End Notes
This and more, in Asteroid Mining 101: Wealth for the New Space Economy, by John S. Lewis (2014).
http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/5063
Asteroid Mining 101: Wealth for the New Space Economy, by John S. Lewis (2014).
In 1997 during my Freshman year in college, Dr. Joan Maclean (Politics and Government) looked us all in the eye and enlightened us to this. On graduation, we began learning how right she was.
Everything in this chapter to do with launching weather balloons, I have plundered from these excellent videos by StratoStarTV: https://www.youtube.com/user/StratoStarTV
These are super awesome. Third World countries should start builing and launching these as suborbital research and communications tools. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpressure_balloon .
I'm working off Google Loon's estimate here, of 100 days at a time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Loon
James Bickford talking to SpaceAnswers.com: "By any standards, the amount of antimatter around Earth is still minuscule. However, there is significantly more in other parts of the solar system. During the NIAC study, we evaluated each of the planets and found the Saturn was by far the best place for antimatter to collect in the solar system ... the rings of Saturn have just the right geometry and composition to create antiprotons, and the magnetic field of the planet works to trap it where it can then be collected.
I can no longer find his paper online, but here is his Phase II NIAC presentation: http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/library/meetings/annual/oct06/1379Bickford.pdf
Space Elevators need to be along the equator, or bad thing happen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
The "Big Five" in this are the US, Russia, India, China, and Europe.
Research and Analysis Wing. India's foreign intelligence agency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_and_Analysis_Wing
Hawala banking is an parallel banking system (mostly) in Moslem countries. It is dead dodgy.
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/terrorist-illicit-finance/Documents/FinCEN-Hawala-rpt.pdf
Islamic state, centered around a successor to the Prophet Mohammed. The successor or ‘Caliph,’ is chosen by election.
"Heaven’s Ladder"
Just and extrapolation of Norinco's ZBL Armored Fighting Vehicle series. Currently, they are up to ZBL-09.
The Liaoning was a Kuznetsov class, Russian aircraft carrier. China bought it through a Hong Kong company, ostensibly to turn into a casino. After (essentially) sneaking it to China, it was rebuilt and launched as China's first aircraft carrier, in 2012. Lessons learned are being applied to new ships: China hopes to have two indigenous carriers ready by 2020.
What's the bet we'll have fireworks in the South China Sea around then?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_aircraft_carrier_Liaoning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_aircraft_carrier_programme#Current_status
http://china-defense.blogspot.com/2012/02/z-15-ac352-chinese-ec175.html
A submachine gun. I don't mention which type though, as the current Type 05 would likely be both too old and too underpowered for special forces in 2051.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QCW-05
Mirror Matter: Pioneering Antimatter Physics, Robert Forward and Joel Davis, (2001) p134
Ditto. This was one problem with Eugene Sanger's antimatter photon rocket. The high energy gamma rays produced by electron-positron annihilation can't be redirected, and penetrate deeply.
Sanger is an interesting fellow. Look up the antipodal bomber he was developing for Hitler.
There's a lot of literature out on the Beamed Core Antimatter drive. This paper is what's hot (right now), as the Keane-Zhang design raises exhaust velocity to 69% of light speed.
Here's an excellent write up on it, by Paul Gilster:
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=22967
And here is the original paper:
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1205/1205.2281.pdf
For a more general introduction to the Beamed Core concept:
Indistinguishable from Magic, Robert Forward, 1995. This book is well worth tracking down. While his scifi is horrendous to read, there are few Science communicators as clear and easy to read. That, and he gives you stats and diagrams. For freaking starships.
Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration, Paul Gilster, (2004), p130.
Extraction of Antiparticles concentrated in Planetary Magnetic Fields, James Bickford, (2007).Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) whack into worlds and produce antimatter, which become trapped. Saturn (with its huge rings) traps 240 micrograms of antimatter, each year.
