Star Ark A Living, Self-Sustaining Spaceship

821 Pages·2016·10.79 MB·English

by  Rachel Armstrong

S t a r A r k
A Living, Self-Sustaining Spaceship
A Living, Self-Sustaining Spaceship
Rachel Armstrong , PhD.
Professor of Experimental Architecture
Newcastle University
Newcastle-upon-Tyne , UK
Springer Praxis Books
978-3-319-31040-4 ISBN 978-3-319-31042-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-31042-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016952869
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
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Switzerland Pref ace
This anthology examines the Interstellar question – i.e. the idea that
we may one day live beyond the world we know and settle distant
planets. A challenge on this scale requires not only vision, but multiple
voices for the acknowledgment of complexity and contradic-tions. These
are inherent in the quest. Taking a multidisciplinary and cultural view of
the challenge, the book accordingly seeks to provide a form of cultural
catalysis by which an interstellar culture may be seeded (it is, in other
words, emphatically not a technical manual seeking to offer formal
solutions to particular problems). To address such ambi-tions, the book
has been divided into two main sections – Part I and II – in which differing
conventions of writing have been deployed.
Part I, written by Rachel Armstrong, proposes a new age of space
exploration based on an ecological perspective of the cosmos. It is this
that will create the conditions for inhabiting starships and, ultimately, new
worlds. Drawing on her leadership of the Persephone Project, this section
adopts an experimental, yet testable, and inclusive approach to
constructing a livable and self-sustaining starship. Persephone is part of
the Icarus Interstellar group’s portfolio of work – an international
consortium of aerospace engineers aiming to construct a starship
research platform in Earth’s orbit within the next hundred years. This
means a series of Earth-bound experiments are being detailed through a
wide range of laboratory types that inform us about how we live with and
design ecosystems on this planet – and beyond.
Part II, which is edited by Rachel Armstrong, introduces other voices
to explore the Interstellar Question. The editor’s aim here has been to
create a productive interplay between differing perspectives and
disciplinary backgrounds via themed, multi-author chapters. These are
organized into, sections, presenting distinct viewpoints for examining the
Interstellar Question. Topics include: the interstellar mission (Andreas C.
Tziolas, Nathan Morrison, Esther M. Armstrong), space ecology (Michael
N. Mautner, Simon Park), (Barbara Imhof, Peter Weiss, Angelo
Vermeulen; Astudio – Emma Flynn, Richard Hyams, Christian Kerrigan,
Max Rengifo; Susmita Mohanty, Sue Fairburn), space bodies (Kevin
Warwick, Arne Hendriks, Rachel Armstrong, Sarah Jane Pell),
connecting with the divine and the sacred and becoming cosmically
conscious (Steve Fuller, Roberto Chiotti, vi Preface
Krists Ernstsons), constructing worlds (Jordan Geiger, Mark Morris)
and interstellar research methodologies (Rolf Hughes, Rachel
Armstrong). The unconventional structure explores how different
perspectives must be brought into a productive dialogue when
considering the fundamental principles for inhabiting space. If, as a
result, the book resembles a Tower of Babel for the space age, this is a
design choice that invites us to address our innate diversity. Readers are
invited to refl ect on what these different perspectives mean for a
coherent approach to settling environments far, far beyond the familiar
planet we call (for now) “home”.
Contents
List of Contributors
.................................................................................................. xiv
PART I An Ecological View of the Interstellar Question
Chapters
1 The Interstellar Question: an ecological view by Rachel Armstrong
........... 2
1.1 Philosophy of “space”
................................................................................ 2
1.2 Prototyping the interstellar question
.......................................................... 5
1.3 It begins
...................................................................................................... 13
1.4 Mission
....................................................................................................... 13
1.5 Aspirations
................................................................................................. 13
1.5.1 Introduction
.................................................................................... 14
1.6 Ecocene
...................................................................................................... 15
1.7 Space ecology
............................................................................................ 18
1.8 Who are “we”?
........................................................................................... 19
1.9 Summary
.................................................................................................... 20
References
........................................................................................................... 20
2 Architecture and space exploration by Rachel Armstrong
........................... 21
2.1 The interstellar challenge
........................................................................... 21
2.2 Far, far away
............................................................................................... 22
2.3 Architecture as a survival strategy
............................................................. 24
2.4 Space skyscraper
........................................................................................ 28
2.5 What is this place called “space”?
............................................................. 33
2.6 World-making
............................................................................................ 37
2.7 StarshipSPIDER
......................................................................................... 39
2.8 Architecture and hypercomplexity
............................................................. 41
References
........................................................................................................... 44
viii Contents
3 Sustainability and interstellar infrastructure by Rachel Armstrong
........... 45
3.1 Pale blue dot
............................................................................................... 45
3.2 What is an ark?
........................................................................................... 46
3.3 Apollo’s orphans
........................................................................................ 48
3.4 Interplanetary communications
.................................................................. 54
3.5 Apollo’s progeny
........................................................................................ 55
3.6 Organic backbones
..................................................................................... 59
3.7 Directed panspermia
.................................................................................. 62
References
........................................................................................................... 71
4 An ecological approach to interstellar exploration by
Rachel Armstrong
............................................................................................. 74
4.1 From Interplanetary to interstellar space exploration
................................ 74
4.2 Laboratory practice
.................................................................................... 75
4.3 Cultural agendas
......................................................................................... 78
4.4 Persephone
................................................................................................. 81
4.5 Mixology of space
...................................................................................... 89
4.6 What is a soil?
............................................................................................ 91
4.7 Who needs soils?
........................................................................................ 95
4.8 Portfolio of materials for making soils
...................................................... 97
References
........................................................................................................... 101
5 Experimental architecture: on-world and off-world
exploration of possibilities by Rachel Armstrong
.......................................... 103
5.1 Gel experiments
......................................................................................... 103
5.2 The Hanging Gardens of Medusa
.............................................................. 106
5.3 Capsule of Crossed Destinies
..................................................................... 111
5.4 Hylozoic Ground
........................................................................................ 115
5.5 Future Venice
............................................................................................. 119
5.6 Future Venice II
.......................................................................................... 123
References
........................................................................................................... 127
6 Building a worldship interior by Rachel Armstrong
..................................... 129
6.1 Architectures of elsewhere
......................................................................... 129
6.2 Worldship interior
...................................................................................... 132
6.3 Soils as urban infrastructure
....................................................................... 134
6.4 Ecological design: biosphere
..................................................................... 137
6.5 Space Nature
.............................................................................................. 143
6.6 Manifesto for Persephone’s “living architecture”
...................................... 145
References
........................................................................................................... 146
7 Designing and engineering the infrastructures for life by Rachel
Armstrong ........................................................................................ 148
7.1 Natural computing
..................................................................................... 148
7.2 Dissipative structures
................................................................................. 153
7.3 Computing with hypercomplexity and uncertainty
.................................... 156
References
........................................................................................................... 162
Contents ix
8 Choreography of embodiment by Rachel Armstrong