Life on Spaceships
Moral Repair: A Black Exploration of Tech
In this Episode Annanda and Keisha Explore The Big Question of, is it worth the expense to go to Mars given the needs on Earth? And what would it be like to live on Mars or in space? They interview Kai Staats, Director of Research for SAM at the University of Arizona Biosphere 2, to get the space tea.
Dr. Cameron Smith, anthropologist and developer of pressure suits at Smith Aerospace Garments explores the new Mars yard at SAM while encumbered by one of his pressure suits, the same worn by crew members at SAM for their EVAs. In this short film Dr. Smith exits the functional airlock of the SAM habitat and then engages the reduced gravity simulator set to the Mars gravity of one-third that on Earth. He explores sedimentary rock layers, an ancient lava tube, a geologically recent rock fall, and gypsum veins.
As with the completion of the pressure vessel and receipt of the first three crews, this marks a milestone in my work at Biosphere 2 and SAM. To learn more visit samb2.space …
The third crew to enter the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars sealed the outer airlock hatch today, March 10, 2024 at 10:00 AM. Friends, family, and colleagues were welcomed to tour the SAM facility as the crew prepared for their six days and five nights journey to the South Pole of the Moon. Christopher Cokinos, Liz George, Julie Swarstad Johnson, and Ivy Wahome entered SAM carrying their personal bins.
Read the full story at samb2.space/2024/03/10/crew-imagination-i-enters-sam/ … and the continuing story of SAM design, construction, research, and visiting crews at samb2.space/blog.
Inclusion II, the second crew to enter SAM, the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars, sealed the outer airlock hatch today, May 10, 2023 at 10:05 AM. Interviews with the French Televisions commenced at 8:30 AM and continued until 9:45 AM when one by one, Bindhu Oommen, Keridwen Cornelius, Sahda Haroon, and Andy Squires entered SAM carrying their personal bins.
As with the first crew, this marks an extraordinary point in my professional life.
Read the full story at samb2.space/2023/05/10/second-crew-enters-sam/ … and the continuing story of SAM design, construction, research, and visiting crews at samb2.space/blog.
Today the very first visiting research crew entered SAM. Five years and five months from concept to design, fund raising, construction, the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM) is now operational. This represents the single largest project I have ever undertaken, and the most diverse, creative, diligent team I have ever employed. We have built the world’s only operating, hermetically sealed and pressurized other-world habitat analog. This is something for which I am truly proud (and totally exhausted).
Inclusion I was welcomed by three television crews, two radio crews, Linda Leigh of the original Biosphere 2 mission, Executive Director of Biosphere 2 Joaquin Ruiz, Deputy Director of B2 John Adams, and more than 60 persons watching the first closure of this unique hermetically sealed, pressurized habitat. Interviews commenced at 5:00 AM and continued until 10:00 AM when one by one, Cassandra Klox, Eiman Jahangir, Bailey Burns, and Sheri Wells-Jensen entered SAM carrying their personal bins.
Read the full story at samb2.space/2023/04/27/first-crew-enters-sam/ … and the continuing story of SAM design, construction, research, and visiting teams at samb2.space/blog.
I was at my car, loading for a trip to town, when I set my half-full water bottle on the hood. I reached into my pocket to grab my keys, my arms full, when I heard the bottle vibrating. My car was not running, rather sitting perfectly still. When I saw what was happening, I set everything down and grabbed my phone to record.
It appears the inherent motion of the water coupled with the rounded bottom edges of the bottle, concave surface of that portion of the Subaru hood, and half full water enabled that trapped kenetic energy to translate into motion. What’s astounding is how the dual-cycle standing waves in the water (meaning, the waves repeatedly return to the same position and height, amplifying the motion) “walk” the bottle down the car’s hood. The motion of the water in the bottle is essentially in equilibrium, the waves casting their energy against the inside of the bottle balanced by the forward “walking” motion invoked by the pull of gravity over an ever-so-slightly sloped surface.
But when that surface changes, the system is imbalanced, the bottle is no longer stable, and topples over the side.
I reset the bottle at the top and without any effort on my behalf, it did it all over again. So much fun!
My former high school physics professor Dan Heim found this worthy of investigation and included a full explanation as the topic for his weekly science essays at Sky Lights.
Astrophysicist Dr. Paul Sutter interviews SAM Director Kai Staats from within the Biosphere 2!
“This week on Space Radio I had the opportunity to catch up with my good friend Kai Staats. Kai joined us from the grounds of the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 as we talked about his newest project, Space Analog for the Moon and Mars. Among other topics, we discussed the removal of perchlorates from the Martian soil and how Methane could potentially be used.” — Dr. Sutter
After two and a half years in research and development, networking and team building, chasing dollars and fund raising, this is the day we can officially say, “SAM IS BEING BUILT!”
SAM is a hi-fidelity, hermetically sealed analog and research center composed of a crew quarters, airlock and hub, and greenhouse with temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide level controls. When complete, SAM will include a half-acre Mars yard for pressure suit, tool use, and rover tests. Located at the world renowned Biosphere 2 outside of Oracle, Arizona SAM is built around the original Test Module, a 480 cubic meter sealed greenhouse with automated, gravity-fed pressure regulation system designed and built by Taber MacCallum, William Dempster, and fellow Biospherians in 1987.
This week I have moved from my residence in Cascabel, Arizona to the Biosphere 2 where I fully anticipate long, back-to-back days of physical labor and further development of this exciting program. It is likely that my own blog entries will be few and far between for the coming year, but I will be posting regular updates about our progress at samb2.space/blog/.
I hope to see you there!
As one who has frequently lived in isolation, in 2013 on a remote ranch in Colorado six weeks without seeing another human, and now in a wilderness abode with the closest neighbor a quarter mile away, the nearest town more than thirty, I recognize that my situation is the opposite from those living in isolation in the city.
This disparity causes me to wonder, Would be more difficult to venture to Mars with crew mates, or totally alone? Living in a highly confined space for more than a half year is certainly one of humanity’s greatest challenges, while the practices of living alone, solo trekking, and meditation retreats are celebrated as a means to elevate the human experience.
Do we also celebrate interpersonal caring, space sharing, and communication in such a way as to uphold those who have “survived” group dynamics in close proximity for extended periods of time? Are there monks who practice daily banter rather than go months without speaking?
Perhaps the original Biosphere 2 was just such an experiment, in the end. Many lessons learned. Surely, every Apollo mission had stories to tell as does every U.S. Navy submarine captain.
In this home-bound arena many people are learning what it means to share a small space with others, or how to go it alone. What we can learn from this experience as we design and construct prototypes for off-world habitation? How can our space program benefit from what are now learning? What does personal space mean, when space is already limited? How can we train individuals to communicate in such a way as to uphold the communal space and respect personal space too? How do you assure astronauts will come out the other end of a long journey bound by the mission objectives and also bound by something even more powerful, friendship for a lifetime? And is over militar training the only way? How does architecture support or undermine interpersonal relationships?
Questions without immediate answers … we will see.
We now have a dedicated website for the Arizona State University, Interplanetary Initiative SIMOC project. There you will find a continuation of the “Postcard from Mars – SIMOC updates”. Please visit www.simoc.space for more!