Nano Future 2030

To show what Nanotechnology can do once you have true molecular manufacturing capability, I will describe one method  we can use to fix global warming. 

I realize this is a lot of hot air until we prove molecular manufacturing is real. But it does give us motivation to get there.

Launch a single rocket from Earth to land on the moon.  Deliver approximately a thousand pounds of technology safely to the surface.

The package is a nanofactory specialized for lunar mining.  It produces the tools to mine the surface, refine metals and construct large structures and payloads.  The mares or flat plains of the moon are relatively rich in Iron, Titanium and oxygen.  The Apollo 17 landing site is known to be rich in Silicon, iron, titanium and oxygen. The latter three in the mineral Ilmenite. 

Build large tilting solar collectors that produce the necessary power to refine the ore into metal power.  This solar power is available for approximately 45% of the time.  With a 2nd station on the back side of the moon, we could operate for 90% of the time. 

Once the solar collectors are in place, mine the surface for titanium, iron and trace minerals to make alloys. Set up an automated mining operation that produces approximately one million tons per year.  Yeah, that sounds outrageous, but if you can do one ton a year you can do as many more as you need. Every thing in between is a management problem.

You have all the solar power you need provided you build large arrays that tilt 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. Two long lines of collectors at right angles to the sun path and on a flat mare will have full view of he Sun for most of the day.

Build a linear accelerator to launch two ton cylinders into Earth obit.  This may require considerable thrust capability to guide the package into a circular orbit 2000 miles above the Earth surface.

A 5000 pound , ( 0.4022 cubic meters of titanium ) cylinder of titanium, iron and nano can cover approximately 4000 square meters at 100 micron thickness.  Using the titanium powder as raw material, nano on the satellite creates a foil that is used to build a reflector extending out from the central satellite.   This reflector is aimed at the sun and spun slowly for stability. 

Once you have 20 to 40 million of them in orbit ( a 1000 mile  wide band at 600 mile altitude) you will see a reduction in sunlight hitting the equator.  Adjust the number to reduce the rise in temperature over a ten year period.  I wanted to put them higher but the Van Allen belts start at 600 miles and it seems good to stay out of them due to radiation damage to the electronics on each reflector.  Electric propulsion may be required on each package to keep it in orbit at this low height.

I got some of this orbit info from http://www.permanent.com/  which has a lot of info on orbital data and space.

I hope to animate such a production line and satellite system, but don’t hold your breath.  Or you can pay my rent and I’ll jump right on it :=)

John

In the early years of true nano research (when they can manipulate individual atoms and molecules ) there will be  nano labs with all the equipment for a lab and test area implemented on a silicon wafer.  For one reason it is cheaper to build all the lab equipment on the wafer. Easier to keep it closed and clean. 

I have a total lab system designed and will show it here as I am able over the next few months. The first part of that system is this transprotation device for moving nano sized objects from one site to another.

Suppose you bought a nice tool for your lab and it’s only 300 nanometers tall and wide.  How do you grab hold of it to install it in your lab?  How does the manufacturer package it for shipment?

This silicon box is a solution because it can be fabricated in a silicon foundray just like any other gear or machine made of silicon.  It is cheap.  It is all one piece. It can be made in several sizes. And it has only one part.   The silicon bends like steel at these small sizes. I hope I have not made a bad assumption that the silicon can bend as far as I have shown.

The only part of the box that requires another step is the polymer seal. The black surface in the animation is a coat of polymer that is flexible and has low out gas properties.  This seals the seam between the top  and bottom of the box.

I have provided an animation of the box in operation.
External fingers and posts will bend the parts of the box to place the top over the bottom container and to lock the fingers under the ridge of the rim.  They snap into place and hold the top firmly on the bottom section. The depression in the top of the central block is the actual transportation volume. 

A nano device or tool is placed inside that depression  while in a vacuum. The top is closed and the assumption is that the vacuum will be preserved due to low out gassing of the walls and polymer seal.  If the vacuum can not be maintained, then an inert gas may have to be used to keep reactive gases out of the container. 

In my last post a cell oriented approach was offered.  To explore that a bit more, lets look at what is needed.  I want to call these things Nanocells.  It is a human cell with augmentation.

At first we need a mechanism to penetrate a random cell and set up housekeeping.  The goal is to coexist with the normal cell machinery and live off the intercellular chemical energy.  Then to learn about the cell and monitor anything that we can fix or adjust.  Eventually we, or the nanocell equipment, knows as much as it needs to know to keep the cell happy and repaired. 

How big would it be?  5% of the volume of a cell? Something small because we don’t want to expand the size of an organ and therefore the flesh of the organism.  For example, if my math is right,  Dr. Drexler estimates a 400 nm cube would provide a 1 Ghz computer and, from the Internet, I see that  blood cells have a mean volume of 82 micons cubed.  Or

volume of cube =   (400 nm) ^3   = 0.064 cubic microns
volume of cell   =    82 cubic microns.

Or about 0.078 percent of the cell volume.   Throw in ten times more equipment and you are still far below 1 percent of the cell.   And if you want to have a bigger computer, just network the cells and create a LAN of immense proportions.  A volume containing 1000 cells could rival a super computer.  I see hierarchies of cells where one level talks to a the next level up for instructions and higher level decisions.  Your entire body eventually reports to You by way of the intelligent immune system which serves as the interface between your consciousness and the flesh of your body. 

What kind of equipment do we add to the nanocell machinery?  

• Power supply.
• Communicator module for talking to other cells.
• Sensors of intercellular fluids
• Chemical synthesizers.
• Mechanical structure (cell shape) manipulators.
• Nucleus probe with sensors and mechanical effectors.
• Cell wall cleaner and repair unit.
• Virus detector and eliminator.

The power supply runs off ATP molecules naturally present in the cell.  The same energy that runs the biological cell must run the nanocell mechanism. 

The communciation module could use sound or light as a carrier between cells.  Directional beams would allow the stabalization of a three dimensionl computer LAN.   By cooperating with other nearby cells, a small group could use coherent signals to communicate with the outside world to provide medical data to doctors and researchers. 

Monitoring the cell is the central goal of the nanocell mechanism. By sampling fluids in the cell, a continuous readout of the cell situation can be measured.   Ph,  energy level, ion flows, and many more are instantly available. 

If an injury occurs, normal cells can be ruptured by pressure.  An internal mechanism could sense such an event and take measures to repair rips in the cell wall,  restore fluid balance and generally repair the damage at the cellular level rather than a flood of nano robots trying to rebuild a body from outside the cells.   Let each cell rebuild itself. 

Even in everyday life, the cells need help staying in good health.   And then there is that nasty habit of dying after a set number of reproductions.  Let’s fix that right off the bat.  And cancer is a thing of the past.  No self respecting cell is going AWOL while it’s being tended by nanocell mechanisms. 

There is something inherently more simple in fixing the myrid host of cells rather than trying to understand the body as a whole.