stranded in space -coping with loss of spacecraft by survival kit concept paper in full

7/24/2019 Stranded in Space -Coping With Loss of Spacecraft by Survival Kit Concept Paper in Full

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Stranded in space coping with a loss of a

spacecraft by space survival kitConcept full paper

1) K.Mohan(Mohan Sanjeevan) Science Scifi writerpoetresearcher (!uthor)

a) "lanetary Science

b) Coi#batore $ndia

c) Mohansanjeevan%&''g#ail.co#

!bstract For safe long distance travels into space , special spacecrafts are needed. Suitably designed Space craftsthemselves can offer protection against the cosmic radiation. The space suit offers good protection by the suitable design

and the specialized fabrics . What if the space craft traveling is to explode with crew having to abandon it?

space survival inflatable dome is proposed for such exigency. Space craft with e!ection mechanism with e!ect button to

activate, propel with the inflatable dome strapped to the bac" is proposed. #n e!ection outside, this can be inflated by the

escaping crew to float up. The fabric and material are designed to withstand the enormous expansion due to gravity less

outer space. The inflatable dome is a temporary shelter till some rescue came. The dome is an inhabitable $uarters with

water and food arrangements with cosmic ray shields.

There will be a secure down%lin" communication to "eep in touch with &arth. re there ready space crafts for rescue? t

present none. 'ut in an era of constant space travel we need spacecrafts ready to ta"e off any time and reach the stranded

in space crew. (i"e the mericans and the )hinese space stations a series of space stations by several countries to have

space crafts doc"ed into them proposed. Space colonies, space hotels and other space outposts may serve as rescue points

to ferry bac" the stranded in space. What about crash landing the space craft when something amiss ?

There are not many immediate par"ing options to land, set up a post , wait for the rescue. This is possible when in the

vicinity of some landable planet or asteroid. *n that luc"y case too the dome can still be inflated ,made into a camping on

the surface of the planet, asteroid . The space craft may not be wor"able after landing safely. The complete loss of space

craft is the ultimate scenario to plan survival in space.

The loss of a space craft completely may happen very much complete pac"age of survival is offered by this inflatabledome with water, food facilities and secure down%lin" . &laborations in the full paper with diagrams

I.Introduction

The concept of Space survival kit in the event of complete loss of spacecraft while travelling in space is

introducedin this paper. The concept for the paper is from one of my science fictions titled Oxygen please!

Theprotoganist is returning to arth. The fuel tanks catches fire and ecause of that he is in danger of losing his

spacecraft. To save his life he aandons the spacecraft operating the e"ection mechanism he escapes into the deep

space he is travelling taking with him the folded inflatale dome# with pump to inflate# ready made food and the

hunger pills$which is another concept within this concept.%#water #on oard processing computer. On settling faraway from the spacecraft due to no resistance in &ero gravity he takes out the folded inflatale dome pumps in air to

make the inflatale dome to float up. The inflatale dome is made of strongest faric material like 'evlar and

(ectron to withstand and alance the enormous stress generated on it y the resistanceless expansion of air

inflating the dome. There is uilt in provisions of communication# power# waste disposal# water storage. )hen the

dome staili&es the protagonist moves in and egins sending SOS signals and he is rescued y aliens.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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This is paper is a concept design of the space survival kit with the inflatale dome and the survival methods adopted

y the escaping crew who lost the spacecraft completely. This as of now is a paper design as it has not een tested

in space. *ormally the spacecraft in deep space refers to the space proe after all the stages of the launching rocket

have een discarded. +owever in the "ourney to the moon y ,pollo -- the crew module flew with the third stage of

the rocket finally discarding it efore entering orit around the moon. The crew module had its own rocket motor to

propel it towards it. The spacecraft referred in this paper is such a powerful crew cain e/uipped with rocket motorand the loss refers to such spacecraft. This spacecraft will have an e"ection mechanism to e"ect the crew from the

aout to e lost spacecraft. The inflatale dome tucked in the spacecraft is ackstrapped when the mishap occurs.

