SSI is pleased to announce the publication of papers from the 14th Space Manufacturing Conference. Thirteen papers from the conference at the NASA Ames Research Center are now available for download at no cost. They cover a broad range of key areas including space transportation, closed environment life support systems, in-situ resource utilization, space solar power, and emerging technologies such as 3-D printing.
To economize, we have decided to make these papers available for free download rather than producing a printed volume. As was done for the 1st and 2nd conferences, SSI will combine these papers with those from the future (15th) Space Manufacturing Conference into one volume for purchase. We are working on plans for the 15th Conference at this time and will announce venue and dates shortly. In the interim, this approach will guarantee the widest possible distribution.
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Session 1: Space Transportation
Design Concepts for a Manned Artificial Gravity Research Facility
Joseph A Carroll
Session 3: Closed Environment Life Support Systems
Game Changing Development in Environmental Control and Life Support Systems
Shawn Dunegan, Taber MacCallum, Grant Anderson, Barry Finger
Biological Processes in Closed Ecosystems
William J. Jewell, Dr. Lee S. Valentine
Michael Detweiler, Peter A. Curreri, Ph.D.
Habitat Water Wall for Water, Solids, and Atmosphere Recycle and Reuse
Michael T. Flynn, Sherwin Gormly, Mona Hammoudeh, Hali Shaw and Alex Polonsky
Session 4: Robotics and Space Manufacturing
Dr. Greg Baiden, Louis Grenier, Brad Blair
Session 5: Engineering Materials from Non-Terrestrial Resources
Electrical Energy Storage Using Only Lunar Materials
Dave Dietzler, Peter J. Schubert
Christopher White, Francisco Alvarez, Evgeny Shafirovich
Active Debris Removal: EDDE, the ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator
J. Pearson, J. Carroll, E. Levin
Building a Vertical Take Off and Landing Pad Using In-Situ Materials
P. E. Hintze
Session 6: Space Solar Power and Space Energy Systems
Towards an Early Profitable PowerSat
Al Globus
Session 7: International, Legal and Economic Considerations
Economic Incentives and Tax Credits for Space Resource Development: Analogies and Ideas
Eva-Jane Lark
3D Printing in Space: Enabling New Markets and Accelerating the Growth of Orbital Infrastructure
Jason J. Dunn, David N. Hutchison, Aaron M. Kemmer, Adam Z. Ellsworth, Michael Snyder, Willam B. White, Brad R. Blair
Special Session
Mission and Implementation of an Affordable Lunar Return
Paul Spudis and Tony Lavoie
Friday, October 29
Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel
Registration Opens 5:00pm
Evening Roundtable and Reception, 7:00 – 10:00pm
Moon, Mars, Asteroids: Where to Go First for Resources?
Dr. Pete Worden, NASA Ames Director
Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace
Prof. Mike A’Hearn, University of Maryland, Dept. of Astronomy
Mark Sonter, Asteroid Enterprises Pty Ltd
Prof. John Lewis, Space Studies Institute
Prof. Greg Baiden, Penguin Automated Systems
Dr. Paul Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Saturday, October 30
NASA Ames Conference Center
9:00 – 9:15am
Welcome to Space Manufacturing 14: Critical Technologies for Space Settlement
Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace
9:15 – 10:45am
Session 1: Space Transportation
Chair: Gary C Hudson
This session will review the progress in space transportation since the last SSI Conference, and focus on the role of the public-private partnership in developing the infrastructure required to allow the settlement of Cislunar space. The session participants will present options for a ten-year public-private road map that will bring into focus the technology required to allow the utilization of Cislunar space in a sustainable and affordable manner.
Earth to LEO Roadmap: Technologies and Possibilities
Gary C Hudson, HMX Inc.
Top Ten Technologies for Reusable Cislunar Transportation
Dallas Bienhoff, The Boeing Company, and Jon Goff, Altius Space Machines, Inc.
Tether Sling Concepts for LEO and Beyond
Joe Carroll, Tether Applications
11:00am – 12:30
Session 2: Extraterrestrial Prospecting
Chair: Professor Michael F. A’Hearn
The goal of this session is to discuss remote techniques for assay and utilization of Near Earth Object resources.
Water vs. Rocks: Resources for Earth or for Exploration?
