TAILORED FORCE FIELDS FOR SPACE-BASED

CONSTRUCTION: KEY TO A SPACE-BASED

ECONOMY
Narayanan Komerath, Sam Wanis,
Joseph Czechowski, Bala Ganesh,
Waqar Zaidi, Joshua Hardy, Priya
Gopalakrishnan
School of Aerospace Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology

Source: www.nasa.gov
School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
 OUTLINE

1. Forces on objects in steady and unsteady potential

fields
2. Generalization: Optical and other E-Mag fields; and
acoustic fields
3. Application Horizons
4. Near term: Acoustic Shaping: results & applications
5. Far Horizon: Electromagnetic force fields
6. Middle Term – Magnetic Fields to demonstrate a
particular solution
-Sample Problem : the O’Neill Habitat
- Architecture
7. Costing Using a Space-Based Economy Approach

Source: www.nasa.gov
School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
 INTRODUCTION

In space, minor forces exerted over long periods can achieve major results.
Generation of forces by interaction with steady potential fields is well-known
ESL: NASA MSFC/ LORAL
NASA .

Solar Sail: NASA M2P2: NASA / U. Wash.

Here we consider:
1. Radiation Force due to unsteady interactions
Laser/ Microwave Sail: JPL between beamed energy and matter – near
& far term applications.
2. Quasi-steady magnetic fields: middle term
architecture to get to the far horizon
.

Relevance: automatic construction of large/complex objects from random-shaped materials.

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 FORCES IN UNSTEADY POTENTIAL FIELDS

1. Radiation Force Due to Beamed Energy

Radiation pressure due to plane wave on surface = k*E. ( E = Energy density)
Absorbing surface: k =1. Reflective surface: k=2.
Gradient forces: Beam waist acts as particle trap for transmitting particles, due to intensity gradient.

Optical Tweezers: Particles are forced to the focus / waist of a CW laser beam
-interpreted using geometric optics and refractive index for particles >> λ.
-also works using Mie theory where particle size ~ λ
-recently found to work for Rayleigh regime – nanoparticles << λ

Satellite Positioning: Lapointe, NIAC study 2001.

Ultrasonic beams -
“Fingers of Sound / Space
Drums” Used to hold and
manipulate levitated/
suspended particles.
R. Oeftering, NASA

Radiation pressure on objects due to coherent beams is used in optics and acoustics.

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 FORCES IN UNSTEADY POTENTIAL FIELDS
2. STANDING WAVE FIELDS:
Particles Drift into Stable “Traps”.
•For particle size << λ, standing wave trap force ~ 103 times the single-beam force.

•Trap stiffness in standing wave trap ~ 107 times the single-beam trapping stiffness.
D ( z) 2 1 0 1 2
•Source only needs to provide small gain over losses -
0.02

0.04
Force

0.06
Potential
z

Trap regions can be of

complex shape:
Stable Trap
Pressure distribution for a higher-
order mode in a rectangular
acoustic resonator.

With standing waves in a low-loss resonator, small input intensity suffices to produce
substantial forces on particles.
Various mode shapes can be generated by varying frequency and resonator geometry.
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Acoustic Electromagnetic General CONSERVATION EQUATIONS

∂
(density of quantity ) + ∇ • ( flux of quantity ) = sources − sin ks
∂t

∂ 1 1 B2  E×B 
 ε o E 2
+  + ∇ •   = − ( J • E )
∂t 2 2 µo   µo 
Electromagnetic Poynting work done on
energy density flux Particles by EM field

∂  1 p2

∂t  2 ρ o c 2
+
1
2
ρ o u 2 
 + ∇ • ( pu ) = X • ∇ p ( )

