4. Introduction to Space&Energy
The parallell challenges and opportunities within the space and energy
industry hides a vaste potential for competence and technology transfer.
“The link between space and offshore is interesting because We believe the intersection and interaction of these two large industries
it may lead to development of exciting technology and
new business in Norway.
will generate new solutions and new business opportunities. And we believe
” the examples and visions will ignite new interest and new perspectives
Minister of Trade and Industry
Trond Giske on both industries from politicians, professionals, students and public.
During the ONS 2010 we will show this through conferences, seminars,
“ONS has always been focused on new technology areas. the Space&Energy park and this magazine.
Oil and gas industry is coupled with the rest of the energy
cluster in front of significant technological challenges, and
it is natural to find inspiration, knowledge and technology
from the aerospace industry.
” Kjell Ursin Smith “My aim as editor of this magazine is to kindle an interest
ONS in the often surprising interaction between the development
of ocean and space. Despite our many challenges, we
“Offshore and space activities both need innovative solutions,
inhabit a world filled with possibilites and promise – if we
are willing to think outside the planet.
skilled people and technology with extreme qualities. It is
therefore natural to exchange knowledge and experience
”
Erik Newth – M.Sc. and editor
across these industries and to take a joint effort to stimulate of Space & Energy
interest in education in technology and science.
”
Odd Roger Enoksen – CEO Andøya Rakettskytefelt AS
and former Minister of Petroleum and Energy
Thanks to our partnerships that made this possible:
Norsk Romsenter
NORWEGIAN SPACE CENTRE
6 7
5. NASA
Inner and outer
space
Here’s a little-known, but important fact:
Fewer people have visited the deepest point
on our own planet than have been to the Moon.
I
n fact, while twelve Americans have matched innovation in the field of manned
NOAA
walked on the lunar surface, only two spaceflight.
people have ever seen the bottom of the
10,911 metre deep Mariana Trench with The two great frontiers
their own eyes. The parallel explosion in deep sea and
space exploration was no coincidence.
Those intrepid explorers were Jacques Pic- World War Two left mankind with two great
card and Don Walsh. Their craft was the Tri- frontiers left to explore, and the technology
este, a submarine designed to withstand with which to explore them: SCUBA gear
more than one thousand times atmospher- and the space rocket. This technology,
ic pressure. which matured in the 1950s and 60s, paid
dividends during subsequent decades, from
20 minutes at the bottom deep-sea oil wells to satellite TV.
The Trieste reached the floor of the Mariana
Trench on January 23, 1960. Worried by a The similarities do not end here, however.
crack in one of the windows, Piccard and The ocean and deep space are both incom-
Walsh stayed for only twenty minutes, patible with human life. Pressure is a chal-
which was time enough to make the stun- lenge in both environments (although in
ning, and since confirmed, discovery that opposite ways), as are temperature, isola-
fish and shrimp can thrive even at this tion and the sheer physical danger and ex-
depth. pense of operating under such conditions.
The Trieste mission was followed by a series Now what?
of innovations in the 1960s, such as the There’s a less inspirational comparison to
world’s first underwater habitat, deep-tow be made here as well. The US manned space
sonar and the underwater robot. This was programme is effectively closing down in
also the heyday of Jacques Cousteau, the 2010, with no plans to go back to the Moon
world-famous explorer and populariser of or venture further afield. Likewise, no hu-
all things oceanic. man has dived deeper than 6500 meters
since the Trieste mission – it actually took Lieutenant Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard
Meanwhile, Soviet Russia and the United 35 years for a robotic vehicle to reach the in the cramped quarters of the Trieste.
States were engaged in the Space Race, same depth. >>
which would result in a decade of un-
8 9
6. NOAA
In 1979, American oceanographer Sylvia Earle
performed the deepest untethered walk
(381 metres) by any human before or since.
