Pretty good presentation on the current and future capabilities of DEWs (laser and microwave).  They have around 50 slides that they go through.

bump for the informative post

My guy is shamelessly looking for the free lunch.

The Aurignacian Culture



This video is about the Aurignacian Culture, the first modern human culture to settle in Europe after the neanderthals. They hunted massive animals and made amazing art along the way.

Link to his sources:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NdcLW7OgSsDHJIPhcfcGeRTp7bizKHLuxb31DgY_8gU/edit?usp=sharing

Pretty interesting talks on space habitats.



(1) A Home in Space:  Future Space Habitat Development Efforts at NASA

Paul D. Kessler
Design Team Lead
Lunar Surface Habitat
Habitation Formulation Systems
Habitation Systems Development Office
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

As NASA and its partners’ capabilities for human exploration of deep space continue to mature, so too does the roadmap toward a sustained crewed presence on the surface of the Moon and eventual human missions to Mars. The first launch of the Space Launch System and Orion crew vehicle, the contract award for the first demonstrations of a Human Landing System, and the beginning of construction on the initial elements of the lunar Gateway marked major milestones toward NASA’s near-term human exploration goals: a long-duration outpost in orbit around the Moon and the next footsteps on the lunar surface.

At the same time, NASA is in the early phases of planning the capabilities that will be needed for long-term exploration of the moon and Mars.  Among the common elements that will be required by long-duration stays on the lunar surface, transit to Mars, and Martian surface expeditions will be new habitats unlike any flown to date.  NASA is currently working on development of architectures for those habitats and on the technological advancements that will enable them, with an eye toward systems that will not only extend mission operations but also provide for living quarters that will keep the crew happy and healthy throughout their expeditions.

Beyond the Gateway habitation needs, these capabilities will need to be defined and advanced to support the initial lunar surface missions and to prepare for human missions to the Mars system.  The Surface Habitat is the current concept in consideration to serve as this initial surface habitat that will extend the crew mission durations. It will provide 30-to-60-day habitability for a crew of up to four, allowing astronauts to explore farther and longer on each visit to the lunar sur-face.  NASA is also currently reviewing opportunities to use current or near-term in-space habitation systems as proving grounds or precursors for keeping astronauts safe and healthy during future transits to Mars.  Already, the International Space Station (ISS) is being used for implementation of next-generation life support systems that will inform those used in exploration habitats, and the operations approach for ISS is providing lessons-learned for future science operations around or on the Moon.

While a suite of habitation concepts is currently under study within NASA, the agency is also working closely with US industry through the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) to understand their concepts for commercially provided habitation capabilities as well as close coordination with international partners to understand their desires for in-space and surface habitation.

This presentation will provide a status of these concepts and partnership activities as well as potential future technology and architecture development paths.

Selected Reading & Media References

Kessler, T. Prater, T. Nickens and D. Harris, “Artemis Deep Space Habitation: Enabling a Sustained Human Presence on the Moon and Beyond,” 2022 IEEE Aerospace Conference (AERO), Big Sky, MT, USA, 2022, pp. 01-12, doi: 10.1109/AERO53065.2022.9843393.
(2) Architectures for Crewed Deep Space Missions:  Taking Humans to the Moon, Mars and Beyond

Eleanor E. Morgan
Program Manager & Space Habitation Architecture Lead
Lockheed Martin Space

Recent advancements in space transportation systems and successful completion of NASA’s Artemis I mission have ushered in a new era of human spaceflight, enabling humans to once again travel beyond low-earth orbit. The burgeoning new age of crewed space exploration will entail new technologies and support systems that will need to be developed to sustain humans for longer periods of time in deep space in order to eventually achieve the goal of landing on Mars.

This talk will discuss mission architectures for future orbital, surface, and transport spacecraft that Lockheed Martin is working on in partnership with industry, academia, and government partners to enable future expeditions to the Moon and Mars.

Selected Reading & Media References

(a) Edwards, and T. Cichan, “Adaptable Artemis Architecture Concepts for Lunar and Mars Exploration Goals,” 2021 International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2021.
(b) Summary info on Lockheed Martin’s Orion space capsule: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/orion.html
(c) Moon and Mars work that Lockheed Martin has done: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/capabilities/space/human-exploration.html
(d) Lockheed Martin Mars Base Camp Concept: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/mars-base-camp.html
(e) Background on NASA’s Moon to Mars plans and architecture: https://www.nasa.gov/MoonToMarsArchitecture
(3) Human Centered Space Architecture:  Possibilities for Working and Living on Other Worlds

Daniel Inocente
Space Architect
Blue Origin

Establishing a sustained human presence on the moon and elsewhere in the solar system is a challenging undertaking that requires a complex infrastructure and capabilities to support human and robotic activities.  For example, for a sustained lunar base this infrastructure includes various class 1, 2, and 3 type architectures that are highly dependent on pre-integrated systems as well as robotic construction equipment, among other critical technologies.  A fundamental and enabling element is a habitat architecture that provides the foundation for these activities and allows work that enables future surface exploration and resource development.  A critical challenge for a habitat of significant scale is the landed mass limitations, which need to be overcome to increase habitat functionality.