Prof. Michael A’Hearn, University of Maryland, Department of Astronomy
Mining Methods for Asteroid Utilization
Brad Blair, Space Studies Institute, and Prof. Leslie Gertsch, University of Missouri-Rolla
Mining Concepts Development for Accessing Asteroid Resources
Mark Sonter, Asteroid Enterprises Pty Ltd
Resources from Asteroids: What We Can Expect From What We Know Now
Dr. Faith Vilas, University of Arizona, Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory
Lunch 12:45 – 1:45pm
Luna Nova: New Discoveries About the Poles of the Moon
Dr. Paul Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Institute
2:00 – 3:30pm
Session 3: Closed Environment Life Support Systems
Chair: Taber MacCallum
This session will review the requirements and potential solutions to building a robust closing environment life-support system for long-term space habitation. The speakers will review high-level design as well as individual subsystems with reference to previous operational experience in space and on Earth. This session will address the changes that might be made to life-support systems depending on the nature and magnitude of in situ resources available. A robust, cost effective, closed environment life-support system is a critical need for long-term operations in space, and for permanent settlement.
Game Changing Development in Environmental Control and Life Support Systems
Taber MacCallum, Paragon Space Development Corp.
The Engineering Trade Space for a Robust Closed Ecological Life Support System: A Suggested Technology Road Map
Dr. William Jewell, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and Dr. Lee Valentine, Space Studies Institute
Habitat Size Optimization of the O’Neill – Glaser Economic Model for Space Solar Satellite Production
Dr. Peter Curreri, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and Michael Detweiler, Junction Solutions
Membrane Based Habitat Wall Architectures for Evolving Structures and Comprehensive Resource Recycle in “Homestead” Stage Space Colony Development
Sherwin Gormly, Dynamac Corporation, NASA Ames Research Center, and Michael Flynn, NASA Ames Research Center
3:45 – 4:45pm
Session 4: Robotics and Space Manufacturing
Chair: Professor William (Red) Whittaker
The experts in this session will discuss current and near-term application of autonomous and tele-operated robotics in commercial applications in unstructured environments. They will discuss the utility and potential applications of robotic technology to space industrialization and space settlement.
Robotics for Space Exploration and Development
Prof. William (Red) Whittaker, Field Robotics Lab, Carnegie Mellon University
Application of Visually Guided, Autonomous Robots to Space Mining and Construction
Mitchell Weiss, SEEGRID Corp.
Lunar Mining – Taking the Best of Terrestrial Mining and Fitting it to the Moon
Prof. Greg Baiden, Laurentian University; Penguin Automated Systems
5:00 – 6:30pm
Synthetic Genomics | Special event in conjunction with Synthetic Biology Workshop
Dr. Craig Venter, J. Craig Venter Institute
7:30 – 9:30pm
Saturday Evening Dinner Event Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel
Tickets: $35
Asia’s Road to the Moon
Prof. John Lewis, Space Studies Institute
9:30pm
Reception, Sheraton Sunnyvale,
Sponsored by Space Frontier Foundation
Sunday, October 31
NASA Ames Conference Center
9:00 – 10:30am
Session 5: Engineering Materials from Non-Terrestrial Resources
Chair: Dr. Peter J. Schubert
Large-scale or long-term projects in outer space require materials at economic costs which can be justified by the mission. The goal for this session is to leverage human creativity in space-based manufacturing to foster ingenuity so we can do more with less. Earth launch will always be expensive because of the energy required to achieve orbit through our atmosphere. In the far future, space settlements must be self-sustaining. Mapping the path between the present and this future, and filling in the missing pieces, are the goals for this session.
Electrical Energy Storage Using Only Lunar Materials
Dave Dietzler, and Dr. Peter J. Schubert, Packer Engineering Inc.
In-Situ Production of Construction Materials by Combustion of Regolith/Aluminum and Regolith/Magnesium Mixtures
Prof. Evgeny Shafirovich, Christopher White and Francisco Alvarez, University of Texas at El Paso
Electro Dynamic Debris Eliminator (EDDE) Opens LEO for Aluminum Recovery and Reuse
Jerome Pearson, John Oldson and Dr. Eugene Levin, Star Technology and Research, Inc., Joseph Carroll, Tether Applications, Inc.
Building a Vertical Take Off and Landing Pad Using In Situ Materials
Dr. Paul Hintze, NASA Kennedy Space Center
10:45am – 12:30
Session 6: Space Solar Power and Space Energy Systems
Chair: Dr. Philip K. Chapman
Mark Twain once observed that “when it’s steamboat time, you steam.” He meant that when a new technology becomes practical, it is quickly adopted all around the world. The purpose of this session is to demonstrate that it is now “power satellite time.” Space-based solar power (SBSP) is under development in several nations, but the United States is still lagging behind. The papers in this session are all related to making power from space a reality in the near future, so that it can help provide ample clean electricity to an energy-hungry world.
Space Solar Power – Achievable Within a Generation?
John Mankins, Artemis Innovation Management Solutions LLC
Towards an Early Profitable Powersat
Al Globus, San Jose State University Research Foundation
Space Energy’s Business and Technology Strategy for SBSP Development
Feng Hsu, Space Energy, Inc.
