Space Colony Jigsaw

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/units/SpaceExploration/colonylesn.596.html

by

Phil Norman

Introduction

By now you have already learned that it would be incredibly difficult for human life to exist on other planets. But what about a human space colony floating in outer space? In this exercise you will examine the wealth of up to date information and research that the world wide web has to offer about space colonies. You will be looking at several of the latest designs as well as some designs that several students created in order to enter the NASA AMES annual Space Colony Design contest. The end result if you have not already figured it out, is for you and a team of two to three other people to design your very own space colony.



The Task

You and a team of two to three design engineers have been assigned the task of designing a space colony. In order to understand all of the challenges involved with designing a space colony, you will need to divide the work into manageable chunks. You will be assigned to a team of specialists who will research a specific area of space colony design. Then you will be put back into your original design team to report your findings. You will be asked to do the one or maore of the following:

Resources

In order to succeed in your mission, you will need to familiarize yourself with the following websites. The Nasa Ames space colony contest page has contest results for the last three years. A junior high school in Chico, CA has posted some Student designed space colonies. One of the 1995 NASA AMES contest awardees for technical merit is an excellent resource for format and for the history of space settlement.NASA's Space settlement page answers some basic questions about the who, what, when and where of space colonies. NASA and Stanford did a comprehensive study in the summer of 1975 to design a space colony. This is the most detailed information on space settlements on the web. The Lewis One page has graphics and a detailed description of the latest and greatest space colony designed to date. The Paras West homepage provides an interesting twist to space colonization with the use of dolphins in their colony to aid in human healing and therapy. The Russain space station Mir homepage is an excellent resource for current technology and pictures of the space station. The International space station homepage is an excellent source for current technology, pictures, movies , and answers to the all important question of why would we colonize space anyway? The NASA space educators handbook homepage has a link to the space stations in science fiction homepage which will be used to distinguish fact from fiction in current technology.

The Process

In order to design and build a space colony, you as the designer will need to know quite a bit about the state of current thinking and technology in space station and space colony design. You will be asked a series of questions to guide you through the learning process. There is an enormous amount of information available to you and it will benefit you to divy up the initial research phase among your group members as well as the individual projects. Each set of questions will be answered using the web resource listed. So you won't have to look far to get the information, however it may take some digging.


The Space settlement page will familiarize your team with these basic questions about space settlements.


Section 1

  1. Who?

  2. What?

  3. Where?

  4. How?

  5. Why?

  6. When?

  7. How much?

  8. How is the space settlement like a pregnant woman?






The NASA Stanford homepage will be the resource for the next two sections.

Section 2

  1. Fully Sketch, label and dimension the space habitat.

  2. How many people will live in the space colony?(CH 1).

  3. What is sunshine used for in the space colony?(CH 1)

  4. How is the space colony constructed?(CH 1)

  5. Describe how you would travel to the space habitat.(CH 5)

  6. Why does the space habitate rotate?(CH 5)

  7. Describe a residential housing unit. Where is it located in the space colony, and How is housing set up?(CH 5)


Section 3

  1. What are the physiological effects of weightlessness?(CH 3)

  2. What is psuedogravity? How is it created in the space colony?(CH 3)

  3. What other factors need to be considered in designing a space colony? (CH 3)

  4. How much space is needed for each person to reside in the space habitat?To grow plants?(CH 3)

  5. What are the four fundamental steps necessary to build the space habitat?(CH 4)

  6. What are the advantages of the Torus design versus the sphere?(CH 4)

  7. What are the advantages of the Torus design over the cylinder?(CH 4)


The space stations in science fiction homepage will be a valuable resource for the following section.



Section 4




  1. What technology exhibited by these space stations is currently possible?

  2. What is probably not possible with today's technology?

  3. What new technology is needed to make the science fiction devices work?

  4. Add new items to a sketch of the original space stations that should have been included to make the science fiction device work?

Learning Advice

Because of the enormous amount of information that needs to be gathered, it is very important to organize your products. Organize the report of your research on the internet by sections. In a seperate notebook, or file put your reserch to support or defend your position on whether or not you think space settlement is feasible. Draw and label your favorite design for a space colony. Provide reasoning for your choice. Use all of this information as a basis for your own design.

Evaluation

You will be evaluated as a group. As long as all of the elements of this project are complete and coherent you will have accomplished the task at an acceptable level. Obviously this project demands a great deal of effort and time. This will be weighted appropriately in the semester grades.

Conclusion

By the end of this project you will have learned the engineering concepts behind space settlements, and be very well equipped to present an award winning entry into the NASA AMES' annual space colony design contest.

Last updated May 21, 1996. Return to the Space Exploration Unit Page