Space Option Star
Humanity is facing an imminent Energy Dilemma in that the limited proven reserves of fossil fuels could reach exhaustion levels at mid-century and none of the current alternative terrestrial energy options – nuclear – wind - ground solar (PV) – can be sufficiently scaled to achieve the goal of divesting from fossil fuels by the year 2050 as is being called for by the United Nations, many governments and numerous organizations to address the Climate Emergency. Energy from space is the only near term technically feasible and scalable alternative currently available to humanity to divest from fossil fuels while [...]
Space Option Star in ELEO
Developing solar power satellites (SPS) as a major energy source for Earth will involve multiple orbital demonstrators. Satellites in low Earth orbits (LEO) will have far lower costs than demonstrators in geostationary orbit (GEO) or High Elliptical Orbits (HEO), but they have the major disadvantage that they can deliver power to a receiving and rectifying antenna (rectenna) for only a few minutes, and only once every few days. However, Equatorial Low Earth Orbits (ELEO) offers the unique advantage to effectively deliver power to the same rectennas about 10 times every day. The Space Option Star in [...]
EarthSeeds
EarthSeeds – Humanity’s Ultimate Purpose in the Evolution of Life The EarthSeeds art intervention by Arthur Woods is an open source, open space, open community astronautical art intervention. The EarthSeeds art intervention is designed to send the “Seeds of Earth” to other places in the solar system to help insure that Life will survive elsewhere if the conditions for its survival on Earth become inhospitable. It is based on the knowledge that in nature, the perpetuation and survival of all forms of life are maintained through the process of reproduction. The propagation of a species is the best way for it to [...]
Ars Ad Astra – The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit
The Orbiting Unification Ring Satellite and the OUR-Space Peace Sculpture projects were the beginnings of my “private space program” which began to unfold and develop in other and sometimes in parallel directions. Below is the history and details of the spaceflight of the Ars Ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit that was realized on the Mir space station in 1995. Ars Ad Astra: Mir Space Station 1995 Involving other artists in space has always been one of my goals. In my negotiations with the Russian space company NPO Energia in 1990, the idea to organize an [...]
The Cosmic Dancer Sculpture on the Mir Space Station
On May 22, 1993, my sculpture called the Cosmic Dancer was launched to the Russian Mir space station on a Progress rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Cosmic Dancer – a painted geometric form made out of welded aluminum tubing measuring approximately 35 x 35 x 40 centimeters and weighing exactly one kilogram – was the first three-dimensional artwork to be specifically conceived for and officially realized in a space habitat. The purpose of the project was to investigate the properties of sculpture in weightlessness and to evaluate the integration of art into the human space program. After its [...]
The OUR-Space Peace Sculpture Project
Introducing a Cultural Dimension into the Space Environment Arthur R. Woods – Artist, Founder and President of the OURS Project. Member: I.A.A.A., I.S.A.S.T. Marco C. Bernasconi – OURS Vice President – Technical, Member: FBIS, A.I.A.A. Paper IAA-89-673 Presented at the 40th Congress of the International Astronautical Federation October 7-13, 1989 / Torremolinos, Spain Abstract Recent developments concerning the commercial use of outer space have made it possible for cultural events to take place in the space environment which can be seen and experienced by much of the world’s population. The opportunity to communicate to the global audience as well [...]
