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Subject: Green CELSS status report
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 20:51:23 -0000 (GMT)
From: Terry Kok |
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Co-researchers,
It has been nearly a week since the recent Mars
Society conference in Toronto, which I and
other members of the Green CELSS Task Force,
attended. I'm not about to give a blow-by-blow
account of the proceedings but I would like to
note that the paper I presented on CELSS was
well-received. I was swamped with questions,
compliments on our work, and a growing
understanding that CELSS is core to sustainable
life support, on Earth and on Mars. A potential
project funder made contact and you can be sure
that I will be pursuing this capitalization
opportunity. I presented at 3:30 on Saturday
afternoon. By Sunday afternoon I was informed
that my presentation was one of the "hits" of the
convention. Let us hope so. For, without CELSS
there is no real possibility of maintaining life on
Mars and, with the continuing population
explosion and global warming situation,
maintaining a high standard of living on Earth.
On a less positive note, the MS steering
committee has made it clear that the Flashline
Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island
will not be a potential CELSS research and
deployment site. They would much rather import
food and export the waste they've been storing
in barrels than attempt real on-the-spot recycling
and food production. I do not agree with this
ill-informed decision but I am not in a place to
do more than protest what I consider to be a lost
opportunity to test the REAL THING in a very
cold and hostile Mars-like environment. On the
other hand, the MS steering committee has
decided that they are going to, in the future,
begin working on creating more test habitats in
other Mars analog environments, including the
hot and sweltering Arizona desert. Instead of
heating our CELSS we will be attempting to
cool it! Maybe we should be designing for
Venus, not Mars. Whatever the case, it help the
financial end if our CELSS is included in a high
profile mission. Several companies have
expressed interest in prodiving their materials
and expertise at no charge if they can have their
name and logo displayed. "Without bucks there
can be no Buck Rogers." - the Right Stuff
Whatever the Mars Society big-wigs decide, let
us reaffirm our commitment to designing and
constructing a robust human-rated CELSS
which may be adapted for use in ANY
environment: hot. cold, wet, dry, or in between.
On the spot, 100% recycling is needed
everywhere, as is a reliable means of controled
food production. As an organic gardener I know
how much work goes into outdoor gardening,
subject to the whims of the weather and the wide
variety of pests we encounter, especially due to
the migration of insects caused by a shifting
climate. A hermetically sealed habitat-attached
CELSS will provide a much more stable means
of life support than what most of us are
accustomed too. In the future every home should
have a CELSS-style greenhouse.
That being said, I now come to the task at hand:
co-designing our CELSS. I have a basic drawing
posted at
http://users1.50megs.com/avery2/Dadmunch.jpg
(one of my daughter's websites). This is a
BASIC diagram of the systems I propose,
without verbal description. This will come later.
Feel free to take a look at the diagram and ask
questions if you so desire. I more detailed and
descriptive presentation will be available
sometime later this year, after we work out some
solutions to other points on our R&D outline:
I. POWER/ELECTRICS: D. sensor/controls
net: I've been in contact with a number of
companies who might be able to supply the
GCTF with the sensors we need. Industrial
Scientific Corporation at http://www.indsci.com
has a wonerful line of atmospheric gas sensors.
Horiba Corporation at http://www.horiba.co.jp
has the best water quality monitors I've been
able to locate. Between these two companies I
think we can put together our sensors/controls
net for the atmosphere, potable water, and
ecosystems subsystems. Feel free to contact
them for their brochures.
II. DESIGN/MATERIALS - I'm still convinced
that an inflatable greenhouse is best, for weight,
storage, transport, and deployment reasons. I've
been looking into a material called Tefzel made
by Dupont. Tefzel is akin to teflon but can be
formed into thin translucent sheets which are
tough, durable, and impermeable. Unless a better
material comes alone, this is it. Dupont makes
the raw material (in beads or chips) which
companies purchase as a raw material from
which they fabricate product. I've had some
difficulty locating a company which fabricates
sheeting from Tefzel. I could use some help in
this area. Please post your results here.
IV. CROPS/HORTICULTURE - Work still
needs to be done in several areas here. We need
a more xpansive list of edible recreting
halophytes (besides spinach, sugar beets, and
lambs quarter) so that we can mine the sodium
chloride from our waste stream. We need YOU
to dig into this area and post your results. If we
cannot find enough recreting (salt absorbing and
storing) halophytes we will not be able to
remove the sodium chloride and our CELSS will
slowly turn into a desert! Another research area
is the diet. Okay folks, at first (early mission) we
will be vegans (like it or not). Space and
complexity issues make it so. As vegans we will
need a full compliment of proteins/amino acids
plus all the fats, oils, starches, sugars, vitamins,
and minerals we can muster. Besides this, we
need seed crops to replentish our seed stores.
Some of the plants must be grown full term. Of
all the plants I've researched, wheat grass,
grown in a continual sprouting system (mowed
like a lawn), is the closest to a complete food
that requires little upkeep and does not have to
be killed (just trimmed) to be eaten. What other
grasses might we include? What are your
suggestions as to other potential crops? We are
looking for compact varieties with maximum
useful biomass.
Dig through your R&D outline. Find something
you can research. If you need another copy,
email me and I will email you one. There is
plenty of need for you in the Green CELSS Task
Force. Sitting by the sidelines will not get us to
Mars or even help us to survive on Earth.
Become a hidden hero/heroine. Do the Great
Thing. After all, we are co-designing the LIFE
SUPPORT for the future of humanity. Without it
someone is going to die. That's the all too real
bottom line. Take initiative. If you can't find the
solution, search out and RECRUIT someone
who can. Seriously. That's teamwork. Our
mission is CORE to successful survival. Let's
get on with it.
"Failure is not an option!" - Gene Kranz, former
NASA flight director: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo
Moon missions
Terry Ryan Kok - Green CELSS focalizer
biostar_a@yahoo.com (812-275-0694
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Terry Ryan Kok - scientist, ecotechnician, wizard
Elf Lore Family ELDER - Sanctuary Rock facilitator
Green CELSS Task Force focalizer
Starlight Technology: (812) 275-0694
biostar_a@yahoo.com
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Mars Society Life Support Task Force
Email - life-support@chapters.marssociety.org
http://home.marssociety.org/tech/life-support/
Arctic Base - http://arctic.marssociety.org/ |
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