Could We Build a Concert Venue in Space? (washingtonpost.com) 75
What would happen if we built a concert venue in near-Earth orbit? A science policy journalist explores the question in the Washington Post:
Forget U2 in the Las Vegas Sphere. Take me to a real concert in the round, where I can float 360 degrees around the stage, watching a guitarist shred from the perspective of a fly and inventing dance moves that Earth's gravity would forbid.
Before you dismiss this as a hallucination, consider that we're on the cusp of a new era of space travel. Engineer and space architect Ariel Ekblaw, founder of MIT's Space Exploration Initiative, says that within a decade, a trip off the planet could become as accessible as a first-class airline ticket — and that, in 15 or 20 years, we can expect space hotels in near-Earth orbit. She's betting on it, having founded a nonprofit to design spherical, modular habitats that can assemble themselves in space so as to be lightweight and compact at launch, much like the James Webb Space Telescope that NASA vaulted into deep space two years ago.
"The first era of space travel was about survival," she told me as I recently toured her lab. "We're transitioning now to build spaces that are friendlier and more welcoming so that people can thrive in space as opposed to just survive." There's no reason, Ekblaw said, that a concert hall can't be one of those structures.
The article ultimately calls this "an impulse for space travel I can get behind: curiosity about who we are and what more we can create when we reach beyond Earth. This is the realm of not just scientists and engineers but of all kinds of dreamers. It's a rendition of space exploration that can engage anyone to imagine what's possible."
Before you dismiss this as a hallucination, consider that we're on the cusp of a new era of space travel. Engineer and space architect Ariel Ekblaw, founder of MIT's Space Exploration Initiative, says that within a decade, a trip off the planet could become as accessible as a first-class airline ticket — and that, in 15 or 20 years, we can expect space hotels in near-Earth orbit. She's betting on it, having founded a nonprofit to design spherical, modular habitats that can assemble themselves in space so as to be lightweight and compact at launch, much like the James Webb Space Telescope that NASA vaulted into deep space two years ago.
"The first era of space travel was about survival," she told me as I recently toured her lab. "We're transitioning now to build spaces that are friendlier and more welcoming so that people can thrive in space as opposed to just survive." There's no reason, Ekblaw said, that a concert hall can't be one of those structures.
The article ultimately calls this "an impulse for space travel I can get behind: curiosity about who we are and what more we can create when we reach beyond Earth. This is the realm of not just scientists and engineers but of all kinds of dreamers. It's a rendition of space exploration that can engage anyone to imagine what's possible."
Yes (Score:5, Funny)
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But it would be breathtaking.
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But it would be breathtaking.
But probably not ground-breaking.
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Depends entirely on whether the parachutes work. As Tom Petty already knew, coming down is the hardest thing.
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But it wouldn't have any atmosphere.
From the moment they opened the doors, the concert sucked.
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Yes (Score:2)
But the acoustics would be terrible.
Re:Yes (Score:4)
"In space no one can hear you scream"
- Aliens (Film)
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In space, no one can hear you giggle [penguinrandomhouse.com].
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Yes there is (Score:5, Informative)
There's no reason, Ekblaw said, that a concert hall can't be one of those structures.
Materials to build the structure, cost, sufficient electricity (that's a lot of solar panels unless you're going nuclear), heat dispersion, environmental issues, object avoidance, and not least to worry about, vomit. People like to think they'd do well in space, but in reality many would get sick despite any medical review they would have to undergo before going up. Now imagine a concert hall of just a few hundred people and how many might get sick. You would then have free floating vomit (as opposed to free-floating, full-torso, vaporous apparitions) in a location full of others. And not just free-floating, vomit is ejected with force so unlike on Earth where it would drop after a short distance, this stuff would keep going, splatting into people and seats (if there are any), equipment, and walls.
Not trying to be negative. A concert hall in space would be interesting, though cost prohibitive for the overwhelming majority of people, but realistic issues need to be taken into consideration.
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(The unrealistic renderings of "Starship"-passengers attending concerts in their rocket to Mars at least had the rationale of those passengers having lots of time to spend on board, anyway.)
Re:Yes there is (Score:4)
Bored rich people with no connection to the real life need for resouces and preservation would.
