Some background information on our plans for the comming years:
In this paper we, the staff of CAN zero-gravity cristal synthesis reasearch labaratory 23 in Brazilia, present a concept for the construction of orbital elevators and skyhooks.
Recent developments in the production of hyperceramics and carbon nanotubes has opend up the possibilities of making cables capable of spanning from the surface of earth up to earths lower orbit or even higher. Two desings have been proposed.
First of all, the simplest desing is the space elevator. This structure is composed of a shaft that reaches from the surfaces up to and beyond geostationary orbit. To avoid deviation this structure has to be placed close to the equator, and preferably on an elevation like a mountain. The orbital end of the elevator would require a counterweight to bring the center of gravity up to geostationary orbit.
The reulsting cable would be several meters thick and would be capable of supporting a transport vehicle capable of brining materials up to planetary orbit.CAN future desing raport 563Z describes a possible desing for such a transport vehicle. Special measures have to be taken to avoid damage by meteorites and space junk, which needs to be solved before construction is possible. esearch Subject File 12989BD contains all availible knowledge concerning this problem.
A second possibility is the contruction of a satelite with an attached cable, which could possibly rotate to facilitate the transport. The resulting object could "catch" materials from the upper or possibly even lower atmosphere and bring it up to orbit. The advantages are that there is much less material needed and the hook can pick up materials on different lattitudes then the equator. The downside is that it is likely too dificult to make a skyhook capable of lifting objects from the ground *(Edit: this corporation does not aprove of the use of the word "too dificult")*
Due to the smaler nature of a skyhook, this desing would be best suited as a temporal transport system for transporting materials from and to a planet that doesn't have the infrastructure for a space elevator. It can also be relocated to a new planet if neccesary, making off-world production and direct deployment a possibility. A desing proposal for an emergency evacuation skyhook for evacuating small planets and moons has been filed as CAN future desing raport 563J.
Due to the diffuculty of colonising the surface of Venus, we, the staff of CAN Advanced Nanostructural composit reasearch labaratory 23 in Saint Petersburg, describe in this paper a possible colony type to be used on Venus. We also suspect that this desing could be adapted to be usefull for the colonisation of Gas planets like Neptune.
The desing is quite simple. The breathable gas mixture that is found on earth, consisting of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen, provides buoyancy in Venus' dense atmosphere. Therefor it is possible to construct colonies that float at an altitude where the air preassure is close to earth's 10.000 pascal. Such a colony would not be self-supporting due to the lack of Hydrogen in Venus' atmosphere, which limits the production of watter. This is a problem that has to be solved. CAN future desing raport 598D has been filed, describing a methode for bringing a small Ice Moon from jupiter or saturn into orbit around Venus and CAN future desing raport 598E describes an alternative methode in which the ice moon impacts upon venus, directly altering the composition of the atmosphere.
Venus' atmosphere does hold another interesting prospect. The high concentration of carbon dioxide means it would be feasable to extract carbon from the atmosphere and use it to produce large quantities of carbon compounds, like carbon nanotubes or grapene. The extreme conditions on the sorface level could even facilitate this process if we are capable of protacting our factories from the high temperatures and acids. CAN future desing raport 598K has been filed, describing an autonomous factory desing capable of opperating under high temperature and pressure. CAN future desing raport 592B describes a Hyperceramic material that could possibly provide the shielding needed to protect this factory from prolounged exposure to Venus' atmosphere.
A final thing has to be taken into consideration: The high amount of solar activity on venus, combined with the low availability of uranium and hydrogen means that our colonies will have to rely on solar pannels. We have proposed Research Subject File 12009ZC as a possible compilation of all technologies that could be expanded upon to furfill these needs. The use of a large amount of solar cells would cause the amount of radiation energy in the lower atmosphere of venus to shrink, possibl causing liquification of the availible carbon dioxide. This means that transportation of Carbon Dioxide to Mars for terraforming might become a possibility over time. CAN future desing raport 607C has been filed, describing a possible desing for a large scale liquid gas transport space ship, and CAN future desing raport 612D ha sbeen filed, describing a possible modification fo the skyhook concept to enable toe pumping of liquified Carbon Dioxide. These two desings might be used on gas planets like Uranus or Jupiter to provide fuell for FTL engines. Research Subject File 12084DX contains most of the known projects dealing with this posibility.
