Copper to Clean Smog

According to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, there are 100 easy ways you can improve the environment. For example, to conserve energy in your home you can use warm or cold water instead of hot water to wash clothes, or you can lower the thermostat on your water heater to 120 degrees.

Remember my October 2012 post Not Captain Kangaroo’s Green Jeans? I wrote about the possibility of wearing jeans sprayed with microscopic particles of titanium oxide as a pollution buster. Researchers are continuously attempting to find innovative ways to cleanse the environment. The jeans are still under research but we may be changing the way we dress in the future.

So what’s the latest idea?

Treehugger.com reports that Dutch artist/designer, Daan Roosegaarde, has developed a device that he hopes will suck the smog from the atmosphere. His idea is to bury copper coils in the ground and use an electrostatic charge to attract the smog particles to the coils. Gizmodo.com states that once the particles are pulled from the sky they can be compressed and repurposed.

The theory is sound. According to Pocket-lint.com, scientists at the University of Delft in The Netherlands have cleared the air of one cubic meter in a five cubic meter room.

Beijing smog – Courtesy Google Images

It would be impractical to try and build a smog-sucker large enough to clear an entire city. Therefore, Roosegaarde plans to install the system in a section of a city park in Beijing, China, and clear a small sector of Beijing sky. According to Gizmodo.com, the device should be able to create a 22,500 square foot area of clear sky and Roosegaarde, hopes it will show the locals what life could be like without the pollutants.

Beijing is among the smoggiest cities in the world. I’m sure any relief would probably be welcomed.

How cool would it be if technology advanced to the point where we could build super-sized smog suckers? I know this isn’t a solution to the problem of air pollution but in combination with prevention efforts, maybe my grandkids’ kids won’t have to worry about wearing respirators to play outside.

I wonder, could the copper coil/electrical currents have adverse effects on other parts of the environment? Is clean air a pie in the sky dream?

Mars or Bust

I’m old enough to remember July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon. It was the greatest trip anyone had ever taken.

Courtesy Google Images

Bas Lansdorp and Arno A. Wielders are co-founders of the nonprofit Mars One Project. These men have a vision that the next greatest trip ever taken will be to Mars.

The Mars One Project is soliciting volunteers for a one-way trip to the red planet. Their goal is to have four people travel to Mars and establish a base by 2023.

These four intrepid souls would be followed every two years by more colonists bringing supplies.

Courtesy Google Images

According to the Mars One Project’s website, the plan is built upon existing technologies available from proven suppliers. The roadmap is:

1. Send supplies to the general location of a settlement site
2. Send a rover to scout a permanent settlement site
3. Send living and life support units and a second rover
4. Send the settlers

It’s a lofty endeavor and there are detractors. According to The Register, the Chinese government, via its state run media, has raised concerns. They are branding the Mars One Project a hoax, claiming that BasLansdorp has admitted that a Mars landing in 2023 is unlikely. BBC News reports that Dr. Veronica Bray, from the University of Arizona's Lunar and PlanetaryLaboratory, says, “I have no doubt that we could physically place a human being on Mars. Whether they'd be able to survive for an extended period of time is much more doubtful.”

More than 80,000 people have submitted video applications. 80,000 plus people are willing to risk their lives in an attempt to be the first humans to set foot on Mars.

Even if I was in my twenties and craved excitement, I wouldn’t volunteer …it’s a one way trip! And talk about high risk? The Marstronauts are going to be on their own. There won’t be any rescue … once they are there, they are there...Forever! Think about it … no physicians. If their food and water supplies are contaminated, there’s no ready replacement. If the life support were to fail …

Nope, I think I’ll stay right here on Earth.

However, I’m glad there are people willing to take risks like this. It’s daring people like the Marstronauts that blaze a path to discovery. And, I have to admit … how cool would it be to colonize Mars?

I know I have no desire to leave this planet, but would you volunteer for a trip to Mars? Why or why not? Leave a comment below.

SpaceX – A New Era in Space Travel

There are a number of nations (e.g., the United States, Russia, China, India and Japan) that have satellites in orbit. Only a few nations have demonstrated the ability to launch spacecraft (Russia, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, and India).

One sovereign nation, North Korea, has made three failed attempts (2006, 2009 and most recently April, 13, 2012) to launch weather satellites. The suspicion is that these launch attempts are thinly veiled tests of a ballistic missile delivery system.



Courtesy Google Images

Therefore, when SpaceX sent a cargo capsule, the Dragon, that docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, May 25, 2012, they accomplished something that no other private citizen had—build a spacecraft that docked with the ISS. I think it’s remarkable that they achieved this feat in just ten years.

There are other competitors in the commercial space realm. According to the Washington Post there are five other company’s which may be close to following SpaceX into orbit.


· Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia
· Alliant Techsystems, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia
· Boeing Co. of Chicago, Illinois
· The Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nevada
· Blue Origin of Kent, Washington

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk, the creator of PayPal, in 2002. SpaceX’s COTS 2 Mission Press Kit states that Musk’s vision was to eventually make it possible for people to live on other planets.

What do you think? Is this the first step toward commercialization of space?

Photos: http://spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com/

Videos: http://vimeo.com/spacexlaunch

Japan's Spy Satellite

Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun.  I was on an extended deployment in the summer and early fall of 1981, a bit over seven months.  The squadron I was attached to, VMA 223, was fulfilling our portion of a three-squadron rotation.

We were assigned to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni, Japan.  The most lasting memory I have of Iwakuni is the smell of smoldering flesh.  There was a crematorium in the town and on Thursdays they burned the bodies.  That is an odor that will forever be imprinted on my olfactory system.  YUCK!

I was very young and did not understand the opportunity I had to explore a country with such a rich history.  I managed to spend a day in Hiroshima.  I don’t recollect much and I don’t think I took many pictures.  I mostly remember two things:

1.    It was the first time I had seen the brightly colored koi fish.

2.    There was a McDonalds in Hiroshima and this offered a little taste of home.

I did see some of the land though.  We lost an airplane (the pilot ejected safely) and I was one of the many assigned with searching for missing pieces.  Four of us trudged through a rice paddy and then there were three of us.  One of our party had fallen into a hole that had been covered up.  He didn't get hurt but it took us a few minutes to extricate him.

Why do I reminisce about this short tour of duty?  I was thinking about Japan on Monday, December 12, 2011, because the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched a spy satellite.  I didn’t know the Japanese had spy satellites.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; I knew they had this capability since they are partners on the International Space Station.  I just never thought of Japan as having a need for spy satellites.  They started this effort in the late 90s after North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

This isn’t even their first spy satellite; it’s their seventh launch since 2003.  This satellite is radar tipped which, when operational, will allow the Japanese to monitor ground conditions at night or through cloud cover.  The need to monitor their own landmasses became especially crucial following the tsunami and earthquake in March, 2011.

I have a military background and I’ve worked in the aerospace industry for over 25 years, yet I never thought of Japan as requiring spy satellites.  When I ponder those who might be monitoring from above I don’t think of Japan but rather Russia, China and the U.S.  But, I guess I’m going to have to alter my world view and realize that the Big Three don’t have a monopoly on the sky.  Is Big Brother watching?