Space Studies Institute
Encyclopedia
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
Professor Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill. The stated mission is to "open the energy and material resources of space for human benefit within our lifetime". The current president is Professor Freeman Dyson
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson FRS is a British-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum field theory, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. Dyson is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists...
.
In 2009 SSI moved its operations from its long-term base in Princeton, New Jersey, to Mojave, California. SSI is involved in several initiatives, including a solar sail project that it is developing with Carnegie Mellon University and an effort to find asteroids that could be mined for valuable materials. The use of extraterrestrial resources in space settlement has been an area that has received very little attention in recent years.
SSI's research priorities:
- 1. Low cost space access
- 2. Fully reusable propulsion systems
- 3. Mass driver engines
- 4. Use of non-terrestrial materials
- 5. Produce evidence that establishes that manufacturing and extraction industries on the Moon or on asteroids is cost-effective
- 6. Develop closed environment life support systems for space.
The Institute has sponsored research studies on several transport systems for the development of space. Their first program was in the development of prototype mass driver
Mass driver
A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential...
systems. They are also studying the use of an Orbital Transfer Vehicle as a component of space manufacturing. Other areas of research include a search for Earth-Sun Trojan asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s, a design study of a Lunar Polar Probe to search for water and useful volatiles at the poles of the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, and studies of reuse of the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
external tank. Dr O'Neill performed a pioneering study of a large space habitat named Island Three that could house 10,000,000 people.
Conferences
SSI began hosting a bi-annual Space Manufacturing Conference in 1977, although the conference had actually begun in 1974 at NASA Ames Research Center. This is a list of conferences hosted or co-hosted by SSI.- Space Manufacturing Facilities (Space Colonies) 1974-75
- Space Manufacturing Facilities II 1977
- Space Manufacturing III 1979
- Space Manufacturing 4 1981
- Space Manufacturing 1983 — Advances in the Astronautical Sciences - AAS 1983
- Space Manufacturing 5 — Engineering with Lunar and Asteroidal Materials 1985
- Space Manufacturing 6 — Non-terrestrial Resources, Biosciences, and Space Engineering 1987
- Space Manufacturing 7 — Space Resources to Improve Life on Earth 1989
- Space Manufacturing 8 — Energy and Materials from Space 1991
- Space Manufacturing 9 — The High Frontier, Accession, Development and Utilization 1993
- Space Manufacturing 10 — Pathways to the High Frontier 1995
- Space Manufacturing 11 — The Challenge of Space: Past and Future 1997
- Space Manufacturing 12 — Challenges and Opportunities in Space 1999
- Return to the Moon II 2000 — Space Frontier Foundation Lunar Development Conference 2000
- Space Manufacturing 13 — Settling Circumsolar Space 2001
- International Space Development Conference (with National Space SocietyNational Space SocietyThe National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
and The Planetary Society) 2006. - Space Manufacturing 14 — Planning Humanity's Future on the High Frontier October 2010