Tag Archives: exploration

Lessons Learned

March 31, 2014 Roze Leave a comment

While the weather kept us from doing much work on the gardens, we’ve done a fair bit of discussion and experimentation internally. Some of this took the form of ‘war gaming’ a situation. We discussed ideas and tried to figure out the best way to handle them.

While Aaron worked on various radio satellite experiments, I began to figure out some of the issues that we would face living in an offworld or dome environment. There were a lot of questions.

How many plants per person to balance CO2 vs oxygen
What variety of plants. This includes herbs, medicinal plants and food.
What kind of livestock?
Water and sewage
Heating and Cooking
Clothing
Privacy and a whole lot more.

One of the big things that came out of the discussion was a Space Oriented Maslow’s Hierarchy. This is what we came up with:

Self Actualization: Personal growth, Fulfillment, helping others
Personal Esteem: Achievement, Responsibility, Reputation, Purpose
Community: Family, Affection, Work groups, Legacy
Psychological: Relationships, Sex, Safety, Stability
Biological: Air, Water, Food, Temperature, Sleep

As the weather warms up, we plan to start working on the gardens again. Plus there will be some new pages. Recipes and Issyroo Prelude, the first part of my book.

Ideas, ISRU

Issyroo is…

April 8, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

An experiment. We are looking at what can be done to expand our knowledge base when it comes to space exploration, gardening and life on Earth. While we are literally starting in our own back yard, we have dreams of expansion. Some of those dreams include seeing a branch of Issyroo Farms on Mars or the Moon.

A dream. We want to see our civilization be able to move off planet. To stretch beyond this Big Blue Marble. In order to do that, we have to look at all the possibilities. We have to dream. We have to think big. At the same time, we want to improve things on Earth. For as one person put it, we are already in space and our space ship is the planet Earth. We need to change our attitudes about Earth and how we treat it.

It’s about having fun as well. Science can be drop dead boring, and we are doing our best to have fun. Yes. Get dirty. Eat weird things. Play with electronics and ‘mad scientist gear’. Why? Because we can!

It’s about living as well. Taking ideas and conversations and pulling the best information together until we have plans that work or ideas that grow into reality.

ISRU

Conestoga Wagons to Starships.

March 12, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

The Pioneer Mentality and the Realities of Space

With few exceptions, the entertainment and aerospace industries combined with modern literature, have done humanity a disservice. Extraterrestrial life and space travel are portrayed as clean, oddly sterile and devoid of the debris of life. Strife is a momentary issue. Everyone has a good lifestyle. The Mounties always ride to the rescue during a disaster. Genetics have weeded out obesity, learning disabilities, disfigurement and birth defects. Only rare throwbacks need glasses, hearing aides or heaven forbid, have mental issues. Life will be so much better in Space.

Or will it? Life in space will be life on Earth in a titanium can or tyvek dome. We can’t keep our planet clean. How will we manage on a ship? It will be dirty, gritty, full of individuals with weird personalities and strange mannerisms. By nature we are hoarders and pack rats. We want those small comforts that remind us of home and Earth. We don’t live in clean room environments, as the average human is host to over 10,000 different types of symbiotic organisms. We sweat, have sex, give birth, die and have other bad habits. Then there are the animals and plants we’ll need to survive. We can’t run home to Mother Earth every time the water tank empties or the air supply fouls. We have to learn to live in space with all the quirks that are inherently human. We have to be pioneers and deal with all the hazards, frustrations, excitement and giggles of life in space.

Ideas

Dreams

March 11, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

Dreams are powerful. They fuel ideas, projects and lives. The pioneer spirit was fueled by the dreams of people wanting to know what was beyond the next mountain range, across the ocean or even over the next ridge. While the days of covered wagons and crowds of people filling the port of Ellis Island are gone, that pioneering spirit is still with us today.

1957 saw the launch of Sputnik which ushered in an era of science and exploration. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed in 1958. President Kennedy declared on May 25, 1961, that “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” People concentrated on exploring the new frontier that was Space. The imaginations of people across the world were captured. Pop culture embraced it with books, TV shows, movies and games. Business and education took a leap forward. Humanity became space-centric.

In the fifty years since Kennedy’s speech, the Space Program has had it’s share of ups, downs, disasters and successes. The International Space Station still has people in space and independent private industries like Space X, Virgin Galactic or Bigelow Aerospace have stepped up and are working with NASA and one another to continue the exploration of space.

The dreams of going to space grew quiet, but never died. New exploration on Mars with unmanned rovers and other unmanned space missions have rekindled the idea that there is something out there to explore. Private individuals are interested in space in record numbers. Groups such as Mach30, Maker spaces across the planet, Mars One, education entities, 100 Year Starship, Space Advocates, and over fifty companies are all looking to see what they can do.

We are driven by the urge to explore. Our dreams are to contribute to space exploration. Just as my Great grandma Rose Sudar and her family dreamed of a new life in America, we dream about life on Mars or the Moon. To this end, we have been looking at what technologies are within our reach. What dreams can we make reality.

ISRU Inspired Farming