The inflatale dome idea came up without the knowledge of the various inflatale domes especially the Transha

designed y *,S, and the 0igelow aerospaces 112 inflatale module launched into space and now chosen for

sending to ISS$3nternational space station%. +owever a rief look at these is undertaken as a reference eforegoing into the details of various survival arrangements uilt within the dome and also carried y the escaping crew

ackstrapped and as a carry package. 4ommunications# power# water# air# food# waste disposal# provisions are

elaorated

The concept of hunger pill serving as food instead of ready to eat# packaged food is also introduced # ased on my

own research article pulished.

Designing the space survival kit

The idea is to design an inflatale dome with uilt in arrangements of power# communication# waterstorage#waste disposal. 5or air and food separate package with pneumatic pump oxygen and nitrogen cylinders#

canisters for oxygen making torches#fuel cells for making water all have to e kept separately for ackstrapping#

carrying when the space craft is aout to e lost due to fire and other mishaps.

3nflatale faric dome has een tested y *,S, y the design of Transha short for Transit +aitation (echicle

intended for use as 6ars transit vehiclehas een around for many years as hot air alloons# air ships# space suits.

One fine idea to emerge is the inflatale faric for use as a space transit haitat and later as a Transha is the

inflatale faric dome designed# tested and originally intended to e used as 6ars transit vehicle Trans+a# short for7Transit +aitation (ehicle7.. Trans+a consists of a lightweight aluminum and graphite8composite core# 1.19

meters $-- feet%diameter y -2.:; meters $1< feet% tall# surrounded y a =.>1 meter $>; 8foot% diameter inflatale

shell. Trans+a7s inflatale shell has the aility to e folded for launch and then deployed on orit.

3nflatale haitation module made of several functional constituent layers to protect the structure as well as the

crew from the perils of cosmic radiation# micro meteoroid and orital deris# planetary dust# ?( rays. @article hits

test of hyper velocity 3mpact# hydrostatic pressure test in Aohn Space 4enters *eutral 0uoyancy Baoratory with

testing high C atmospheric pressure were carried out. The entire shell was tested for folding # holding the packageconfiguration y deflating and reinflating y pumping with gas y heat exchanger proving the entire workaility in

vacuum D&ero gravity in space.

Though this Transha was a vast improvement on the metallic #composite structure inflatales and intended to eused in the as a haitat this concept was procured y Eoert 0igelow of 0igelow of aerospace and made further

vast improvements to this y his experience in sending inflatale modules Fenesis 3# Fenesis 33 and real space

testing. The 0igelow xpandale ,ctivity 6odule The 0igelow xpandale ,ctivity 6odule $0,6% now in

agreement with *,S, to fly to in >2-9. 3f everything goes well with 0,6# 0igelow has plans to launch aninflatale space station of its own sometime after >2-


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intended to e -1.; metres long y 2#222 kilograms and

>1#222 kilograms

5igure -. $ranshab cut away)

3n8spite of their soft shell# 0igelows inflatale modules are more resistant micrometeroid orital deris MMODthan current metallic8shelled 3SS modules# in part due to 0igelows use of multiple layers of (ectran# a material

which is twice as strong as 'evlar. 3n ground tests# 66OG o"ects that would penetrate 3SS modules only

penetrated half8way through the skin of 0igelows modules.

0igelow also claims that the module provides radiation protection e/uivalent to# and allistic protection superior to#

the 3nternational space station

The haitat is designed to have two solar arrays and two thermal radiator arrays for heat dissipation# as well as lifesupport systems to sustain a crew of up to six astronauts. 3t will also have Ha &ero8g toilet with solid and li/uid waste

collection# semi8private erths for each crew memer# exercise e/uipment# a food storage and preparation station# ...

lighting# and a personal hygiene station.