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/1071Bickford.pdf
Mirror Matter: Pioneering Antimatter Physics, Robert Forward and Joel Davis, (2001) p103. Forward brings it up like a throw away point:
"George Chapline of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ... proposed using colliding beams of heavy ions such as uranium with energies so high (2.5 TeV) that each nucleon has 10 GeV of kinetic energy. For a 100-meter diameter colliding beam facility with an intersection area of one square centimeter, the production rate could be as high as 1018 antiprotons per second, or a gram per week."
You're going to love this page. http://www.edwardmuller.com/index.php?Page=calculator
Asteroid Mining 101: Wealth for the New Space Economy, John S. Lewis.
https://deepspaceindustries.com/asteroid-mining-101-john-lewis/
Sadly, asteroids are poor sources of both Uranium and Thorium. Asteroid 2043 is possible, but not very likely.
We're better off making antimatter on Earth, were Thorium is in essentially inexhaustible supply. But, for story reasons, I kicked it off-planet.
Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration, Paul Gilster, (2004), p79:
"Robert Forward calculated that for a 1-ton robotic probe moving at one-tenth the speed of light on a scientific mission to Alpha Centauri, an antimatter rocket world require no more than four tons of liquid hydrogen or other propellant, along with some forty pounds of antimatter."
It's hard to think of things more dystopian than this. From GlobalResearch.ca:
"They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells."
Pita bread.
A potential, future, water war. Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have so far been able to calm things, but this will be tested as the century progresses. For Egypt, one of the most modern and powerful countries in Africa, this is an existential danger, and they see it as such, too.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32016763
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_politics_in_the_Nile_Basin
http://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/uar_sudan.html
The QBZ-111 does not exist. It is an extrapolationof Norinco's QBZ-95 assault rifle, now in service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QBZ-95
The QJZ-90 also doesn't exist. It is the QJZ-89 which does, but it looks old even today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QJZ-89
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-explosive_anti-tank_warhead
Another fake future weapon. The Type 98 exists, and has been in service since 1998. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PF-98
Mohammad Hashim Kamali, "Characteristics of the Islamic State," 1993. Kamali writes on page 25: "The idea has prevailed among Muslims that there could be but one form of Islamic state. Namely the form manifested under the Rightly-guided Caliphs. This is a common error. The truth is that Islam does not require conformity to any particular form. There is not only one form of Islamic state but many. and it is for the Muslims of every period to discover the form most suitable for their needs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Extremely_Large_Telescope This should be ready by 2024.
Sadly, there is no such planned NASA telescope. The EELT for comparison, at 39 meters, will cost an estimated 1 billion Euros.
ESA did consider a 100 meter telescope though, the OWL (Overwhelmingly Large Telescope). It was however, too expensive, at just 500 million Euros more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwhelmingly_Large_Telescope
Michio Kaku, The Future of the Mind. Go get it, you’ll thank me.
Peter Diamandis talks about this in a Startalk interview.
http://startalkradio.co/show/x-prize-part-1/
http://startalkradio.co/show/x-prize-beyond-space/
Claudio Maccone is popularizing the idea of flying a telescope to 550 AU (or more). At this distance, it can use light lensed by the Sun’s own gravity. This would boost the telescope’s power by 100 million times.
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=785
Calcutta, I am told, is a shit hole.
The UN projects 9.7 billion, but I've pushed this to ten for a sexier number.
Of great concern is that Africa's population is expected to double. Countries that underdevelop human capital, pay quite the price, later.
http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/2015-report.html
Birth rates are slowing worldwide, but fertility more than death rate is the bigger determinant here. Currently the world is growing by 230,000 people a year. I've assumed a decrease in percentage, but a steadier overall number.
http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_growth
Ministry of State Security. This is China’s ‘secret service.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_State_Security_(China)
Chinese bases, all the way West to Africa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_of_Pearls_(Indian_Ocean)
This is a real thing. Chinese companies often hire – or rent - white men to be figureheads at events or signings. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/
The Shkval torpedo is incredible. It essentially flies under water. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VA-111_Shkval
http://www.colombosevengin.com/
Literally, [little] white boy. Sri Lankan nicknames are often ironic.