>> In more ways than one, it seems as if we ter all, it was the pictures taken by Apollo
have lost our spirit of adventure. This is not astronauts that made us appreciate that
just a question of exploration for its own we live on an ocean planet.
sake, though. As land-based resources are
depleted in our quest to satisfy a growing, In 1979, American oceanographer Sylvia
more affluent population, the two final Earle performed the deepest untethered
frontiers can only increase in importance. walk (381 metres) by any human before or
since. Earle used a “Jim suit”, a bulky metal
But if we are to make use of the huge re- diving suit designed to maintain a pressure
sources hiding beneath the waves and of one atmosphere regardless of the exte-
above the atmosphere, we need to reinvig- rior pressure. The Jim suit was used exten-
orate human exploration of both spheres. sively by the offshore oil industry for years,
And you can’t do one without the other. Af- before being phased out in the 1990s.
*
10 11
7. NASA
Robots:
Robonaut 2 is a NASA project aimed at
creating a humanoid robot that can work
alongside humans in space and on Earth.
doing our
dirty work
The iconic TV series Star Trek had the tag line
"To boldly go where no man has gone before."
Now we know who really went to all those
dangerous places in outer space: robots.
F
or the foreseeable future, space be- mission that might last decades is there- stereoscopic images from which scientists
longs to our robots. Likewise, robotic fore carried in a plutonium "battery". on Earth will identify target destinations. It
Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) is then left up to the rover to calculate a tra-
reign supreme in the deep oceans. But al- Communication is slow and cumbersome, jectory that enables it to travel safely for
though ROVs may have the same general as the number of bytes transmitted per about 100 metres per Martian day (24.5
appearance as space robots, the differences second plummets as the distance increas- Earth hours).
are significant. es. The receiving stations on Earth need to
be large and evenly distributed around the In addition to the navigation software, EX-
First and foremost, ROVs are tethered to a globe to catch the exceedingly weak signals OMars is equipped with close-up collision
vessel on the surface, and operated directly as our planets rotates. avoidance cameras. Basically, long before
by a human being. Power and communica- the first astronaut sets his or her foot on
tion are readily available through the um- Beyond the moon, having remote control in Mars, the planet will have been explored for
bilical cord connecting the ROV to the sur- the usual sense of the word is impossible. us by robots with a level of intelligence sim-
face. If something goes wrong, the vehicle The travel time of signals from Mars, com- ilar to an insect.
can usually be hoisted to the surface and paratively nearby, is of the order of half an
repaired. hour. This means that space probes need to Remote patching
have a high degree of autonomous behav- If anything goes wrong – and something
Autonomy in space iour. usually does – engineers have to solve the
Space probes and rovers, on the other hand, problems without having direct access to
need to be as self-sufficient as possible. Robotic mission to Mars the affected machinery. Take the Voyager 2
Outside the inner Solar system, solar panels The EXOMars mission, which is scheduled space probe, which in May this year devel-
are no good, and all the energy needed for a to arrive on the Red Planet in 2019, will take oped a potentially lethal software problem.>>
12 13
8. The unknown subsea
>> That a computer which had been ex- Although the subsea environment is far development. Kongsberg's HUGIN AUV is
posed to the radiation and vacuum of space more complex than the barren surface of a typical example. This battery-driven free-
energy source
for 33 years was still running, was less im- Mars, it is easy to imagine a future where swimming vehicle has a high degree of
pressive than the fact that a fix was up- deep-water subsea installations are moni- independence, and is used for seabed map-
loaded successfully at a distance of 13.7 bil- tored and maintained by the advanced ping and imaging, geological surveys, in-
lion kilometres. descendants of today's AUVs. Many of these spection of underwater structures such as
robots could resemble and emulate the pipelines, search operations, environmental
Underwater robots behaviour of fish, moving in schools and missions, and military applications such as
The nearest equivalent to space probes in driven by with artificial curiosity. surveillance and reconnaissance.
the ocean are the autonomous underwater
vehicles, or AUVs. Today, these robots are of- Kongsberg Maritime, based in Kongsberg, Robonaut 2 is a NASA project aimed at crea-
ten used to make detailed maps of the Norway, is a leader in the field of AUV ting a humanoid robot that can work along- It looks a bit like ice but burns when you light it, and is mostly
ocean floor prior to installing subsea infra- side humans in space and on Earth. At its
structure. But their role and importance current stage of development, Robonaut's found in sediments at the bottom of the ocean. Methane hydrate
could be increasing, as oil exploration and advanced hands allow it to use the tools
exploitation moves into deeper and colder built for astronauts, which removes the might be our next major fossil fuel resource.
waters. need for tools made just for robots. Robo-
naut could perform repetitive and hazard-
Autonomous robots make sense from an ous extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) on the
economic perspective. By performing rou- International Space Station, or serve as the
Wikimedia Foundation
tine subsea tasks, AUVs will be crucial to the “crew” on a robotic precursor mission to a
automation of the offshore sector. human landing on Mars.