This lecture will focus on the challenges of designing, engineering, and building the habitat architecture needed for a permanent presence on the moon and elsewhere in the solar system, which can be achieved by producing lightweight, multi-purpose, structurally innovative, and highly integrated solutions.  A high level of integration is necessary to support mission critical functions and to provide facilities where flexible commercial, research, scientific, and industrial activities can take place. This level of habitat integration is an enabling aspect sustainable long-term lunar system ecosystem.

A human-centered design approach is an essential part of the architectural process to design, engineer, and build this type of permanent habitat capability,  The influence of environmental variables such as anthropometry, lighting, temperature, human-machine interactions, comfort, and health directly impact how occupants will inhabit and utilize habitats. These are among the key considerations necessary to develop a habitat architecture with a human-centered focus, extending mission durations, and enhancing human-systems integration.

The result of this human-centered design approach is another level of hybridization and multi-functionality, offering advantages over temporary, limited, or single-purpose solutions. These habitat architectures leverage systems and technologies for their unique characteristics but also offer adaptability for future activities. Other considerations include functions such as environmental protection systems, structures, multi-purpose racks, crew quarters, workstations, and interfaces.

This lecture will discuss new ideas for lunar habitat architecture that can enable the much larger ecosystem needed to build the foundation for future exploration and resource development on the moon and elsewhere.

Selected Reading & Media References

(a) Space Architecture for a Moon Village:  https://pswscience.org/meeting/2412/
(b) Daniel’s website with many publications and links:  https://danielinocente.com/project/moon-village/
(c) https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/cdf/Moon_Village_v1.1_Public.pdf
(d) https://www.dezeen.com/2021/07/07/moon-village-human-centric-inflatable-habitat-the-moon/
(4) On-Demand Infrastructure for the Moon, Mars, and Other Worlds:  Make It — Don’t Take It

Raymond “Corky” Clinton, Jr.
Senior Technical Advisor
Science & Technology Office
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA plans to land astronauts on the Moon by 2025 through the initial Artemis missions.  NASA and its international partners plan to establish a sustainable long-term presence on the lunar surface per the blueprint outlined in NASA’s Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives Development document.  The Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) aims to spur the creation of novel technologies needed for lunar surface exploration and accelerate the technology readiness of key systems and components.  The STMD primary technology thrust areas are categorized as Go, Land, Live, and Explore the Moon.  Technologies in the Live thrust area are captured under the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) and include sustainable power; dust mitigation; in-situ resource utilization; surface excavation, construction, and outfitting; and extreme access/extreme environments.

Living and working on the Moon, establishing a sustainable human presence, requires infrastructure including the technologies highlighted under the LSII.  Making maximum use of in situ resources and living off the land is envisioned to reduce the dependency on Earth-supplied consumables, materials, and hardware that would otherwise be required to be launched from Earth for deep space exploration.

This lecture will focus on development of capabilities enabling on-demand construction of lunar infrastructure.  A brief overview of NASA’s Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) project will include plans for testing of the various candidate lunar construction materials, preliminary design concepts for future lunar infrastructure elements, and the vision for future extraterrestrial technology demonstrations.

Selected Reading & Media References

(a) NASA’s Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives Development.  Document is available online at: https://go.nasa.gov/3zzSNhp

(b) Clinton et al. “NASA’s Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology Project: Overview and Status.” Presented at the International Astronautical Congress, Paris, France, September 18-22, 2022.

Will be interesting to see if they can get them working and start producing them.

Great video as usual from the channel.

Good presentation and book on the Bronze Age collapse and after.

Ha, nice, I'm actually reading that guy's book right now.  Fascinating time period.

Civilizations have bee  rising and falling since GOD flung humans on the Earth.   Hell we are living through a fall

Yeah, his new book just came out a few weeks ago.  Haven't had a chance to read it yet.

I was a little confused when the title referred to the Bronze Age Collapse...and you led off with space lasers.

It would be really cool to go back in time and just like pop in every month for one day from the start of every civilization to the end. Just to see what happened.

I think mathematically it's actually possible to look into the past because the photons are out there still traveling.

So you would need to bend space/time in order to jump out in front of those photons and observe them

Yeah, decided to put everything in one thread to make it easier for me to track them .  I'm getting lazy.

Good talk.  Didn't know the stories behind several of the fruits/veggies that he talked about.

Good discussion on pre-Classical Mayan civilization.

Moar interesting:

Very detailed presentation on everything that will go into planning for an interstellar probe.

I like this thread.
This is a good thread.
This thread has been therefore 'tagged'.