The wall thickness will e approximately 2.C< metres when the module is fully expanded. The walls are made up of>C to 1< layers for allistic protection# and radiation protectionand will e as hard as concrete once the craft is fully

expanded. The exterior will also feature four large windows coated with a ?( protection film.

6odelled on the Transha and the 0igelow modules# an inflatale faric dome in Toroid shape may e uilt for

use when the space craft is lost. )e have to rememer this is not a full fledged haitat and its only a stop gap

arrangement until

someone came to rescue. ,ccordingly an inflale faric structure is uilt with lesser dimensions say C m in diameter#= m tall# weight around 1222 kgs may e uilt. *eodymium magnets may also e emedded in the faric to generate

a magnetic field to ward off cosmic rays. )hile the inflatale taken out with the escaping crew can e pumped up

pneumatically with air as the same pressuri&es the dome and serves as a reathing gas. ,s there is &ero resistance to


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the internal pressure developed y the Gue to the enormous pressure two type of stress vi&.# hoop stress and

longitudinal stress develop on the wall or the layers covering the wall. ,s the materials like 'evlar and (ectron

have een proven to e strong enough to withstand the stress in &ero g. The hoop stress and the longitudinal stress

are given y Eoarks e/uations for stress and stress

The hoop stress in the Toroidal inflatale is

/uation -.

I-J /D>t

where * is the differential pressure etween the internal volume and the exterior environment. 5or spaceapplications# the external environment is near vacuum# so * simply represents the internal pressure of the module# t

is thickness of the wall

The longitudinal stress in the Toroidal is

/uation >

+%= *b r( ),a

>t r$ %

+ere a is ma"or diameter# is wall diameter. Toroid shape is uni/ue shapes ecause there is no structural limit to

how large the ma"or diameter of the toroid can e. So# for a toroid# the stress is dependant on but independent of a.

This means that atoroid8shaped $unlike a cylindrical or spherical8shaped% pressure vessel is not limited structurally

to what maximum diameter it can e. 5or example# the maximum stress in a module with dimensions of a J 12

meters and < meters# is the same as the maximum stress in a toroidal8shaped module with dimensions of a J 1222

meters and b J < meters. Therefore a toroidal shape may e desirale from a structural8design perspective when an

extremely large volume is re/uired. +owever in the purely temporary shelter awaiting rescue such high volume is

not needed. , temporary shelter is ready when the folded inflatale is inflated y pumping pressuri&ed air

III.Communicating with Earth

5or those stranded in space communication is a life line to message through radio waves as they dont need any

medium to propagate. Space proes have high gain antenna and low gain antenna for communication with arth for

data transmission and receiving commands instructions from arth to move# process data. 3n this temporary set up

only radio wave devices in personal possession of the crew are only needed. The moment the shelter is inflated#

save our soul messages will e sent as a priority

IV. production of oxgen for !reathing

lectrolysis of water is one of the method used in space to produce oxygen for which water is needed. ,nother

method is chemical oxygen generation where oxygen is produced y chemical reactions.
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2F%25CF%2583&ei=nvKYVOnfItPluQT-p4LoCQ&usg=AFQjCNEeSL8ZuVvpHzWuq4rhDLzejN3o_Qhttps://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2F%25CF%2583&ei=nvKYVOnfItPluQT-p4LoCQ&usg=AFQjCNEeSL8ZuVvpHzWuq4rhDLzejN3o_Qhttps://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2F%25CF%2583&ei=nvKYVOnfItPluQT-p4LoCQ&usg=AFQjCNEeSL8ZuVvpHzWuq4rhDLzejN3o_Qhttps://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wiktionary.org%2Fwiki%2F%25CF%2583&ei=nvKYVOnfItPluQT-p4LoCQ&usg=AFQjCNEeSL8ZuVvpHzWuq4rhDLzejN3o_Q


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, chlorate candle# or an o-ygen candle# is a cylindrical chemical oxygen generator that contains a mix of sodium

chlorate and iron powder# which when ignited molders at aout K5%# producing sodium chloride# iron

oxide# and at a fixed rate aout 2 years without decreased oxygen output. Thermaldecomposition releases the oxygen. The urning iron supplies the heat. The candle must e wrapped in thermal

insulation to maintain the reaction temperature and to protect surrounding e/uipment.

