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Tag: Bernal Sphere

Sustainable protein–in SPACE!

Sustainable protein–in SPACE!

If meat is an unsustainable protein source, what could replace it? I ask the question because, unfortunately, meat production from livestock is an extremely resource-intensive exercise. There literally are not enough resources on Planet Earth to feed everyone in the world a protein-rich, Western-style diet. You don’t have to be vegan to look at the facts and figure that out. One of the most pernicious myths about meat, in my opinion, is the idea that confined animal feeding operations (abbreviated CAFOs) are more efficient and less expensive than…

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DIY Space Station: Farmers in the sky

DIY Space Station: Farmers in the sky

As I’ve been designing a space-based habitat that is home to the characters in my “XK9” novels, one of the recurring questions is how will these people feed themselves? On the eve of the US Thanksgiving holiday, it seems an especially apt question. Space Farmer by Jay Wong: if we’re out there, we’ll have to eat. As you may have picked up from comments I’ve made in several of my previous “DIY Space Station” posts, I have some rather pointed…

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Space Station DIY: Should we go Tubular?

Space Station DIY: Should we go Tubular?

My quest to find a plausible, space-based home for the characters in my novels continued. I needed a space-based habitat that would feel earthlike-enough for me (and my readers) to believe that humans could be comfortable there long-term. But it also must be believable, based on what we know or can reasonably extrapolate from physics, space, engineering, and technology. So far in this DIY Space Station series we’ve considered space stations/colonies in general, Dyson structures, and Bernal spheres. The next design I considered…

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Space Station DIY: Bernal Spheres?

Space Station DIY: Bernal Spheres?

I needed a plausible space station for my fictional characters to live in. My research yielded such riches, I decided to share them with you in a series of “Space Station DIY” blog posts. Today, let’s consider the Bernal Sphere. It’s an idea originally cooked up by John Desmond Bernal in 1929. Bernal was primarily known as a pioneer in molecular biology, but his concept of a spherical habitat in space seemed plausible enough for NASA to launch a more…

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