Other Planets on Earth

In April of 1997, Dory and I went to the Province of Salta to ride on “El Tren a las Nubes.” The construction of this particular rail line, officially designated Ramal (Track) C-14, was started in 1920 and was designed and built under the leadership of an American named Richard Maury. It suffered all kinds of stops and starts, mainly caused by the political upheavals of the 30’s and 40’s, and was finally finished in 1949 during the first presidency of Juan Perón. The original feasibility study which was started back in 1890, was to build a railroad that would link up the Atlantic in the south of Brazil with Pacific in the north of Chile. The main challenge was to make it over Los Andes which would require laying track at an altitude of 14,000 ft. The transcontinental railway was never completed because of the political and institutional turbulence that reigned throughout South America in the early part of the 20th Century. Nevertheless, the city of Salta, the capital of the province of the same name, was indeed connected to the Pacific port of Antofagasta, in Chile. The tour train ride takes all day covering over 220 kms. up to a place called Polvorillo, and then back. The city of Salta is at 4300 ft., and the turnaround point up on la puna (the high plateau) has an altitude of about 13,000 ft. On the way up the train crosses 21 bridges and 13 trestles, goes through 12 tunnels and uses 2 curly-cues and an ingenious “backtrack” to climb the required 9,000 ft. without a grapple or “claw” system. All the passenger cars have oxygen tubes and paramedics are on hand for those who have adverse reactions to the high altitude.




In some ways this ride is like a trip to another planet. The last stop before arriving at the turnaround is the mining tpown of San Antonio de los Cobres, altitude, 12,000 feet. As I walked away from the train an looked around, it struck me that if Mars baring the differences in gravity, had a little more atmosphere, and a little more surface water then I could have been standing on the Red Planet. During the day you are warned to wear hats and sun glasses to protect yourself from the naturally low solar filter. If you are staying overnight then a heavy wool poncho is highly recommended to fend off the sharp drop in the air temperature. San Antonio is the most important town on the route which can also be reached by car. It has a resident population of around 6,000 Kollas, the tribal name of the largest group of the local natives. Thin air, no humidity, only artificial shade, and substantially lower air resistance for futbol games. Of course, for centuries the locals have totally adapted themselves to these conditions. You see them literally run up and down hill paths in order to sell their wares to those gawking turistas del tren. It goes without saying that naves espaciales would not be out of place in these landscapes.



So what are we waiting for to try and adapt to adverse conditions on other planets. I have no doubt that there are other planets on Earth where we can test ourselves. It’s just a question of looking around. High mountain ranges are a great place to start. I have seen anther planet on Earth.

SA 12 "The Kanyadan Tribe in low orbit around an unnamed planet in the Cerdan System" (2008)

SA 9 "The Ahl-Gollud Rigot Tribe (better known as the Red Duke) leaving Morelle" (2008)

Space Art 5-- What’s a spaceship look like?

From where did the shape of a spaceship originate? In the movies and on TV, I guess it was Mélièse who came up with the original form in the shape of an enlarged artillery shell to describe Verne’s lunar lander. The Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers series of the 30’s kept the basic shape, added the fins, the forward shooting cannons, and the concept that it could be landed and taken off like a whacky sled. It did have a cool sliding door hatch! Then along came the finned flying bomb that after Werner’s V-2, become the SOP rocket all the way to Apollo 11 and beyond. This was quite evident with the vehicles portrayed in “Rocketship XM” and “Destination Moon,” both of 1950. It would suffer retro-alterations as artists, designers, engineers and movie producers tried to take an aircraft back out into space. This concept was best illustrated in the rocket plane built in “When Worlds Collide,” in 1951. Nevertheless, this first concept of the atmosphere penetrating aerodynamic foil probably reached its highest point with the George Pal’s “Conquest of Space” in 1956. Simultaneously an animated version for “The World of Walt Disney” was launched by Von Braun, visualized by Chesley Bonestell, and distributed by Walt Disney. I believe that it was in the 60’s that the ideas of the flying bottle and the modified space plane were slowly replaced by the concept of a vehicle that would never have to land on a planetary surface.




However, with the help of the barrage of satellites that followed Sputnik 1, a new concept for interplanetary and interstellar vehicles slowly crept into view. Never ending orbits along with the feasibility of self-sustaining human space colonies eliminated the necessity of romantic spaceports to handle deep space traffic. Forever doomed to never touch land like the cursed Flying Dutchman, aerodynamics and winged airfoils were left on the drawing board. Perhaps the first massive public view of this new concept was the Star Trek series that began in 1966 showing the Enterprise being permanently relegated to interstellar voyages. In 1968, Clark’s USS Discovery in Kubrick’s “2001, A Space Odessey,” would smack the general movie public’s eye furthering the idea of a non-rocket spaceship. This was followed by Trumble’s flying forest in the self-contained hydroponics farm in “Silent Running,” in 1971. Uncovered machinery, globes of all shapes, cylinders, and different kinds of tanks, all strung together like elaborate constructions, surreal erector sets, or floating oil refineries started to make their appearance. We all remember the deep space ore freighter, the Nostromo, of “Alien” in 1979. Even the operatic “Star Wars” epic while largely retaining the romantic rocket-plane surface-to-space vehicle, showed signs of radical design changes, as in the “Millennium Falcon,” the bad guy TIE Fighters, and the good guy X-Wing Fighters.



As we all know, a space vehicle’s purpose is threefold. First it must safely contain, sustain and protect human life as long as possible, preferably indefinitely. Second it must be able to go precisely where its crew and inhabitants desire. And finally it must travel as fast as its propulsion technology allows. As long as it stays in space, its final design only has to consider these three premises. On its design our only limits for a spaceship are time and technology. And for time and technology we have our imaginations. And as in all things some imaginations are more imaginative than others. Anyway, I’m having fun.

SA 13 "La Granja Stelar de Fahlen'ka en Pesink 3" (2009)

SA 11, "The Cadlock-Riddrik Farm on Hal'ad 12" (2009)

Space Art 4--- “Granjas de Naves”

What if space ships could be grown instead of built? Up to now and into the near future our manned space vehicles will be constructed from designed components made from diverse materials. Everything will be fabricated separately in space or on the surface of a planet or a moon, and then fit back together to make the construction work as planned. This is the way we have been building our transportation and habitat for many centuries. However, what if through controlled genetics and robotics, the whole working ship could be designed and then grown to specification…like an enormous and complex plant. Elements, minerals, compounds and nutrients could be genetically engineered to develop into these vehicles that would take man between the stars. You could grow everything from propulsion systems to hulls to living habitats. They would be self-repairing, and could be designed to better themselves in their functions and to improve themselves with use. They could be programmed to grow in size and complexity under the control of their resident populations. And they could be living worlds for their thriving crews.




They might be able to grow from a prepared surface on a planet or reengineered asteroid where they would be supplied and fed with the programmed ingredients required for its gestation. They would have capillary like networks for internal power, a solid structure for its power plant, internal farms for food supplies, along with all of the necessary structures and services to maintain its population alive, comfortable and prosperous while travelling in deep space. In fact they would be programmed to grow in size along with the ship’s population. Here are a couple of ideas on what my imagination has come up with concerning theses unique “farms.”