4hemical oxygen generators are used as a ackup supply. ach canister can produce enough oxygen for onecrewmemer for one day. )ith ade/uate precautions this method is used. Taking the canisters when e"ecting from

the spacecraft is something to e worked out with more planning

V."etting water for the dail needs

)ater is essential for survival. Grinking water # athing# washing all need precious water. , revolutionary method of

producing water is done y Saatier system which has een installed in the 3nternational space station# This process

was developed y the *oel pri&e winning 5rench 4hemist @aul Saatier in the early -:22s. This process us a

catalyst which reacts with caron di oxide and hydrogen producing water and methane

This techonology has een in development for the past >2 years. This uses a furnace.a muli stage compressor and a

condenserDphase8 separation system

+owever in the stop gap arrangement of a temporary shelter using fuel cells meant for producing electricity is the

est option. Space is the constraint in carrying water in space. )hen space is a constraint nano technology can

come in handy packing more particles in so small a space# @anasonic has recently created nano particles of water.Such a development may e proceeded further to pack a vast /uantity of water in small containers so water meant

for many days may e carried in them. 5rom academic point of view there may e other methods to produce water

ut practical implementation in such situations may not e possile

VI. Meeting power re#uirements

@ower is needed for lighting# on oard computer# instruments

5uel cell is a etter option in providing power. Eadio isotope thermoelectric generators provide electricity to the

unmanned space proes travelling into deep space. )hether this could e used for manned spacecrafts may e

studied for future development.

4osmic rays always omard spacecrafts in space. 4osmic rays contain free electrons too. @lacing powerful

*eodymium permanent magnets will repel the charged particles and if a device and method could e developed to

channeli&e this deflected electrons they may e used as a power source. This again could e a future development


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VII. #uenching the !urning hunger

)e have to eat food to survive. The survivor from the spacecraft loss has to eat too. ,part from taking ready made

food 3 have mooted a new concept of hunger pill in my research paper pulished in Scrid. .4aroodydrates#

proteins# vitamins# minerals# fier are the essential nutrients needed y our ody. C9 other nutrients are needed to

completely fulfill the nutrient re/uirements. )e now have a wonderful technology the nano technology y which

we can pack more molecules of all the nutrients in a small space of a pill. Such a pill will eliminate the need for

eating food. , pill a session will do

Such a pill eliminate the need for taking food. )ill e a oon in space travel. 3n the case of the escaping crew ready

made food as well as hunger pill are availale so the crew will make merry as far as food is concerned.

VIII. $he rescue of the stranded crew

,t present we dont have many space stations except the 3nternational space station and the 4hinese one. 3n an era of

space travel many countries will set up space stations in several locations in space other than arth. 3n such a

scenario there will e always space crafts parked in them which may e used to ferry the stranded crew. Space

colonies# space hotel may also have space crafts parked in them making them rescue points for the crew.

The space craft may also crash land on a neary planet or asteroid ut may ecome unworkale on crash landing. 3n

such case too the inflatale dome will e inflated dome to take shelter till rescue came along. 0etter luck crew!

%cknowledgment

,cknowledging all Scientists and the Science for eing a source of inspiration.

E5E*4S

Since this is a concept generated y me no expansive Bist of ooks ut the reference sources like on the internet

M-NhttpLDDen.wikipedia.orgDwikiDTrans+a

M>N 'A 'ennedy3nflatale Structures Technology +andboo".

httpLDDntrs.nasa.govDarchiveDnasaDcasi.ntrs.nasa.govD>2--2222;:=.pdf

M1NhttpLDDwww.scrid.comDdocD;


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stranded in space -coping with loss of spacecraft by survival kit concept paper in full

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