Star Stuff
Most of these images are the result of my summer 2002 work as a NASA Faculty Fellow at Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. My project was to create metaphoric multi-layered drawings for concepts developed during a meeting titled The In-Space Manufacturing of Space Transportation Infrastructure Workshop. The process of doing the drawings included researching existing NASA CAD-CAM constructions and engineering drawings and doing web searches for metaphoric material. Ideas would evolve as I met with Ann Neighbors Trausch, the organizer of the workshop. My project was to visualize concepts of individual sections of the workshop.
The ultimate goal of manufacturing in space is to achieve the Stepping Stones that would result in the abiltity to Go anywhere, anytime. In one discussion, Ann spoke of the concept of folding and unfolding. My subsequent web-search yielded a representation of the cross-section of the DNA molecule. The resulting piece illuminates Carl Sagan's idea that We are Star-Stuff reaching for the Stars.
My special thanks to Ann Neighbors Trausch for our on-going dialog on the hopeful evolution of humankind. My thanks as well to David Harris who suggested using NASA CAD-CAM images with the metaphoric drawings, and Jack Hood who helped me navigate through software challenges. Finally, I am grateful to Les Johnson, manager of In-Space Propulsion Research of NASA MSFC who provided me with the opportunity to work in a community where visionary ideas are common currency in a place fondly known as, Rocket City.
An Overlay of the signal - feed apparatus from the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. Layered beneath this geometric construct is a smaller steerable radio telescope.
Ascent - Mars & Lunar Vehicle.
A foliated Casimir machine suggested by Dr Robert Forward for extracting energy from the universal vacuum. The second layer shows a hypothetical faster-than-light spacecraft overlaying a space/time-distorting singularity.
Dendrite image with 1mm & 50 microns. Microscopic enlargement.
Carl Sagan's idea that We are Star-Stuff reaching for the Stars.
Phantom Roman Arch, positioned at the L-1 Libration Point where the cosmic highway circles the moon, swings out to Mars and beyond. Featured left and right is a CAD-Cam lunar tug.
Mars with astronauts & launching vehicle.
Between any two celestial objects there are points where their gravitational influence balances called gravity neutral points. Scale with cross section of DNA between the Sun & Earth. An Artificial Gravity Concept Vehicle with the constellation of Libra.
Flower with both line drawings & CAD-CAM seeds of Gateway, Mars Lander, Lunar Lander, Antimatter Propulsion System, Solar Electric Propulsion, Space Solar Power, Microwave Light Craft, Pulse Detonation chemical system.
M2P2 is a vehicle that generates it's own atmosphere in the form of a plasma field. M2P2 on it's way out from Jupiter with an overlay of a DNA cross section.
An idealized nanoprobe approaches a single-celled organism in the depth of space.
Jon Solem's Medusa, a proposed gossamer spacecraft propelled by small nuclear charges. The Medusa would travel through space in a manner analagous to a jellyfish.
Tether & Rocket Orbit the Earth.
Cross section of DNA illuminating the concept of "folding & unfolding". My favorite quote by Carl Sagon is ; "We are Star-Stuff reaching for the Stars".