Impact of Lunar Volatiles: New Opportunities for Exploration and Infrastructure Development on the Moon
Edward McCullough, McCullough Innovations & Consulting
Making it Happen
Dr. Philip K. Chapman, Consultant, Energy and Astronautics
Lunch 12:45 – 1:45pm
Terrestrial Telerobotic Mining technology: An Enabler for Extraterrestrial Habitation, Mining and Construction
Prof. Greg Baiden, Laurentian University; Penguin Automated Systems
2:00 – 3:00pm
Panel Discussion: Technology Options for Closed Environment Life Support Systems for Space Settlement
Taber MacCallum, Paragon Space Development Corp.
Dr. Mark Kliss, NASA
Dr. John Farmer, NASA
Dr. Lee Valentine, Space Studies Institute
Will Marshall, NASA Ames/USRA
3:00 – 4:00pm
Session 7: International, Legal and Economic Considerations
Chair: Brad Blair
“What the engineers are doing for machines, we must do for the law.” – Delegate to the 1929 Warsaw Convention on Air Law. The same holds true for outer space. Complementing technological advances that can expand the human species from the surface of the Earth, legal and economic policies must be developed to spur, rather than hinder, the establishment of the High Frontier. This session highlights these issues and suggests policy options consistent with Professor O’Neill’s philosophy of unleashing the power of the private sector in space.
The ILO As Property Rights Agent
Steve Durst, International Lunar Observatory Association and Space Age Publishing Company
Economic Incentives and Tax Credits for Space Resource Development
Eva-Jane Lark, BMO Nesbitt Burns
Mining Law and Property Rights for Outer Space
Wayne White, Esq., Oceaneering Space Systems
3D Metal Printing in Space: Enabling New Markets and Accelerating the Growth of Orbital Infrastructure
Jason Dunn, Aaron Kemmer, Michael Chen, David Hutchison and Brad Blair
4:00pm Thanks to sponsors and supporters
Session 1: Space Transportation
Gary C Hudson, Chair
Gary C Hudson is co-founder of the Transformational Space Corporation, AirLaunch LLC and HMX Inc. He has worked in the field of commercial space for 40 years with an emphasis on development of innovative low-cost systems. In 1996, he co-founded Rotary Rocket, dedicated to the development of a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle that used a rocket-tipped rotor propulsion system. Rotary Rocket conducted three low-altitude flight tests of a full-scale vehicle. He is also the designer of the Phoenix family of launch vehicles which led directly to the DC-X.
He was awarded an Aviation Week and Space Technology “Laurel” in 1994 for the DC-X program. He has been a Board Member of the Space Transportation Association, and currently serves as a Senior Adviser of Space Studies Institute and as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Space Frontier Foundation. He has presented testimony before the U.S. Congress on many occasions. In addition, he has taught at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, the Institute for Space and Astronautical Sciences of Tokyo University, and Stanford University.
Session 2: Extraterrestrial Prospecting
Prof. Michael A’Hearn, Chair
Michael F. A’Hearn is an astronomer and professor at the University of Maryland who was the principal investigator for the NASA Deep Impact mission. He received his bachelors in science at Boston College and his Ph. D in Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has aided in the development of systems for surveying abundances in comets as well as techniques for determining the sizes of cometary nuclei which uses optical and infrared measurements.
His studies focus on comets as well as asteroids and he also supervises numerous graduate students. In 1986 for contributions to cometary science and is an elected fellow of the AAAS. He has authored over 100 papers published in journals and is also an avid sailor who has a commercial coast guard license. Asteroid 3192 A’Hearn was named after him.
Session 3: Closed Environment Life Support Systems
Taber MacCallum, Chair
Taber MacCallum is one of the original crew members of Biosphere 2. As one of the eight participants of the first two-year mission inside the 3-acre materially closed ecological system, which supported the life of the eight human inhabitants. It was designed for research applicable to environmental management on Earth and the development of human life support for space. MacCallum served as the team’s analytical chemist.
In 1993, MacCallum co-founded Paragon Space Development Corporation and is currently CEO and Chairman of the Board for Paragon. Using Paragon’s Autonomous Biological Systems, he was the Principal Investigator on four microgravity experiments on the Space Shuttle, Mir Space Station and International Space Station.
MacCallum is involved in the design of life support and thermal control systems for commercial manned suborbital spacecraft, as well as hazardous environment life support technology development for the US Navy divers. Taber MacCallum has also functioned at every level of command on a research vessel, sailing to over 40 ports and more than 30,000 miles (48,000 km) around the world. He is a certified Dive Controller and Advanced Open Water Diving Instructor.
Session 4: Robotics and Space Manufacturing
Prof. William “Red” Whittaker, Chair
Dr. William L. “Red” Whittaker is the Fredkin Professor of Robotics, Director of the Field Robotics Center, and founder of the National Robotics Engineering Consortium, all at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the Chief Scientist of RedZone Robotics.
