Skip to main content

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 9: Space + Art




Space elevator diagram
Humans have always had the innate urges to attain new knowledge and explore new worlds. Due to this, human interest in unveiling the mysteries of space has been prevalent and everlasting. From telescopes to space shuttles, we have continued to challenge our scientific limits, thriving to discover more about the world we live in today. As a civil engineer, I found the concept of space infrastructures, such as a space elevator, to be extremely interesting. Like the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk, the space elevator is a static structure that is literally out of this world, reaching a geostationary orbit at a height of thirty-six thousand kilometers. There are countless design considerations that go into this structure. The lower end of the elevator would be subjected to stronger gravitational force, counterbalanced by the centrifugal force at the upper end. As a result, the elevator would be put under massive tensile force, so the material would have to be much stronger, while being lighter, than any known material.
Death Star from Star Wars

The topic of space infrastructures reminded me of the movie, Star Wars. There are numerous spacecraft in the movie, but the Death Star was the first thing that came to my mind. It is a spherical space station, spanning over 160 kilometers in diameter. The Death Star was so large that it was comparable to the size of the moon. As Vesna stated, concepts like the space elevator could “turn science fiction into reality.” The significance of space is that it is the point in which mathematics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, and art converge. With this combined knowledge, humans could be living on other planets such as Mars. 

NASA's illustration of its future mission to Mars

References:

Donahue, Michelle Z. "People Are Still Trying to Build a Space Elevator." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 21 Jan. 2016. Web. 02 June 2017.

"Death Star." Wookieepedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2017.

Graham Templeton on March 6, 2014 at 12:15 Pm Comment. "60,000 Miles Up: Space Elevator Could Be Built by 2035, Says New Study." ExtremeTech. N.p., 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 02 June 2017.

Perry, Philip. "NASA Unveils How We'll Get to Mars and Explore Deep Space." Big Think. N.p., 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space Exploration + Art Part 1." Lecture.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 3 Robotics + Art

The idea of the robot, according to Vesna, came out of theater as a response to mechanization of labor. In the past, assembly lines were solely manual labor done by humans. Before machines were created, humans were treated as if they were part of the machine. The idea of separating actions into pieces by having each worker do a single part of the production came from Gutenberg’s printing press. This was also reflected in Ford’s assembly line. The advancement of technology and computers was the starting point for replacing humans with machines in assembly lines. Chaplin and Lang’s criticism of the mechanization of workers relayed the fact that workers were being superimposed and replaced by machines. The mechanization of workers reminded me of the movie RoboCop. This movie takes place in the future in old Detroit where crime-rates are at an all time high. The senior president of Omni Consumer Products (OCP), Dick Jones, signs a contract with the mayor of Detroit pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Event 3: Final Review Session

Introduction  (Monday, 6/5) The most interesting subject that interested me the most is the correlation between mathematics and art. The topic I am going to focus throughout my paper is the golden ratio, which is incorporated in variety forms of art to enhance their aesthetic values. I am currently pursuing in the structural engineering and construction industry. These two fields, alongside architecture, are responsible for designing buildings, bridges, and many other structures. The golden ratio is often used in the design process to display a harmonious configuration of proportionality in structural elements. Background/First Body Paragraph  (Tuesday, 6/6) -Briefly describe the golden ratio. -Present historical examples of famous structures that incorporated the golden ratio. These examples include: The Great Pyramid of Giza The Parthenon Notre Dame Current State/Second Body Paragraph (Wednesday, 6/7) -Golden Ratio in contemporary architecture Le Corbusier...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 6: Biotechnology and Art

Being raised by religious parents, I was somewhat familiar with the ongoing controversy in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology. One of the reasons for this controversy, as Vesna states, is because “artists are actually meddling with the genetic structures of natural systems.” Up until this week’s lecture, I was indifferent about the ethical dilemma involved in this topic. In my opinion, there is a major different between artists and scientists experimenting with the general structures of living organisms. Scientists in this field have experimented with things such as transgenic rats using glowing jellyfish genes. Osamu Shimomura was the first person to inject these genes into mice for research purposes. These mice served as animal models “for studying biological processes and diseases that luminescent jellyfish genes can be used to tag certain genes or proteins.” According to High, genetically manipulated animals are promising tools. This type of genetic modification...
1 comment
Read more