*
M
Conceptual drawing of ethane hydrate is a frozen mix of
the future ExoMars Rover. water and methane which forms
in conditions of low tempera-
ture and high pressure. Crystals of deep-
ocean methane hydrates were discovered
a few decades ago. Although its true extent
is unknown, it is estimated that hydrates
represent energy reserves twice as large as
all conventional gas, oil, and coal deposits
combined. Recently, Japanese scientists dis-
covered a methane hydrate deposit large
enough to meet the energy-poor country's
needs for a decade.
Carbon capture combination
As yet, no one knows how to exploit this re-
source in a safe and profitable manner
without damaging impacts on the environ-
ment. Methane is known to be a powerful
greenhouse gas, and deposits of hydrates
may contain free methane which could be
released into the atmosphere during sub-
sea mining operations.
Alaskan trial run A block of methane hydrate crystals (white)
Two scientists at the University of Bergen, Another advantage of Kvamme and Graue's embedded in sediment found at a depth of
1200 metres offshore Oregon, USA, by scientists
Bjørn Kvamme and Arne Graue, are devel- approach is the reduced risk of sedimentary
aboard the research ship FS SONNE.
oping a method which could solve two fracturing and landslides on the ocean floor
problems at once. In cooperation with caused when the CO2 replaces the volume
ConocoPhillips, Kvamme and Graue are of the methane hydrate lost through min-
working on a technique to extract methane ing. A trial run of the method will be carried
gas by injecting liquid carbon dioxide into out on the North Slope region of Alaska,
hydrates, combining carbon capture with which is known to contain huge reserves of
fossil energy extraction. methane hydrates.
*
NASA
14 15
9. Romsenteret, Bjørn Ottar Elseth, bjorn.elseth@spacecentre.no
This image of a model of AISSAT-1 being handed over to Senior Adviser
Bjørn Ottar Elseth at the Norwegian Space Centre by Chief Scientist
Bjørn T. Narheim at NDRE, shows how small the satellite is.
The Norwegian We are still waiting for the moment when the first
Space Industry
Norwegian enters space, but Norwegian scientists
and businesses are heavily involved in all other
aspects of space exploration.
T
he Norwegian space industry em- dition) facility on Svalbard is used for train- communications antenna-pointing mecha- satellite was launched in July of 2010, and One of Norway's most important contribu-
ploys 3000 people, with an annual ing for unmanned and manned Mars mis- nisms for the European Space Agency's new will monitor maritime activities in Arctic tions to space exploration is the Svalbard
turnover of more than $1 billion. This sions on a regular basis. climate satellites, Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-3A. waters through the Automatic Identifica- Satellite Station (SvalSat), which was estab-
makes it larger than the traditional forestry tion System (AIS), a short range coastal lished in 1997. At 78°13' N, SvalSat is the
industry. Supplying space missions Designing hybrid rockets traffic system currently used in shipping. northernmost ground station in the world.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) pro- Nammo, which has developed advanced This gives it a uniquely favourable position
ESA
As one of the leaders in solar science, vided systems integration for the Cassini- rocket motors for military clients since the Seagoing vessels of more than 300 gross for supporting satellites in a polar orbit.
Norway has played a central role in the Huygens mission, which is still delivering 1960s, recently signed a contract with Ari- tons are required to be fitted with AIS, and Presently, SvalSat comprises a station build-
development and processing of data from data of astonishing quality from the planet anespace for the delivery of 700 rocket en- AISSAT-1 will use this to track ship move- ing and six antenna systems, up to thirteen
the SOHO solar observatory. At a time when Saturn. The Norwegian Defence Research gines during the next five years. Nammo is ments in a region of great importance to metres in diameter. Kongsberg Satellite
the influence of the Sun on the Earth's cli- Establishment (NDRE) developed one of the currently working on a unique hybrid rocket Norway. The Norwegian Space Center owns Services also runs the Trollsat ground
mate is a hotly contested topic, research
into "space weather" and other Sun-Earth-
instruments aboard Cassini, and is also in-
volved in instrumentation for the ExoMars
design, where the fuel is stored separately
in one solid and one liquid component.
the project, with the Norwegian Defense
Research Establishment responsible for the
station, located at 72°S in Antarctica.