He has an extensive record of successful developments of robots for craft, labor and hazardous duty. Examples include robots in field environments such as mines, work sites and natural terrain. Dr. Whittaker’s portfolio includes the development of computer architectures for controlling mobile robots; modeling and planning for non-repetitive tasks; complex problems of objective sensing in random and dynamic environments; and integration of complete field robot systems.
Prof. Whittaker has advised twenty-six Ph.D. students, has sixteen patents, and has authored or co-authored over 200 publications.
Session 5: Engineering Materials from Non-Terrestrial Resources
Dr. Peter J. Schubert, Chair
Peter Schubert, Ph.D., P.E., is a registered Professional Engineer (Electrical and Computer Engineering) with over 25 years experience ranging from microelectronics, digital signal processing, systems engineering, alternative energy research, space-based manufacturing, and industrial consulting.
Peter worked 8 years on the factory floor, designing and introducing $2,400,000 in custom process equipment for semiconductor manufacturing. He has a strong background in statistical process control, quality engineering, electrical test, yield improvement and scrap reduction ($4M reduction in 1 year!), including a Green Belt in the Six-Sigma methodology. As a Systems Engineer and Technical Fellow at Delphi Electronics & Safety, Peter developed and validated computer algorithms for crash sensing and occupant detection. His algorithms are currently used in vehicles on three continents.
Dr. Schubert has over 30 US Patents granted (8 in Europe), and more than 60 technical publications. He is an instructor with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), teaching courses in algorithms and model based electronics design. He has taught various aspects of electrical, computer, and systems engineering to over 1000 people world-wide.
Dr. Schubert is the Principal Investigator on a Phase II NASA program for the extraction of silicon and oxygen from lunar soil, processes based on 3 of his granted US Patents. He is the PI for $1,240,000 in state and federal grants on a program to convert organic biomass into power, heat, and fertilizer. He is a technical leader in additional research projects for the DOE, the Marine Corps, and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. Peter’s invention of the “hydrogen sponge” is the subject of a User Grant at Argonne National Lab, and is part of a $1,500,000 Congressional Appropriation on a means by which municipalities can convert their collected landscape trimmings into fuels for city fleet vehicles. Dr. Schubert joined Packer Engineering in 2006 as a member of the R&D Team.
Session 6: Space Solar Power and Space Energy Systems
Philip K. Chapman, Sc.D., Chair
Phil Chapman is a geophysicist and astronautical engineer, born in Melbourne, Australia. He learned to fly during National Service with the RAAF, while he was an undergraduate in physics at Sydney University. After graduating, he spent 15 months studying the aurora in Antarctica, including wintering at a remote two-man camp.
After earning MS and Sc.D. degrees at MIT, he was selected by NASA as one of the second intake of scientist astronauts during Apollo (and the first foreign-born astronaut). He completed jet pilot training with the USAF and dive training with the USN, and then served as Mission Scientist for Apollo 14. He left the program when Skylab II was canceled, because he thought the decision to build the shuttle was a major mistake.
Since then, his research interests have included energy and environmental policy, space-based solar power and economical launch vehicles. In particular, he worked for Dr Peter Glaser, inventor of the Solar Power Satellite, during the original NASA/DoE study in the late 1970s. In 1989, he led a private expedition by sea from Cape Town to Enderby Land, Antarctica, investigating mineral resources before the moratorium on prospecting took effect.
Phil now lives in Sunnyvale, CA, with his wife Maria, and is working on several books. See his blog at www.pkchapman.com for more information.
Session 7: International, Legal and Economic Considerations
Brad Blair, Chair
Brad Blair is a geologist, mining engineer and mineral economist consulting from Idaho Springs, Colorado on advanced mining technology and space economics. He began researching lunar in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) in 1989 under NASA Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) funding as a grad student at the Colorado School of Mines. Since that time he has authored or co-authored over 40 papers on lunar, mars and asteroid ISRU, including economic feasibility and market analysis for ISRU products. During the summer of 1999, Brad was a visiting professional at the NASA/JSC Exploration Office, where he learned and practiced the art of cost estimation in support of a design reference mission for human Mars exploration. From 2001-2005, he and a small team at Colorado School of Mines lead by Mike Duke conducted research for NASA on topics related to ISRU. Studies included: Parametric engineering model development for mining propellants on the Moon, Phobos, and Mars; Planetary excavator design and prototype development; NASA technology roadmapping; And, ISRU system design, costing and economic feasibility modeling. Since that time Brad has consulted for US and Canadian government, aerospace and mining industry clients on ISRU design and economic analysis as well as advanced technologies. He participated in two NASA centennial challenges and is advising NewSpace startups on opportunity management.