Hello all,
was on 7 panels at the Archon 45 conference in Collinsville IL 30 Sep to 02 Oct and it was tiring but fun!
(Archon page: http://www.archonstl.org/ )
3 panels were on space farms or a twist thereof, 2 on current and near term space tech, and 1 on AI and the future.
I put the core slides on my space farm site: http://www.spacefarms.info :
Back from NSS ISDC 2022, and it was amazing to see people in the flesh again.
The National Space Society (NSS) in many ways is like a family, with people who share a pasionate vision for a future where people of all types and stripes live and work in the expanses of space for the benefit of Earth and the future. In my terms, Trillions of Happy, Smiling, Babies. The NSS is not nearly just engineers and scientists, and indeed is mostly just normal populace, from retired teachers, to high schoolers, to artists, to farmers, and many others. The International Space Development Conference (ISDC) the last few times was virtual due to the 'VID but this time was in Arlington VA. I did two presentations, one in the space ambassador track, one in the space settlement track, and was on a panel too, all on farming in space.
All those presos are on my site here ( https://www.combat-fishing.com/animationspace/terraform.html).
Met many cool people, including a former head of NASA, other authors and artists too, and especially with other people from around the world who work on using plants, bioreactors, and maybe fungi and animals, to close the mass flow loop in space (i.e. take the human outputs, and turn them into human inputs).
Also saw many posters from the 'puppy engineers' from the International Space Settlement Competition (know some kids who like science? GET THEM TO ENTER!!!!) and a few from the International Space Settlement Design Competition (for slightly older kids, again GET THEM TO ENTER!!!) So much promise makes me feel joy and hope!
Will be advising a few other sci-fi authors on space farms, and am working up a project to run out of the SAM facility at U of Az, or similar, to get some space farm tech matured. Want to play at being a space farmer? Check out SIMOC (https://simoc.space/).
As a result of all that interaction, I now have my list of technical reviewers for my own Space Farm reference book (though for a general audience, not just geeks), hoping to have a publisher lined up very soon.
Ad Astra!
Bryce
I have a friend doing a bit of copy-editing and general 'lets see if it flows' over the complete draft of the space farm book
Farms in Space: Balances for Life Support, Food, and
Settlement
All the illustrations, diagrams, and tables are done, as are references (though may need to be formattted for publisher)
also tying up the index and glossary while the editor is poking at it.
So far it is a little over 414 pages, with much of that tied up in 332 figures, and 88 tables, and no equations (though I do walk through examples).
Summary is something like this:
The future of space exploration, space stations, and space
settlements hinges on our ability to grow tasty nutritious foods as part of
recycling the air, water, and wastes from people in space. Technologies to make
this future occur are mostly already in use in urban farms, vertical farms,
chemical factories, and old school soil farms. This book provides a simple
walkthrough of the chemistry, biology, machinery, plants, animals, and
engineering required to make agriculture in space and closed loop recycling
possible. Targeted at any interested person, there are over 330 diagrams and
illustrations, dozens of tables, and simple processes that make anyone a future
space farmer. The book also includes a story to show what it is like to work in
a space farm, menus and meals from the farm, and future work to bridge the
technological gaps. The technologies and methods in this book can also find use here now, to feed a hungry world!
also shopping for a real publisher to carry it forward.
Ad astra!
Bryce
Just got back from NSS Space Settlement Summit, and helped run a nice session and panel on space settlement technologies at ASCEND 2021. Also posted all my presos on my SpaceFarms.info site.
The Space Farm guide/book for technically interested readers of all backgrounds from high school to grad school is about 90% complete, and has has some posisitive reviews and fixes (thank you to Dr. Jane Shevtsov for lignin advice!). Looking for a publisher too. Has 280 pages so far, likely end up around 350 pages once imagery, index, glossary, and reference tables are added. Well over 200 figures so far, and around 50 tables. Usable by anyone, and limits the technobabble and math to a minimum.
Also have 2 fantasy stories and a sci-fi novel in slush piles.
Remember Veterans Day on 11th Nov in the USA,
Bryce
