February 5, 2021 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
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Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Bob, sorry if this has been covered in an earlier post, but in all the discussions here and other places about creating underground environments for habitation on the Moon, Mars and other locations, has there been any proof of concept work done on Earth? Or, is assumed the technology is so basic that no proof of concept is needed? Thanks.
@Gary I would think the concept of TBM (Tunnel Boring Machinery) is fairly well advanced today, so you should be able to bring one or two with you. These things leave a concrete-lining, so you need to source the concrete or bring it with you from Earth.
Don’t bring concrete from Earth. That is a complete waste of resources. Develop concrete from local sources on the moon. That is where we need to develop technology. Boring tech is well, boring at this point.
Joe–
my genius Plan:
Some sort of concrete-esque admixture made with indigenous materials + polymers, so when it sets, it’s airtight.
I was thinking more of the discussions about using lava tubes that exist. Seems to me the issue of sealing up the lava tubes would be a different scenario than drilling passageways in solid ground. You wouldn’t have to drill, but sealing the area off might be more challenging. We have lots of lava tubes on earth. I’m just wondering if anyone has tried to create a living environment in one of those to prove out the concept.
Gary–
I’d be interested in studies on how shotcrete (or similar) behaves off-world.