You already know of their secret endulgance in endangered species, forbidden rituals, illegal activities and endless resource-waste whilst trying to disguise under being charitable.
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Even the Vomit Comet takes many people down for a few. Maybe if the concert attendees spend a bit of time on that, it might go easier. Zero-G vomit? Ugh!
It's not the zero-gravity. It's the shift in gravity. And it happens after several such shifts. (The average is apparently six.) Someone going to space once might throw up on the way up (or not), but probably not while at zero-g for an extended period of time.
Yes (Score:5, Funny)
But there would be no weight to the performances there.
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The dark side of the moon is already lit (Score:3, Insightful)
More likely a church. Or military base. (Score:3)
I mean there are some major obstacles and costs to overcome.
A concert would be fun, but is it enough motivation? Maybe for the first few millionaires.
I think other motivations are going to be more likely.
Though it will be interesting to see which ones. I mean there are no space men to enslave, nor any crops that would be profitable enough to grow there and import.
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A concert would be fun, but is it enough motivation? Maybe for the first few millionaires.
Technically, the headline asks "could we" not "should we".
5th! (Score:4, Informative)
OK, have to post the mandatory 5th Element tie-in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
I just love that movie. MULTIPASS!!!
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There is something great about it. Maybe more than one thing. But if you want proof of how difficult it is to identify and measure what made it great... look at Valerian. Same director, same story style, same design style, and a total disaster.
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>"There is something great about it. Maybe more than one thing."
It is certainly a cult classic. I have highly recommended it to many people who have never seen it and all of them came away fans. Even aged well (so far).
An interesting mix of a compelling story, great actors, humor, action, suspense, music/sound, and visuals. It is very rare everything just comes together so well. It is hard to point to any one thing that makes it just "work."
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IMAO Besson should have made the film more like the comics and less like the TV series.
In the comics, the Shadows living at the centre of Central City were tricksters trying to take control, outsmarted by other aliens taking control, with the human general trying to take control unaware of either of them, naively thinking himself the first to try. In the film, the Pearls were exactly what they said they are, humanity already was and always had been in control of Alpha, and the human general was trying to c
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One had quality lead actors, the other had supporting actors getting their big shot at lead roles.
The writing had similar issues; in The Firth Element you had screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen (who wrote The Karate Kid) with Luc Besson tacking his name on, in Valerian you had Besson trying to write something on his own.
But without Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich it could have been really awful, with everything else the same.
Re: 5th! (Score:2)
Great venue (Score:5, Informative)
Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles from the stage, while the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet—or more frequently around a completely different planet.
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Finally, a venue worth having where we can attract real talent.
Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles from the stage, while the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet—or more frequently around a completely different planet.
Can we put Congress up there instead? (And maybe just leave them up there?)
In Space (Score:3)
Bono singing in a hard vacuum (Score:3)
is about the only situation where I would enjoy listening to him.
Douglas Adams foresaw this (Score:4, Informative)
When he talked about Disaster Area [fandom.com] "the musicians themselves played their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stayed in orbit around the planet"
Freefall is the worst for this (Score:2, Interesting)
In freefall you have no ability to apply force without immediately learning about Newton. You wouldn't be able to play the drums without being strapped to the same surface as the drum kit or you'd float away long before you could finish a song. You wouldn't be able to 'dance', you'd writhe oddly.
As for an audience, I can't imagine the death toll that would result from having a crowd of people floating around bumping into each other in 3 dimensions, all scrambling for the best view of the stage and unable
I see some "journalist" has no topics... (Score:2)
... to write about that make sense. Or maybe asked some chat-AI for suggestions.
Ok, it's official (Score:3)
We have run out of things to post.
Re: Ok, it's official (Score:1)
What a great way to end 2023 (Score:1)
Perfect for Once Upon A Time in Shaolin (live) (Score:2)
Bono's Skirt (Score:1)
"...where I can float 360 degrees around the stage..."
