The Universe - or Nothing Part 1

The Universe -- or Nothing.

by Meyer Moldeven.

About Meyer Moldeven

Meyer (Mike) Moldeven was a civilian logistics technician with the United States Air Force from 1941 until 1974. He was an aircraft emergency survival equipment specialist in the Pacific Area during World War II and a technical writer for several years afterwards.

During the Cold War he transferred to a USAF base in North Africa where he developed logistics plans for USAF-NATO emergency maintenance of disabled aircraft that would land along the North African coast after returning from missions in any future war with the USSR. During the U.S.

post-Sputnik initiatives to create a national s.p.a.ce program, he critiqued aeros.p.a.ce industries' logistics concepts on future s.p.a.ce systems organization, infrastructure and support. Among the studies he critiqued was 's.p.a.ce Logistics, Operations, Maintenance and Rescue' (Project SLOMAR).

During the Viet Nam War, he was the senior civilian in the Inspector General's Office at McClellan Air Force Base, a major logistics installation near Sacramento, California. As part of his 'added' duties during 'Viet Nam' Mike was a hotline volunteer in a suicide prevention center and consequently, an advocate for professionally-staffed 'suicide prevention'

capabilities throughout the entire Department of Defense. He compiled doc.u.mentation, published, and widely distributed copies of his book, "Military-Civilian Teamwork in Suicide Prevention" (1971, 1985 and 1994.) Mike's updated essay on suicide prevention in the U.S. Armed Forces has been included in his collection of memoirs, "Hot War/Cold War -- Back-of-the-Lines Logistics", which is at: http://hometown.aol.com/yarnspinner7191/ myhomepage/military.html

The Preface

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."

-- Dr. Robert H. G.o.ddard

"There is no way back into the past; the choice, as H. G. Wells once said, is the universe -- or nothing.

Though men and civilizations may yearn for rest, for the dream of the lotus-eaters, that is a desire that merges imperceptibly into death.

The challenge of the great s.p.a.ces between the worlds is a stupendous one; but if we fail to meet it, the story of our race will be drawing to its close."

-- Arthur C. Clarke

The Prologue

The Present

A conclusion in the Report to the Club of Rome: The Limits to Growth states: "...within a time span of less than 100 years with no major change in the physical, economic, or social relationships that have traditionally governed world development, society will run out of the nonrenewable resources on which the industrial base depends. When the resources have been depleted, a precipitous collapse of the economic system will result, manifested in ma.s.sive unemployment, decreased food production, and a decline in population as the death rate soars. There is no smooth transition, no gradual slowing down of activity; rather, the economic system consumes successively larger amounts of the depletable resources until they are gone. The characteristic behavior of the system is overshoot and collapse."

Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation, in Biosphere Politics: A New Consciousness for a New Century (Crown Publishers, New York 1991) reports how industrialized and developed nations exploit the sea beds of the world for their rich deposits of industrial minerals and metals. He notes that the struggle between rich and poor nations and multinational corporations over minerals in the vast oceanic seabed is likely to be heated in the years to come, especially as reserves of land-based minerals approach exhaustion.

News media reported in October 2000 that the People's Republic of China announced plans to explore Earth's moon for useful substances. On October 15, 2003 the PRC launched into Earth orbit its first manned rocket.

In a speech on January 14, 2004 the President of the United States of America unveiled a new vision for s.p.a.ce exploration. He called on the National Aeronautics and s.p.a.ce Administration (NASA) to "...gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to worlds beyond our own."

"We do not know where this journey will end," said the President, "yet we know this: Human beings are headed into the cosmos." White House Press Release, January 14, 2004.

The Future

The Interstellar Mining and Teleport System

The System consists of two terminals, each of which includes an integral, fully robotized capability to conduct internal command-and-control, self-maintenance and repair, and logistical, teleportation, communications and other functions and operations essential to its unique mission. The terminal positioned in orbit above Alpha Centauri is designated the Extractor and the terminal positioned along the Solar System's rim is designated the Collector.

The Extractor selects and draws pre-designated elements, minerals and other usable substances from the Alpha Centauri star system, and collects, acc.u.mulates, converts and channels the matter into its spunnel transmission subsystem for direct interstellar transfer to the Collector.