Perkins Observatory, run by my old school, Ohio Wesleyan University, is where the Wow! signal was received. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal
By forming a gas pocket around itself, a body can in principle move through a liquid as fast as it if does through air. It would, in essence, be flying. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercavitation
Khat is a narcotic plant, common in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. It is restricted or banned in the West. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khat
Russia's version of GPS. https://www.glonass-iac.ru/en/
The Toyota Hilux is the most popular vehicle among insurgents, worldwide. http://www.newsweek.com/why-rebel-groups-love-toyota-hilux-74195
I'm assuming the S-97 Raider, doesn't end up cancelled, like everything that isn't the F-35. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-97_Raider
Astronaut Candidates.
Any vessel whose orbit intersects the orbits of two worlds. Travellers can use them to hitchhike between the worlds. Aldrin Cyclers (named by Buzz Aldrin, who came up with the idea in 1985) would cycle between Earth and Mars. Buzz can tell you more: http://buzzaldrin.com/space-vision/rocket_science/aldrin-mars-cycler/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Appropriations_Subcommittee_on_Defense
Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, Neil Degrasse Tyson (2012).
Mars Direct: Space Exploration, the Red Planet, and the Human Future, Robert Zubrin (2013).
Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier, Neil Degrasse Tyson (2012).
I'm borrowing the term 'Tin Can' space station from the Amazing Eclipse Phase RPG. http://eclipsephase.com/
Uigher (allegedly) for "I will fuck your mother."
http://www.cgwic.com/LaunchServices/LaunchSite/JSLC.html
Just an extrapolation of the Shenlong, China's military space plane.
Jason Morrison in the "The Transcript Humorist," 2000.
He is incorrect. The British first split the atom, but Snyder wouldn't know that. http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/31864
The ISI is Pakistan's biggest intelligence organization. It is quite happy to work with terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda. It self-finances through selling heroin, has recruited suicide bombers, and knew of Osama Bin Laden's Abbotabad safe house. They have a history of planning attacks against Indian, Afghan, and American targets.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26isi.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Services_Intelligence
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9109457/Stratfor-Osama-bin-Laden-was-in-routine-contact-with-Pakistans-spy-agency.html
1362-1923 AD. Secularization began in the 19th century, however.
This is of course, a projection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_growth
Betty Friedan's study on the unhappiness of women, in the 1950s. TLDR - If you're busy doing what other people of expect you to do, you never get to be happy, doing what you want to do.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17573685-the-feminine-mystique
Planet 9’s believed orbit will take between 10,000 and 20,000 years. I’ve opted for 20,000 for the book, because that’s just cooler.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/planetx
Literally, the “Charity Society of Vishnu.” Vaishnavites (or Vaishnavas) consider Vishnu the supreme deity.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vaishnavism
Deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, is quite common in space. The origin of much of the water in the solar system may be interstellar space, where deuterium forms more easily.
http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/55118-deuterium-to-hydrogen-ratio-in-the-solar-system/
This is something we’ve only figured out relatively recently. During the Carboniferous, rainforests were the dominant form of life on land. Unchecked, oxygen was at its highest level then (perhaps as high as 35% compared with 21% today), in Earth’s history. The higher content made for better oxygen intake by insect tracheal systems. The result was insects big as sea gulls.
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/03/04/rspb.2010.0001
http://forces.si.edu/atmosphere/02_02_06.html
Siarnaq is a satellite of Saturn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siarnaq
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faxian
Essentially a rocket flying directly to its destination. This is as opposed to going into orbit; waiting for the best time to make an efficient burn (effecting a Hohmann transfer), to get to where it’s going. Direct ascent is more expensive, but faster.
Direct ascent was considered for the Apollo Program, till engineers realized it would mean a truly ridiculous and immense rocket to do the job.
http://rocketpropulsions.blogspot.in/2012/10/direct-ascent-trajectory.html
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Rendezvous.html
“The creation of greater-than-human intelligence will occur during the next thirty years ... In fact, there seems no reason why progress itself would not involve the creation of still more intelligent entities --, we are entering a regime as radically different from our human past as we humans are from the lower animals.”
Vernor Vinge The Coming Technological Singularity, 1993
https://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/book98/com.ch1/vinge.singularity.html