*
related processes is of great value. project. Hybrid propulsion offers solutions which technical implementation at a cost of ap-
are both safe and environmentally friendly. proximately $6 million.
Training for Mars on Svalbard KDA delivered the mechanisms that rotate
Researchers from the Norwegian University the solar panels on the Rosetta spacecraft, Making an Arctic nanosatellite NDRE will test the satellite for a year before In 2014, the European Space Agency's Rosetta
of Science and Technology in Trondheim which in 2014 will be the first of its kind to AISSAT-1 is an ambitious Norwegian space Kongsberg Satellite Services takes control. lander will touch down on the nucleus of the
comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
have conducted biological experiments at orbit and deploy a landing craft to the project. This "nanosatellite" consists of a The Norwegian Coastal Administration will
the International Space Station, and the nucleus of a comet. KDA also won the con- cube measuring only 20 by 20 by 20 centi- integrate the data from AISSAT-1 in its land-
AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expe- tract for the delivery of the solar panel and meters, weighing in at six kilograms. The based AIS system.
16 17
10. A selection of NASA
space technology spinoffs
For every public dollar invested in space research
and development, the US government receives $7
back in the form of taxes from space-related business.
H
ere are some of the many scientific NASA has also contributed to the develop-
breakthroughs and products directly ment of smoke detectors, flat panel televi-
derived from the space industry: sions, high-density batteries, food packag-
advanced scheduling systems, structural ing, freeze-dried technology, hair styling
analysis software, air quality monitors, vir- appliances, fogless ski goggles, self-adjust-
tual reality and telepresence systems, en- ing sunglasses, composite golf clubs, hang
riched baby food, scratch-resistant lenses, gliders and art preservation.
pool purification systems, a more aerody-
namic golf ball, shock-absorbing materials
for sports shoes, programmable pacemak-
ers and breast cancer detection systems.
18 19
11. NASA
NASA
Field testing rovers on Svalbard, such as this model
during the AMASE 2006 expedition, is useful for
scientists planning future Mars missions.
Rechargeable
fuel cells in space
Although the principle behind fuel cells was
discovered in 1838, it was NASA that sponsored
the first commercially viable fuel cell as a part
of the manned Gemini project in the 1960s.
Space spinoffs
on the continental shelf
Remote sensing and positioning services based on GPS are two areas
where the offshore industry profits from space research. In years to come,
many other space-based technologies will make an impact offshore.
S S
ince then, fuel cells – batteries where Potential satellite boost Without hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, the oon, the detection of hazardous gas to "tune" the sensor to find gases of interest.
electricity is generated in reactions Communications satellites are powered by Apollo missions to the Moon would have on oil and gas installations could be The space applications for the 0.5 square
between a fuel and an oxidant – have solar panels, which stop working when the been impossible, as the batteries and solar faster, more reliable and cheaper centimetre detector are obvious: aboard a
been a mainstay of manned space explora- satellites pass through the Earth's shadow. panels of the 1960s were too inefficient. thanks to a project co-funded by the Euro- manned spacecraft or space station, air
tion. Hydrogen and oxygen fuel cells are Today, batteries are used as back-up power Fuel cells were a disadvantage during the pean Space Agency (ESA) and the Microsys- quality is a matter of life or death, and gas
light and highly effective, and produce wa- supplies in dark conditions. But batteries ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, however, as the tems and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the concentrations need to be monitored con-
ter as a by-product, which is always useful are heavy, which in turn increases launch explosion that destroyed most of the Norwegian research organisation SINTEF. tinuously.
in the vacuum of space. costs. Lightweight fuel cells could poten- spacecraft's oxygen supply (visible on the
tially reduce launch costs and facilitate original photo above) also left it critically A tiny detector Avoiding false alarms
Fuel cell in reverse greater transponder capacity onboard the low on power. The three Apollo astronauts The detection device is known as the Con- In the offshore industry, methane is the
Recently, the Norwegian company Proto- satellite. were saved by the batteries and consuma- trollable Diffractive Optical Element (CDOE), main target for the MEMS sensor. Methane
tech, in collaboration with the Energy Re- bles aboard the lunar module, which were and is based on MEMS or micro-electro- is a colourless and odourless gas which can
search Centre of the Netherlands, has de-
veloped a regenerative fuel cell. As the
In a longer-term perspective, the technolo-
gy may also find a market in the transporta-
unaffected by the explosion.
