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DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

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Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#11

Post by beefnugs »

heyitsguay wrote: post #2

Cool idea, very ambitious, is there any prior research or feasible testing setup that would support getting from 0 to 1 with this?

Yeah this seems crazy to just throw out into the public. How do they decide what and when is worth funding? Does there have to be some kind of shining light of progress... or is it just moonshot after moonshot of blind hope?

Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#13

Post by fnordlord »

MurkyLabs wrote: post #9
4o20vhdl296nsb wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully it won't be considered "woke" to manufacture things organically as opposed to using steel and concrete and plastic.

considering organic meat substitutes are, they're going to have to spin it pretty hard for some people to NOT think it's 'woke'

even harder if it wakes up.

Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#14

Post by hirenj »

First question I have is what kind of nutrient base conditions can we expect to start from? Should it be like Earth, or somewhere a bit more resource constrained (and how would it be constrained)?

I’d like to imagine solar reactors mimicking primordial goo to synthesise the essentials for these materials.

Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#15

Post by chr1 »

Somewhat similar and probably easier to achieve would be trees floating in open ocean, and some kind of plant capable to bring nutrients up from the large depth.

Currently most of the ocean is a lifeless desert, with most of life concentrated in the places where upwelling occurs. This kind of floating trees would add enough biomass to compensate for all of the human produced CO2 and even more.

Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#16

Post by gene-h »

hirenj wrote: post #14

First question I have is what kind of nutrient base conditions can we expect to start from? Should it be like Earth, or somewhere a bit more resource constrained (and how would it be constrained)? I’d like to imagine solar reactors mimicking primordial goo to synthesise the essentials for these materials.

Anything you want and can launch into space. The program goal is being able to grow large structures. The intent seems to be using biology as a means to more efficiently transform launched mass into big structures.

Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#17

Post by debacle »

Step 1 would be to see if a nonporous wood holds up to the vacuum of space with enough durability. The biggest issue would be reclaiming moisture from the wood as it dried rather than losing it to space. Things like corals or molluscs would be too heavy (though that idea spawned a wonderful series of 16 bit side scrolling video games).

Without some sort of easy orbital exit/entry, it's unlikely that being "in space" will be a feasible permanent option.

Re: DARPA Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures

#18

Post by ckemere »

When reading these program announcements, it's important to keep in mind that the (unofficial?) mandate for a DARPA program officer is to fund proposals that lie in the boundaries of [Doesn't at face violate laws of physics, P(Success) = 0.2]. A program where the vast majority of aims were clearly successfully delivered would be a program that should have been funded by other government agencies.

Of course, with R&D currently on the chopping block, we'll see if the same people that complain about NSF/NIH start coming for DARPA also...

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