Work done on
Acoustical potential Acoustical kinetic Acoustic Particles by acoustic
Energy density, ep Energy density, ek Intensity flux, I field

ep = potential energy that can be stored in the fluid by compressing it

ek = kinetic energy due to acoustically energized fluid
I= rate at which work is being done by unit area of fluid supporting an externally induced
normal stress p and moving with velocity u is pu, i.e. rate (and direction) at which acoustic energy
crosses unit area of space
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IMPORTANT PARAMETERS & ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE
Optics
z Maxwell’s stress tensor
z Rayleigh regime diameters:
nanometers
z Mie regime: microns
z Refractive Index
z Optical intensity
z From Zemanek (1998):
514.5 nm laser in water; beam waist
of 8 wavelengths; glass sphere of
radius 5nm; refractive index 1.51;
Force = 2.5 *10-22 N.
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Acoustics
z Radiation stress tensor
z Rayleigh regime diameters: millimeters
to centimeters
z Mie regime: meters
z Particle density vs. density of acoustic
medium
z Sound intensity
z Wanis[1999]: GT acoustic chamber,
156 dB at 800 Hz (1 0 0) mode at
2mm radius rigid particles
Force = 3.3 micro-newtons
 Tailored Force Fields (TFF):
Time Line / Size / Application Map
1 – 5yrs 5-20 yrs 20-30yrs 30- 50 yrs.

STANDING
ULTRASONIC
WAVE STEADY MAGNETIC
10-6m ACOUSTCS TELEPRESENCE LONG-WAVE
ELECTROMAGNETIC
STEADY BEAM
ACOUSTICS
10-3m
FORMATION
FLIGHT
ISS PARTS

100m
HEAT SHIELDS :

HABITAT PARTS/
FUEL TANKS

103m
HABITAT
CONSTRUCTION

ASTEROID
105m RECONSTRUCTION

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 ACOUSTIC RADIATION FORCE: PRIOR APPLICATIONS

•Rayleigh – proposed expression for radiation pressure in acoustic fields, analogous to Maxwell’s
stress tensor.
•King 1934: Theory for radiation force in acoustic fields – formation of dust striations in water tanks.
Forces considered to be insignificant except with ultrasonic frequencies and neutrally-buoyant
particles in water.
•Levitation experiments: Ultrasonic levitators used to lift steel spheres – to demonstrate utility in
non-contact melting and positioning within furnaces.
•STS experiments: Holding molten drop of metal inside a container in micro-gravity. Problem:
Radiation force lost when phase change / cooling occurred. Attributed to reversal of force due to
formation of envelope of heated gas around the sphere. [Wang 1998]
•Liquid manipulation using ultrasonics: NASA Glenn research
•NASA Hybrid electrostatic levitator / ultrasonic manipulator facility.

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 ACOUSTIC SHAPING
•GT extension: Extended the idea of positioning a single droplet, to the formation of entire walls in a
chamber. Question: would particles migrate to point of minimum potential, or remain along entire
surfaces of low potential?
•KC-135 tests. Flight test proof that entire walls would be formed. Self-alignment seen. No particle spin.

Acoustic chamber

Ground test comparison between predicted Mode 110 Styrofoam walls formed in reduced gravity
pressure contours and measured wall locations
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ACOUSTIC SHAPING
Wall formation process: KC-135 test. Frequency 800 Hz

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 SIMULATION: PREDICTED WALL SHAPES

220 320
110

100+020 230+100 110+220

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 FAR HORIZON: ASTEROID RECONSTRUCTION?
•Solar-powered radio resonators in the NEA region to reconstitute pulverized asteroids into specified shapes.
•Formation-flown spacecraft to form desired resonator geometry.
•Asteroids pulverized using directed beam energy or robots,
•Solar energy converted to the appropriate frequencies.
•Materials and structures for such an endeavor must come mostly from lunar or asteroidal sources.