* mechanical-systems technology. Basically,
the CDOE is a silicon chip that detects
be lethal in high concentrations, causing
explosions or asphyxiation. Methane leak-
name suggests, it runs the fuel cell process tion sector, where fuel cells have struggled methane. It does this by using tiny shifts, age is a common phenomenon in natural
in reverse, generating hydrogen and oxygen to gain a foothold. equivalent to one hundredth of the width gas drilling operations, and the high relia-
from electricity. of a human hair, of grid-like silicon gratings bility and ruggedness of a MEMS system >>
20 21
12. ESA
>> is a big bonus in an environment where from ruggedised, commercially available By their very nature, space projects are com-
false alarms can be very costly. shelfware, and it has the ability to analyse plex and costly, involving a large number of
Observing the oceans
samples from considerable distances. processes and technologies that need to be
As the cost of manufacturing the CDOE monitored in order to guarantee reliability.
chip falls, it is easy to imagine a wide variety Drill fluid analysis ESA's Envisat is a typical example, involving
from space
of uses, from air quality monitoring in office Statoil is currently testing an instrument the continuous monitoring of more than
buildings to locking systems that prevent assembly that includes a Raman laser in or- 20 000 parameters. This is comparable
an intoxicated driver from starting his car. der to improve the accuracy and speed of with a large offshore installation.
the drill fluid analysis. When drilling for oil
The Raman Spectrometer and gas, the quality of the fluid can tell ge- The "intuitive" part of the acronym refers to
In cooperation with Norwegian space ologists a lot about the geology of the stra- the unique three-dimensional parameter
scientists, Statoil is testing technology ta it comes form. representation, which was developed to im-
developed for the European Space Agency's prove visibility on satellite projects. RIVOPS
EXOMars mission, which is scheduled for The Raman spectrometer examines the was developed with the future exploration
launch in 2018. mineralogy of the drill cuttings in the fluid, of the Arctic in mind, where extremely
and immediately transmits the results to harsh conditions place a premium on the
The mission consists of a rover that will
travel around on the surface of Mars and
the drilling deck. This makes it possible con-
tinuously to evaluate the various geological
safety and reliability of all systems.
*
drill for soil and rock samples at up to two formations encountered by the drill bit.
metres beneath the surface. The samples The Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition
will be ground up and transferred to small Keeping production safe with 3D was launched in 2003 and is still running. Its
boxes on a carousel mechanism, which will Norwegian offshore operators are currently goal is to study the geochemical and geo-
move them past a battery of instruments. evaluating RIVOPS (Remote Intuitive Visual physical features, and look for biosignatures
One of these is a Raman spectrometer, Operations System), an alarm interface that and life forms, at various field sites on the
which can analyse the chemical content of is located on top of existing control sys- Svalbard archipelago. The sites were chosen
a mineral sample by exposing it to laser tems. RIVOPS was developed by a French- because they are thought to resemble simi-
light. Dutch start-up company in collaboration lar areas on Mars, and AMASE is a training
with ESA, making use of the agency's expe- ground for scientists and engineers from
The Raman laser, named after the Indian rience in satellite monitoring and emergen- around the world. It is also a test bed for
physicist who discovered its properties in cy management. instruments and equipment that could be
1928, has many advantages: it can be built used on future Mars missions.
M
EMS or Micro-Electro-Mechani-
cal Systems is made up of com-
ponents that measure distances
of between 1 and 100 micrometres. MEMS
production is based on tried and tested mi- It is often said that the planet Mars is better
cro-fabrication technology, and the finished
units combine various mechanical ele- mapped than the Earth. This is not the fault
ments, sensors, actuators and electronics
on a silicon substrate similar to that used in of oceanographers, but rather a result of the
computer memory chips.
planets’ respective geological histories.