Good presentation on the dinosaur killer or the Chicxulub impact.

Some great videos from this channel.

Lot of odd things with the first couple of elections.

Because Europeans are fucking badasses . Its all right there , all you have to do is look . Pure fucking awesomeness. How anyone could be ashamed of the absolute powerhouse that White European cultures are is beyond me .

Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture addresses this issue pretty thoroughly.

We got to 8 billion mainly because of one man - Norman Borlaug

Came to post this, the authorities did everything they could to obstruct him because "poor people were used to starving."
When I see anything about lost civilizations I wonder if they did the California thing, taxing the population into fleeing, in the final days of the Roman Empire tax collectors were everywhere, one even stood at the bread store to collect the loaf tax.

Great book with one explanation of why

https://www.hoover.org/research/western-way-war

Prefer the fixed scale chart myself.

Shows how quickly the population grew once the industrial revolution started.

I thought it was fat bottomed girls…wait, that makes the world go round…my bad.

Carry on

Interview with Nano Nuclear CEO

Sources

Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory by Jennifer C. French

The People of Sunghir by Erik Trinkaus et al

Growing Up in the Ice Age by April Nowell

Posth, C., Yu, H., Ghalichi, A. et al. Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers. Nature 615, 117–126 (2023)  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05726-0
Bennett, E.A., Parasayan, O., Prat, S. et al. Genome sequences of 36,000- to 37,000-year-old modern humans at Buran-Kaya III in Crimea. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02332-9
Baker, J., Rigaud, S., Pereira, D. et al. Evidence from personal ornaments suggest nine distinct cultural groups between 34,000 and 24,000 years ago in Europe
The Death and Burial of Sunghir 1 - E. Trinkausa and A. P. Buzhilova 2010
The origin of the Gravettian - Janusz K. Kozlowski 2014
The symbolism of breast-shaped beads from Dolní Věstonice - Martina Lázničková-Galetová 2017  https://hal.science/hal-03487162/document
Upper Paleolithic ceramic figurines - Pamela B. Vandiver 2022
A Critical Reassessment of Pavlovian Art and Society - Rebecca Farbstein 2013
Identity and fear – burials in the Upper Palaeolithic - Simona Petru 2019  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330138190_Identity_and_Fear_-_Burials_in_the_Upper_Palaeolithic
Upper Paleolithic Venus Figurines and Interpretations of Prehistoric Gender Representations – Vandewettering 2015  https://core.ac.uk/download/228819915.pdf
The Gravettian burials at Grotta Paglicci – Ronchitelli et al 2015  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342901413_When_technology_joins_symbolic_behaviour_The_Gravettian_burials_at_Grotta_Paglicci_Rignano_Garganico_e_Foggia_e_Southern_Italy
Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines - LeRoy McDermott 1996  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249179303_Self-Representation_in_Upper_Paleolithic_Female_Figurines
Hunters of the Ice Age: The Biology of Upper Paleolithic People - Holt & Formicola 2008  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ajpa.20950
Venus figurines history: https://www.stoneageherbalist.com/p/trying-to-make-sense-of-the-venus

Short video on some capabilities.  Didn't know the KH8 was down to less than 4 inches.

Talking mostly about Ireland.

Interesting video on Viking ship burials in Estonia.

Why did western man succeed?

Guns, Germs and Steel

It’s a great book.

What good are wheels if you don’t have roads?

They weren’t dumb; they were practical.

Lot of interesting ideas/studies in this one.

Can be used for pottery wheels (can use other shapes, but a wheel/disk is easier), used for gears, etc.

Discussion by Hanson on his new book.

They went over battles/extermination of Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, and Teotihuacan.

A lot of interesting discussions.



00:00 Introduction

01:07 Decoding Trump’s Legal Issues

06:49 What This Says About America

08:19 Why So Many Dislike Trump

10:49 Losing Faith in the Justice System

14:22 Exposing the Corruption in Institutions

17:52 Parallels to the OJ Simpson Case

23:38 Radical Ideology in College Campuses

26:53 Sponsor Message: Shopify

28:10 Is Marxism Mainstream in Academia?

32:32 What Crosses the Line of Free Speech?

38:10 Do People Still Believe in Free Speech?

40:40 Can Ivy League Universities Be Saved?

46:43 People Need to Grow a Backbone

49:03 Sponsor Message: Monetary Metals

50:40 Alan’s Dealings With Epstein

56:48 Did Epstein Kill Himself?

1:00:57 What Caused the #MeToo Movement?

1:02:46 Updates on the Weinstein Situation

1:05:15 Sexual Crime as the Last Taboo

1:10:22 Should False Accusations Be a Crime?

1:11:58 What’s the One Thing We’re Not Talking About?

Good discussion around the peopling of the Americas.

Similar to the above, but tracing tools instead of DNA.

This video was outstanding!  Thanks for posting!

Interesting discussion around archaeology in Florida sinkholes.