes me as most doable over long time frames
Imagine if you will the squid with its chemoreceptors combined with a physical neurotransmitter connected to another squid I.E the two squid could actually use their tentacles to link their nervous systems.
This would evolve through sex as some squid display complex patterns of chemoreception combined with visual chromatophore communication.
Social Insect reproduction as we know it on earth involves reproduction by the one or the few and the sexual evolution of my proposed neural connectivity would not evolve among the haplodiploidy of the eusocial insects.
Our world eons ago had for a while a high oxygen atmosphere in which very large insects evolved it’s this perhaps that would enable the evolution of larger brains,so it’s no accident that larger brains did evolve among the cephalopods as the water medium allows for a greater oxygen exchange.
larger insects in a high Oxygen world would still have to overcome the haplodiploidy barrier to evolving sexualy inabling neuroconnectivity between individuals.
Evolution does not plan anything so what would be required to transfer large amounts of information between neurologically connected beings and what would be the environmental factors that would favor evolving this?
This post in response to this post on Centauri Dreams; Can Social Insects Have a Civilization?
EDIT 4 Jan 2016
My Blog post that discussed Oxygen rich waters and large cephalopods that neurologically connected together with an evolved reproductive tentacle was chosen in the hope that intelligence and “civilization” maybe requires “consciousness”
This so called emergent property is something that is not clear to me would exist in AI or Von Neumann machines so perhaps it is possible to have a civilization of small social insects(low oxygen world) that would appear to us as a civilization(recognize this theory? ) After all if the AI and Von Neumann machines are advanced(evolving) software without self awareness then civilization does not need this treat to come about.
So how to bring about the cephalopod emergent property?
(A)(1) The tentacle reproductive organ or hectocotylus could evolve to make synaptic connects with the other organism
(A)(2) in some cephalopods the hectocotylus is left inside the female so imagine a hectocotylus with one of the males brain lobs inside.
(A)(3) this would be a slow thinking superorganism augmented by communication of the skin coloration patterns.
Yellow Dragon, a mission to repurpose existing ideas into new ideas 