Example Point:

Particle diameter: 0.1m

Wavelength: 2m
Particle acceleration: 10-5 g
Resonator intensity: 170 MW/m2
Resonator Q-factor: 10,000
Active field time: 13 hrs
Beam diameter = 100m
Collector efficiency: 10%
Collector area w/o storage: 1 sq.km

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Can we generate radio waves intense enough?

z In 1974, the Arecibo

observatory transmitted a
message into outer space
z Power of transmission was 20
trillion watts
z Frequency 2380 MHz. Courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF.
David Parker / Science Photo Library
Wavelength of ~12.6 cm
z Signal duration: 169 seconds

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 Space Based Economy

Self-sustaining Economy

Support/Service Economy

Space Habitats
Lunar Mining Lunar Manufacturing
Time

Lunar Launcher Lunar Power

Lunar Resources

GEO Station Orbit transfer vehicles

Maintenance Space Station Robotics Fuel Repair

Com-sats Research Exploration Military Sensing GPS

Earth Launch

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 Middle Term Test Case for Costing:
ELECTROMAGNETIC CONSTRUCTION OF A 2KM DIAMETER,
2KM LONG RADIATION SHIELD

At the 10-30 year horizon, force field tailoring can be used to build the first large human
habitat at a Lagrangian point of the Earth-Moon system. Gerard O’Neill proposed such
habitats and explored their construction in the 1970s.

Features of the O’Neill [1975] habitat concepts:

•Economic opportunities as motivator
•Moon as first source for extraterrestrial resources,
•L5 as the logical location for the settlement.
• “Bernal sphere” + toroidal agriculture stations
on either side. Near 1-g at equator
•Shell made of aluminum and glass (to admit sunlight )
•Support structure made of aluminum ribs and/or steel cable
•Projected earth-LEO launch costs of $110/lb
•Lunar-based mass driver to send much of the required mass into Space

Radiation shielding dominated mass of the settlement.

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 PRESENT APPROACH TO BUILDING HABITAT
# 1975 models Present model using Tailored Force
Fields (TFF)

1 $110/ lb Earth- LEO $1,300 - $14,000 per lb to LEO

2 Human labor on-site for all Robotic with Earth-based telepresence

construction. supervision
3 Construction at L-5 Shell construction at L-2 followed by slow
move to L-5

4 Lunar mass driver gas-powered; H2 Lunar-equatorial Solar-power fields . 20

from Earth. launchers; round-the clock launches;

5 Baseball-size loads. High Isp. 30g; Railcar-sized loads. 8-g, 40km track.
10km run

6 Entire interior pressurized for “shirt- 10 to 30 meters at rim pressurized, 30-meter

sleeves” comfort. bubbles for micro-climates.
7 Machinery required to make panels Solar-heated powder sintering & furnaces,
etc. robotic manufacturing on the Moon.

Such a project becomes feasible as the centerpiece of a coherent plan for a Space-based
economy of the future.

School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

 Shield Construction: 1
•Structural strength comes from a Grid of cables made on the Moon and deployed in orbit at Earth-
Moon L-2. Rings of 12.5mm dia. cable segments, 1km in radius, spaced 4 meters apart, will be
connected by longitudinal cables.

• Grid deployment: Cables with attached mini-thrusters are deployed from lunar-launched “box-cars”.
Micro-thrusters separate
First 4 lunar-launched cable rings and start rotation,
segments Tension kept low until first
boxcar ring is complete.

Each regolith-filled “boxcar”

is brought by a hybrid gas/ e-
mag “shepherd” craft, and
guided towards the grid.

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 Shield Construction:2
•Cable Grid is powered by solar panels, with gas thrusters for orbit corrections. Rotation holds the grid in
tension during shell construction.
•Each arriving load-train is captured by a winched tether attached to the rotating grid. Axial momentum is
transferred to radial and tangential momentum, bringing the load to the periphery at 1kmph, into the
space between the outer grid and an active, powered electromagnetic “construction grid.
•Electromagnetic interaction between the loads, the construction grid, and the shepherds, moves the
loads into position against the outer grid. The shepherds leave the grid.
•Robots attached to the construction grid complete the attachment of the box-cars.

Ring of boxcars joined to form ribs

Winched tether “Spider”

E-mag
Captures load:
grid
Momentum transfer Final positioning
Shepherds maneuver boxcars into
place using e-mag field

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 Shield Construction:3
Regolith-laden boxcars being delivered by
“Shepherd”
The “End Caps”
Thrusters
Assembled
boxcars
Structural
Support

Radial Cables
carry grappling
Side Wall tethers &
Filled with regolith / water winches.