T
he obvious reason is that Mars no swathes of the surface with great detail in
longer has any oceans, and only lim- a short time, as any user of Google Maps
ited ice cover. A probe orbiting Mars will know. But remote sensing satellites do
provides excellent views of the whole far more than take pictures of the visible
planet, while at any given time more than surface.
three-quarters of our planet is covered in
liquid or frozen water. Ocean data sensing
NASA's pioneering Seasat mission was
Even so, space does offer an excellent van- launched in 1978 and used a synthetic aper-
tage point for remote sensing and observa- ture radar and other instruments to collect
tion of the Earth. A satellite can cover vast data on sea-surface winds and tempera- >>
22 23
13. ESA
NASA
>> tures, wave heights, atmospheric water, create air drag which would reduce the sat- Aquarius will change this radically. Within
sea ice features and ocean topography. ellite's orbital altitude over time. the first three months of the mission, more
salinity data will have been gathered from
The TOPEX/Poseidon mission and its suc- For this reason, GOCE is shaped like an space than in the previous 125 years of
cessor, the Ocean Surface Topography mis- arrow and equipped with fins and an ion surface-based measurements. Oceanogra-
sion, used similar instruments to acquire (electric) rocket engine that helps it main- phers expect the mission to cast light on
data of great benefit to climate researchers, tain a stable orbit. GOCE's onboard power is the El Niño and La Niña phenomena, as well
shipping companies, offshore industries, produced with advanced solar panels made as hurricane formation and the effects of
fisheries management and biologists, to of composite materials, manufactured by the high-latitude "freshening" of sea water.
mention just a few. Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
Offshore applications
For offshore oil operators, satellites such as
these deliver crucial information on ocean
circulation patterns, which helps minimise
the impact of currents when laying cables
and pipelines, for instance.
Remote sensing can also be a useful aid in
oil and gas exploration, both onshore and
offshore. Natural leaks and seepage in the
oceans can be indicators of deposits be-
neath the sea floor. The environmental im-
“Drilling up”
pact of oil exploration and production, such
as oil spills, cloud cover, sea level rises or the
increases in atmospheric CO2 are often
best monitored from space.
Ocean current insights
The European Space Agency's Gravity Field
and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explor-
– The future of
er (GOCE) is a recent and fascinating addi- Measuring salinity The surface of the ocean has “hills” and “val-
tion. Launched in 2009, this satellite will NASA's Aquarius mission gives us a differ- leys” up to two metres in height/depth, and
bring new insights into ocean currents by ent perspective on the oceans and the envi- the image above represents a map of the
combining extremely accurate gravity data ronment. With its launch planned for 2011, topography of the ocean, similar to a topo-
energy in space
with information about sea surface topo- its goal is to measure the salinity or salt graphic map of the land surface. Unlike
graphy. content at the sea surface. This is an impor- land topography, however, ocean topogra-
tant factor in understanding the water cy- phy is influenced by a number of factors
To achieve the required accuracy, the satel- cle, ocean currents and climate change. such as winds, ocean currents and tempera-
lite must orbit as close to the Earth as pos- However, measurements to date have been ture. The velocity of ocean currents can be
sible. Even at an orbital height of 260 kilo- limited mostly to summertime observa- calculated from the “slope” of the surface.
metres, there is sufficient atmosphere to tions in shipping lanes.
* What seems like an anecdote has huge implications for our energy future:
all energy used on Earth originates in space in one way or another.
The GOCE satellite orbits so close to the Earth that
it requires an aerodynamic shape, guiding fins and
an ion rocket to maintain altitude. The first large
batch of GOCE data was released in 2010.
F
ossil fuel sources are stored solar side our planet. Not that this is going to The ultimate source of base-load electricity
energy, and most renewable energy happen in the immediate future. generation is fusion power. For decades, sci-
sources are driven by the Sun. Tidal entists have tried to replicate the physical
power is of course driven by the Moon, and Energy on Earth processes that makes the stars shine, but
nuclear and geothermal energy originate Hidden in sand and shale deposits, in mines with limited success. But sooner or later
from radioactive materials forged by ex- and beneath the deep ocean, are energy they will succeed, and when they do, water
ploding supernovae billions of years ago. reserves large enough to supply our needs will become an energy source in its own
for decades to come. Add to this the known right.