The Collector receives the product, converts it into its original form, identifies, cla.s.sifies, quantifies and records const.i.tuents and ma.s.s; refines and ejects the raw product for transport to and storage along the solar rim or at a location that Authority determines to be more suitable.

The Extractor and Collector terminals are constructed four million kilometers beyond Planet Pluto. During the System's research, development, test, evaluation, engineering, construction, launch and voyage phases, the terminals are spunnel-linked and tested both as separate machines with their support systems, and as the integrated master scheme.

During construction the System is linked to Planet Pluto, employing ma.s.s attractors, orbital dynamics controls and stabilizers, and other means, as appropriate.

The System Authority possesses and Commands a Self-Defense Force under Powers delegated by the President of the United Inner Planetary System (UIPS).

At launch, disengage the Extractor fleet from the Solar System's gravitational and other constraints employing Planet Pluto's outbound orbital momentum plus augmentation thrusters in a manner that the Extractor fleet retains its integrity in transit to destination, and on station in perpetuity.

Position the Extractor in orbit above Alpha Centauri at a location commensurate with data provided previously by drone scouts. Authority, at all times, maintains surveillance and exercises control over operations and support systems, and a.n.a.lyses of the Extractor's functions, structures and equipment.

The Collector is positioned along the solar rim, or elsewhere, as determined by Authority. The Collector is fixed to the Extractor's product launch nodes, functions and operations, and to the Extractor's...o...b..tal dynamics at destination.

The Extractor, operating at destination, a.n.a.lyzes, selects, and draws substance from proximate asteroids, comets, satellites, planetoids, s.p.a.ce debris, swarms, star surfaces, subsurface and other accessible bodies and strata, reduces the substance to teleportable const.i.tuents (the product), loads the product into launch hoppers and dispatches it to the Collector.

Critical to the program's success is timing the Extractor's launch. Piggy-backed to Planet Pluto during construction, the Extractor uses the planet's...o...b..tal momentum for launch. The launch window is precise and short-lived along Planet Pluto's outbound orbit; there is only one launch opportunity in centuries for the Extractor.

Disengaged from Pluto, the Extractor fleet accelerates along its course to optimum velocity through integrated thrust of augmented thrusters or other more advanced propulsion systems that are or become available in time to accomplish the Objective.

The Terminals and their command and control, supporting research and development schemes and projects, facilities, spunnel teleport and other logistics and communications networks, surface and s.p.a.ce stations and outposts is formally designated The Interstellar Mining and Transport System.

Authority acknowledges that the mission, launch and a.s.sets acquisition processes intrigued the whimsical fancy of the solar community during pre-program definition studies and the System was nicknamed "Slingshot".

THE UNIVERSE -- or nothing

Chapter ONE

The recon-patroller's leg and torso-pads fine-tuned their tensions as Lieutenant Pete O'Hare shifted position. His eyes ranged the banks of flickering lights around him. An aberrant indicator caught his eye and he mind-stroked a sensor control. Satisfied, he moved on; the greens held firm.

Planet Pluto arced into view from starboard, half a million kay distant. The mottled moonlet, Charon, orbited the mother planet tightly. Only tanktown Coldfield's dome and its hard unblinking lights broke Pluto's drab crust. A dozen or so rutted trails formed a network that connected encapsulated outposts to each other and to Pluto's solitary city.

The recon-patroller's omni-directional screen displayed the huge cylinder that floated in s.p.a.ce behind him, its gravity-enhanced rotation barely perceptible to O'Hare's vision. Five-meter high orange letters glowed brightly along its blunt bow and stern, and on each quarter sector of its exposed surface, proclaiming the huge cylinder as the UIPS SLINGSHOT LOGISTICS DEPOT.

s.p.a.ce transports, no two alike, rode their magnetic-beam's moorings along the Depot's flanks.

s.p.a.ce tugs and barges labored in all directions, taxis charged about, and s.p.a.ce-cranes swayed above dozens of platforms that protruded from the Depot's hull.

Leviathans off-loaded to barges as other ships in a mult.i.tude of shapes and sizes grappled with cargo from flex-conveyers that snaked from the Depot's gaping portals. Slender, multi-armed s.p.a.ce cranes raised and lowered crates, bundles and modules, and arranged, aligned, connected and disconnected gear and cargo in all directions.