E-Mag Spider

Inner Active E-Mag Grid

Outer Cable Grid

Legs Gripping Cable

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 Construction Parameters
• Radius = 1km •Solar Panel area for grid = 350 m2

• Length = 2km •Boxcar :2m x 2m x 20m

• Shield Depth 2m •Mass per load: 160,000 kg

• Rotates at 0.945 rpm for 1g • Regolith sp.gr.= 2

• Grid current = 15 amps •10 launchers operational at any time (20 total around
lunar equator)
• 500 loops of cable;
• Shepherd unit current required: 15 amps
• Cable dia =12.5mm
• Time to build: 10 yrs.

•Lunar Solar-Power Fields made by robotic rovers around the equator

•Lunar metal extraction plants; cable manufacture using robotic plants.
•Lunar launcher construction initiated.
•Load preparation system developed on the Moon
•First cable-set deployment and spin-up.
•First ring of loads completed; rigid framework for subsequent cables and loads.
•Solar collectors, thrusters; hub system with tethers and “Construction Spiders” attached.
•Oxygen / other propellant gas extraction from regolith to supply thrusters.
•Cylinder completion; endcap framework sealed with regolith and water-filled bags; Oxygen/Earth-
shipped N2 atmosphere bubbles for habitation spaces near 1-G rim; micro-g axial facilities.
•Human habitation commences.

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 Bootstrapping Infrastructure

Credit: D. Rawlings

School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

 Reduction in Public Expenditure Due to
Private Industry.
zLunarPower: (Ignatiev et al, NIAC Phase 1, Compare with:
2000) $0.40/KwH
Development cost of Alaskan oil facilities: $67B, total
z Strip Mining on the Moon (extrapolated from revenue to-date $267B, incl. $55B Fed. Tax. (revenues
1979): $ 8 B from known precious resource)
z Lunar Launcher System $ 37 B Space Business total annual revenue 2000: $116B
zMetal cost for cylinder structure: $40B (AW&ST, April 2001 revenues from industries &
technologies which were created by the new capability
zTotal Cost: $150 B
NASA Lunar Base construction cost estimate
(published): $112B

100 Lunar
Power
80
$B (Y 2000)

Generation
60
40 Mining Mass
20 Driver
0
10 12 14 16
Years
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 “Competitive Delivered Cost” Approach

z Cost of Launch Cost from Earth to Moon: $12,000 / kg

z Cost of Lunar Launch: $45 /kg in first year reducing to $37/kg by fourth year
( Cost Assessed dictated by the lowest cost from available Earth- based
alternatives )
Competitive “Delivered Cost” of Shield: $ 2.5 trillion (!!)

Using Past Assessments and a Collaborative Space Economy Approach

Business plans of Space Businesses patched into the network of a Space based Economy
Survival of service providers depends on the survival of limited customer base.

The business plan of a single industry that may appear risky when viewed by itself,
becomes realistic when patched into the network of a Space based Economy

Justin Hausaman 2001

School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Summary of Industry & Infrastructure Bootstrapped by Habitat
Project

1. Power plant.
2. Metal mining.
3. Flexible manufacturing facilities for cables, metal panels, box cars, rails.
4. LEO – GEO – Lunar Orbit shipping industry
5. Tether system for delivery to the Moon.
6. Electromagnetic rail launchers – nucleus of circumlunar ground transport system.
7. Oxygen extraction plants on the Cylinder and the Moon
8. Solar panel production
9. Repair, exploration and prospecting facilities on the Moon.
10. Habitat sized for eventual population of 10,000 people in orbit.
11. Means to ship construction materials anywhere in the vicinity of Earth