What this means is that when our Earth- reserves of uranium and thorium, and we
based resources run out, we can access a are dealing with centuries power genera- One litre of water contains enough of the
limitless supply of energy generated out- tion based on our Earth’s resources. isotope deuterium to provide the energy >>
24 25
14. NASA
>> equivalent of 500 litres, or three barrels, elevator to vibrate like an extremely long may stray into the energy beam, it is easy to
of oil. Although the fusion of deuterium guitar string. imagine how consumers might react to the
results in less radioactive waste than con- idea of radiation beams from space, no
ventional nuclear power generation, an Inspired by the Ansari X Prize, which led to matter how weak they might be.
ideal clean and efficient process requires the development of the world's first com-
use of the isotope Helium-3. mercial space aircraft (SpaceShip One), Despite this, a report in 2007 commissioned
NASA is awarding cash prizes to developers by the US Defence Department recomm-
Looking to the Moon of space elevator technology. In 2009, ends space-based solar power as an energy
Helium is extremely rare and inaccessible NASA's "Centennial Challenges" programme source for its military forces operating
on Earth, but is abundant in space. Our clos- awarded $900,000 to Lasermotive, a com- abroad. An 80-metre diameter antenna
est source of Helium-3 is the Moon, which pany that uses laser light for wireless power could receive one MW via microwaves,
may have enough of the element in its transmission. As power cables will be far enough to power a thousand homes, from
crust to provide the human race with pow- too heavy for use on the space elevator, a satellite in low Earth orbit. "It is impera-
er at current levels for ten thousand years. wireless power is crucial to its success. tive that this work for 'drilling up' vs. drilling
down for energy security begins immedi-
Once we obtain commercially viable fusion Collision avoidance ately," the report concludes.
power, the technology required to carry out However, the main reason is the cloud of
large-scale mining operations in space will “space junk” consisting of tens of thou- A global thermostat – in space?
also have developed. NASA is currently sands of discarded objects orbiting Earth at In the end, the dominant contribution from
planning a trial lunar extraction mission as any given moment. The laws of celestial space may turn out to be in the form of en-
early as 2015, and the Chinese have hinted mechanics decree that the orbit of every ergy reduction. The most daring – some
that they are considering a similar project. piece of space junk below geostationary might say extreme – of the climate change
orbit will intersect the Space Elevator sooner mitigating technology proposals is the
Mining operations on the Moon will proba- or later. space-based cloud of mirrors envisioned by
bly be unmanned. With a time delay of only US astronomer Roger Angel. Angel, who is a
three seconds, it is fairly easy to operate The elevator requires a collision avoidance winner of the Norwegian Kavli Prize for As-
robots remotely from Earth. Once enough system, and presently the best option tronomy in 2010, is proposing the launch of
Helium-3 has been extracted in an auto- appears to be a movable oil rig which would thousands of mirrors into a stable orbit
mated factory, it can be transported rapidly also act as a launch pad. When a piece of some 1.5 million kilometres above the Earth,
to Earth by an electromagnetic canon or debris is detected to be on collision course, oriented in the direction of the sun.
"mass driver", powered by solar panels. the rig can be moved in such a way as to
divert the cable from the oncoming debris. Here, they will form a permanent “sun-
The Space Elevator screen”. By adjusting the angle of the mir-
However, even though the expected boom A successful Space Elevator will open space rors, incoming sunlight could be reduced
in commercial space operators and tourism up to commercial exploitation. But this will sufficiently to reduce the Earth's tempera-
will result in reduced launch costs, conven- not change the fundamentals of energy ture by several degrees. The mirrors could
tional chemical rockets are too expensive production. Energy must still be reasonably also be used to direct more sunlight to-
and dangerous to permit the widespread priced and safe to use if it is to matter on a wards the Earth in effect creating a global
exploitation of resources in deep space. global scale. thermostat capable of managing tempera-
ture shifts in either direction.
