Monthly Archives: April 2011

How to go back to the Moon, cheaply

Posted on April 14, 2011 by

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American Soyuz/Delta Heavy Lunar Mission

Posted on April 13, 2011 by

As shown at far right in this diagram from wikipedia, the Delta IV Heavy is a US rocket vehicle capable of placing 23,000 kg into low earth orbit. This happens to be almost one fifth of the payload capacity of … Continue reading →

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An American Soyuz

Posted on April 12, 2011 by

The 50th anniversary of the first human flight into space comes with the United States about to retire the Space Shuttle. This means that the US will no longer have the ability to place humans into space on its own. … Continue reading →

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Fukushima coolant recirculation with siphon

Posted on April 11, 2011 by

This design avoids damage to recirculation pumps from sea water sediment. A gravity siphon is used to draw water out of the building into a pit where sediment is collected into a shipping container. Water is then pumped from the … Continue reading →

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Coolant Recirculation System at Fukushima

Posted on April 9, 2011 by

They’ve been using sea water to cool the rods, but when the level threatens to overflow the reactor buildings, they’re flushing the water back into the ocean (ref here and here). This is an obvious radioactivity hazard to the environment, … Continue reading →

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Teleoperated Radioactivity Sample Boat

Posted on April 7, 2011 by

The high levels of radioactivity in the waters off the Fukushima nuclear plant require constant monitoring, which is best conducted without exposing human workers. Hence this design for a teleoperated radioactivity sample boat. To make the modification effort as simple … Continue reading →

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A Roof for Fukushima

Posted on April 7, 2011 by

On the right is the baseball stadium known as Safeco Field in Seattle, USA. It is famous for its retractable roof, which rolls back for sunshine on the rare days in Seattle when there is sunshine. Why bring this up? … Continue reading →

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