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 Concluding Remarks
z Tailored electromagnetic force fields enable massive automated construction at low
recurring cost.
z Theoretical approaches to acoustic, optical and electromagnetic force fields unified into a
common Rayleigh regime prediction capability (Phase 1)
z Resonators offers large increase in force and trap stability
z Acoustic shaping proven in flight and ground experiments
z Optical trapping proven in microscopy.
z Microwave and radio wave TFF are efficient in solar-power usage for construction
z Costing using a Space-Based Economy approach illustrated using the middle term radiation
shield project.
z Quasi-steady magnetic fields enable telepresence-controlled construction of the radiation
shield for human settlements near Earth.
z Overall cost becomes practical when lunar- and Space-based industries are included.
z Unlike exploration-focused government programs and isolated business plans for private
ventures, a Space-Based Economy approach can unite public support for Space enterprise.
z As more business visions are enabled by the assurance of a massive market provided by
the infrastructure project, the level of public funding needed comes down, even before tax
revenues.
z Coherent plan needs to be articulated for developing a mutually-supportive network of
economically-useful projects, with synergistic markets, risk evaluation and pricing.

z Please visit http://www.adl.gatech.edu/research/tff/

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BACKGROUND

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 TAILORED FORCE FIELDS: CONCEPT
In Space, minor forces exerted over long periods can achieve major results. Force fields of various
kinds can be used to build large structures.
Steady potential fields: Objects

Radiation Force Due to Beamed Energy: Interact with a steady force field.
Coherent beams exert pressure on scattering objects. •Electrostatic Levitation
•Laser propulsion
•“Fingers of Sound / Space Drums” •Magnetic attraction
•Electromagnetic sails

D( z) 2 1 0 1 2

0.02

Standing wave fields: particles accumulate into walls along stable “traps”. 0.04

“Acoustic Shaping” Electromagnetic Shaping?? 0.06

•Complex surface shapes can be tailored.

• Source only needs to provide small gain over losses -
fR ~ IkR3
•Radiation force in a standing wave field can be > 1000 x that of the source beam.
•“Stiffness” of the stable nodes can be 7 orders of magnitude higher than in single-beam.

Present Project:
Integrate these technologies to show how very large structures can be built for human habitats
– in the context of a Space-Based Economy

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Sample Planning Architecture for SBE stakeholders

Scope of the Project: Business

scenarios, Rationale.
Functional View: Role of the Organization in SBE.
What will it achieve?

Business View: Technology View:

Economic motivation, Technologies required,
Costing, Business Components, Activity
Drivers, Organization areas, R&D.
structure/hierarchies

Deployment: Operations: Detailed

Schedules, procedures, Production
Construction plans, plans, Maintenance
Implementation plans plans.

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 Technology Options
Power Metal Mining & Extraction
•Preferred Option:
Preferred Option:
•Lunar open-pit mines for iron (est: 4 – 15% of
•Lunar Solar-Power Fields made by robotic rovers. lunar soil is Fe, occurring mostly as oxides).
- 20 power plants around the equator •Solar-heated metal extraction processes –
Cost estimate: $0.40 per kilowatt-hr (Ignatiev et al) vapor separation more viable than chemical
reduction?
Alternatives:
•Robotic fabrication plant shipped to the Moon
•Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon for box-cars, launcher rails, structural cables,
•Beamed Power from Space Solar Power Plant conductors and magnets for launcher
Alternatives:
•Pre-fab delivery from Earth using tethers.
•Steel production on Mars, delivery to Moon.
Delivery to the Moon • Start with earth-delivered boxcars to build
initial structure; Ship Fabrication plant to
Preferred Option: cylinder site; ship steel rods from Mars to
•Tether system. cylinder site; land boxcars on Moon and re-
use;
Alternatives:
•Asteroid resources.
•Chemical rockets.
•Nuclear rockets

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 Launchers from the Moon
Preferred Option:
•Electromagnetic rail launcher sized to launch boxcar-sized loads at 8G, with carriage
returning to starting point.
•Power from local plants.
•20 launchers placed around lunar Equator to enable round-the clock operation.
Alternatives:
• Tethers (problem: counterweight mass; repetition rate needed)
•Nuclear rockets (need propellant gas)

•80-90% of power plant capacity utitlized by Cylinder project for 10 years;

• Rest used for export of oxygen & tether counter-masses
•Tethers and launchers form transportation system for industrial development on the Moon.