The proposed Space Elevator – a cable low- Orbital solar power
ered 36 000 kilometres from geostationary These criteria probably disqualify the other Although the consensus view is that we are
orbit to a point along the equator – is cur- great space-based energy initiative: orbital heading for elevated global temperature in
rently our best hope of reducing launch solar power plants. The main advantage of the coming century, there is always the pos-
costs sufficient to permit large-scale mining these compared with earth-based photo- sibility of a massive volcanic eruption which
Concept drawing of a operations on the Moon. voltaics is that they supply an almost con- within a few months might cool the planet
completed space elevator. tinuous supply of undimmed sunlight in down by several degrees.
This is where Norwegian offshore know- geostationary orbit. If the Space Elevator is
how could come into its own. It was previ- successful, the cost of transporting and In this perspective, any climate change
ously thought that the Space Elevator maintaining the panels may well turn out mitigating technology should have the
needed to be anchored to solid ground, to be cost efficient in competition with capability to regulate both increases and
which implied a location somewhere along ground-based systems. reductions in temperature. The Space Eleva-
the equator in Africa, South America or Asia. tor will be hugely expensive, but could also
The main challenge is our perception of serve as an "insurance policy" against cli-
However, recent calculations show that the safety. The energy from the panels will have matic extremes such as the global cooling
base of the elevator must be mobile. This is to be beamed down as microwave radiation that followed the massive eruption of
partly due to the gravitational influence of to large receiving facilities on the ground. Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815.
the Sun and Moon, which will incite the Apart from the potential harm to birds that
*
26 27
15. 1.5 million BC: Primitive humans discover fire
40,000: First use of oil lamps
8000: Domestic animals are used as a power source
3000: Coal is being exploited in China
1500: Egyptians invent the water-powered clock
850: Natural gas is exploited in China
400: The first oil well is drilled on a Greek island
65 BC: First known reference to the use of windmills
800 AD: The rocket is invented in China
1000: The water-wheel becomes Europe's principal energy source
From wood to coal
1200: Coal is mined in Europe
1400: Invention of the turret windmill
1500: Rockets are routinely used as weapons
1670: Gas is distilled from coal
1694: Oil is produced from oil shale
1800: Invention of the electric battery
1830: The discovery of electromagnetic induction
1832: The first electric generator is built
1869: The first use of hydroelectric power
1879: The first commercially successful oil well is drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania
1885: Invention of the transformer for alternating currents
1888: Invention of the dry cell battery
1900: The first offshore oil wells are drilled in the Caspian Sea
1913: The first geothermal power plant opens in Italy
Space and
1920: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuelled rocket
The Oil Age
1941: The first German V-2 rocket is launched
1942: US scientists initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction
energy
1950: Soviet scientists invent the tokamak, which remains the mainstay of fusion power research
1953: The first commercial nuclear reactor opens in Britain
1954: Scientists at Bell Laboratories develop the solar cell
1957: Sputnik 1 is launched
1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to orbit the Earth
1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the Moon
1976: Viking I and II land on Mars, and search for life
1981: The launch of Columbia, the first Space Shuttle
1989: Voyager II passes Neptune, after exploring Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus
1986: The ITER fusion power research group is formed
2001: Launch of the Toyota Prius, the first commercially successful hybrid vehicle
2003: The Spirit and Opportunity rovers start their exploration of Mars
2009: Wind power accounts for more than 20 % of Denmark's electricity production
2010: The world's first synthetic cell is announced
2015: Regular tourist flights to an inflatable space hotel
2020: A large-scale thorium power plant goes onstream in India
2025: Synthetic algal biofuel becomes cheaper than petroleum
2040: Thorium mining becomes Norway's sixth largest industry
2045: China lands the first humans on Mars
2046: Chinese "taikonauts" discover signs of life on Mars
The Future
2050: Commercially-viable nuclear fusion is finally achieved
2060: Synthetic "scrubber cells" reduce atmospheric CO2 by 20 %
2066: A ticket to the Moon equals an average annual salary
2100: Nuclear fusion and fission account for 80 % of the world's electricity
2120: Helium-3 mining operations start on the Moon and in the asteroid belt
2150: The first manned mission to Jupiter, a huge source of Helium-3
2166: A ticket to Mars equals an average annual salary
2186: Space-based mirrors prevent an ice age after the eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano
timeline
2200: The world's last coal-fired power plant is shut down in the African Union
29
