Month: November 2016

Metallic Hydrogen

Harvard researchers have studied and observed solid hydrogen under pressure at low temperatures. With increasing pressure we observe changes in the sample, going from transparent, to black, to a reflective metal, the latter studied at a pressure of 495 GPa. If it stays a metal at room temperature and after releasing pressure and was also a superconductor then it would be the holy grail of physics. Controlled nuclear fusion, production of metallic hydrogen, and high temperature superconductivity have been listed as the top 3 problems of physics. These problems all involve hydrogen and its isotopes.

Space colony simulator

In addition to being a great game, High Frontier is the most detailed and accurate space colony simulator ever made. It’s so detailed, in fact, that work on it has already led to a couple of novel results.

Stability Benefit of Inverted Endcaps
A cylinder tends to tumble end-over-end if it’s made too long. Previous studies on space colonies didn’t study the idea of cylinder endcaps that bulge inward, like the bottom of a soda can. So we tried it out in High Frontier, and found that such inverted endcaps are better. We don’t mean just a little better; they’re a lot better. So much so, that when real space settlements get built someday, we can pretty much guarantee you’ll see inverted endcaps.

Advantages of Low-Earth Orbit
The classic space settlement studies always assumed they would be built in freespace, such as the L4 and L5 orbits. But in researching the radiation environment of various orbits, we found that the environment in low-Earth orbit (LEO) is much, much more benign than higher orbits. Incidentally, we also found that those classic studies underestimated the amount of shielding needed by 2x.

First Gentleman?

The bigger question is what he should actually do as First Gentleman. He would be “in charge of revitalizing the economy, because, you know, he knows how to do it.” He has “got to come out of retirement” and take on job creation. That struck many people as an awfully broad mandate. Luckily, she seems to have dropped that idea—or, at least, we haven’t heard it lately. It might have been a spur-of-the-moment bid for the hearts and minds of working-class voters in coal country who remember her husband fondly.