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Total market for lunar resources due to the Cylinder Project
• Steel 2.8 million tons over 11 years
• Or Ti: 1.5 million tons over 11 years
• Regolith: 50 billion tons over 11 years
• Power: 44,600 GWh just for launch services; plus power for manufacturing.
• Manufacturing: 314,000+ boxcars; 1600km of e-mag rails.
Notes:
1. Radiation shield of 2m regolith is extremely conservative, and used only for
illustration of very large-scale mass transport. Concepts for lunar hotel
radiation shields use 0.4m of water with 0.1m rock wall. Shipping H2 from
Earth and producing H2O in the cylinder site may cut the mass requirement
by a factor of 30.

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 Calculations

z Using the E-mag Force Equation:

n1 := 1.51
n2 := 1.332
n1
m :=
n2

λ ( a) := 20 ⋅a wavelength
2 ⋅π
k ( a) :=
λ ( a) wavenumbe

c = speed of light in vacuum, m/s

rho = density of material being shaped (sand = 2000 kg/m^3)

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 Cost-Technology Matrix Approach

•Consider the implications of synergizing technologies, with each providing assured markets /
supplies / raw materials for others.
•Alternative technologies for each major component of the project.
•Risks mitigated by laying out alternative products and intermediate markets for each major
technology developed for the project.

•Cost-Technology Matrix Approach (C-TMA)TM - factors risks and market elasticity, to select from
available technologies.
•Weighs technologies quantitatively on the basis of cost, and ranks qualitatively by risk-rating
against Technology, Ecology and Political Environment.

The Cost Structure divided into 4 components:

•Conceptualization Costs.
•Capital Costs Operational Costs
•Terrestrial Administrative Costs

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 Estimating the required area needed using solar cells

z Solar Intensity from Sun at 1 AU is 1367 W/m2

z Uncertainty in Solar Cell Efficiencies
– Present Day Earth-Built Cell Tech. (32%)
– Present Day Lunar-Built Cell Tech. (5%)
– 30 Year Lunar-Built Cell Tech. (29%)

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 ACOUSTIC FIELD RESULTS
In micro-gravity, solid particles in a resonant chamber assume stable locations along surfaces parallel
to nodal planes of the standing-wave. Liquids in finite-g form walls along nodes – which are regions of
lower static pressure.

Irregular grain:
microgravity

Hollow Al2O3
and Al spheres:
microgravity

Powder
suspended in
water: 1-g

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School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
 OBSERVATIONS & CURRENT PLANS – ACOUSTIC SHAPING

•G-Jitter effects – For a given jitter amplitude, walls survive high-frequency jitter better than low-frequency
jitter because particles stay inside the nodal trap.
•Long-duration micro-g needed to harden solid objects.

•SEM experiment “Student Experiment in Microgravity” Powered experiment being developed for STS
launch in 2003. Miniaturized, automated electronics package; small cylindrical resonator to produce
hardened disk of cured resin. Total < 6lb.
•GAS experiment “Getaway Special”. Larger 30lb payload. More instrumented experiment, being
developed for 2004 timeframe.
•Common objectives:
•Bring back solid sample for materials / structural analysis.
•Record formation and curing process.

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 Continuing Work Areas

•Acoustic & E-mag Simulations into the Mie regime & complex modes.
•Mechanics of E-Mag construction: antenna & resonator design
•Pulverization of asteroids
•Melting/sintering in place to harden structures.
•Conceptual Design: Space Experiment on E-Mag construction
•Technology / market risk analysis
- Long waves for asteroid reconstitution
- Lunar power options
- Lunar launch & delivery options
- Shepherd spacecraft options
•Costing approaches including synergy effects of Space-based
economy plan

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