I have no interest in peeking up Bono's skirt
Okayyyyyyy⦠(Score:2)
Do you know why we donâ(TM)t have flying cars? Not because itâ(TM)s technologically insurmountable, but because of people. People who canâ(TM)t drive cars stuck to the ground by gravity, with lots of lines and signs and lights to tell them exactly what to do, without dying at the rate of a major war. Imagine everybody having the freedom to navigate in 3-D space with no lines or lights or roads to stick to. Thatâ(TM)s the barrier to flying cars. Now, imagine those same people are floating
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Do you know why we donÃ(TM)t have flying cars? Not because itÃ(TM)s technologically insurmountable, but because of people.
Yep. People who can't even figure out how to configure a web browser can't be trusted with flight.
We haven't had flying cars up until now because it was technologically insurmountable. It wasn't until recently that the brushless motor electric multicopter was practical, and everything to date has been either a roadable airplane, or a decades-spanning failure like the Skycar. Enter the Alef Model A [bbc.com], which while it may well still turn out to be a spectacular failure at least checks all the boxes for something
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So something like the Aerocar from 1947, a road-licensed car modded with wings, is not a flying car, but a "roadable airplane"?
Legally it has to take off and land at airports because you have to file a flight plan. And on the road, the wings are unwieldy, so you are well advised to unmount those when not in the air or at an airfield. There is nothing technical preventing its taking off and landing anywhere else.
It is a flying car, if only technically.
In the 1950s, GM proposed "self-driving" cars, in the f
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Legally it has to take off and land at airports because you have to file a flight plan. And on the road, the wings are unwieldy, so you are well advised to unmount those when not in the air or at an airfield. There is nothing technical preventing its taking off and landing anywhere else.
Yes, there is, and there's one on each side of the aircraft. They are called "wings" and they get in the way, or more to the point, there's a bunch of stuff to get in their way. You could take off on a wide enough highway if everyone else got out of your way.
Having to file a flight plan does not mandate use of an airport. There are private helipads and airstrips in the world, and people can legally fly to and from them.
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Are you seriously saying that a plane is prevented from taking off by having wings?
I concede that a private airport will also do.
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Are you seriously saying that a plane is prevented from taking off by having wings?
What I'm saying (IMO obviously in the context of the current discussion thread) is that a plane is prevented from taking off in locations where automobiles normally operate by its wings, even if you eliminate all of the other considerations. A true flying car has no such problem.
Building a practical one was only just made feasible with advances in materials technology (like affordable carbon fiber) and battery technology, and advancements in control systems — even military helis didn't have an electro
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A true flying car
No true Scotsman.
Flying cars are flying cars. They are not practical, they will never be practical. There is a reason they didn't catch on, and it's not just the price.
Helicopters also require a pilot's licence, they are not easier to fly than planes. There are reasons why planes had autopilots long before helicopters did.
Instead of more whiz-bang ways to waste energy in transportation, I think we need to be thinking of ways to make it more efficient
That I agree with.
For land transport, there is nothing more efficient than trains. That includes light railway, tramways, and cable cars.
For maritime transport, sailing ships are the m
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They don't have the capacity, and aren't in locations that would make them viable for most transportation.
And you can't just scale them up, that requires large tracts of land.
It all comes down to the "we" part. It implies scale. And indeed, wings imply runways. And runways require land.
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In the 1950s, GM proposed "self-driving" cars, in the form of cars that follow an induction strip in the road. Although technically easy, it remains science fiction because it would have required major road reconstruction.
I'm picturing some wags painting a magnetic stripe off the road and off a cliff now, Wily E Coyote-style.
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Do you know why we donâ(TM)t have flying cars? Not because itâ(TM)s technologically insurmountable, but because of people. People who canâ(TM)t drive cars stuck to the ground by gravity, with lots of lines and signs and lights to tell them exactly what to do, without dying at the rate of a major war.
I would argue that the limitations are still principally technological. There's nothing inherently preventing allowing layers of traffic above existing roads, with direction determining altitude, and with vehicles automatically transitioning between altitudes when changing directions, other than the need to build driver assistance systems that handle the merging as you change altitudes.
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VTOL is incredibly energy intensive, even with really huge rotors that a helicopter employs. Technically surmountable problem, but helicopters are more efficient than anything that looks like a car. The length of the rotor has a big effect on the efficiency of lift. Small diameter ducted rotors require some serious RPMS and horsepower. The problem is gravity and the density of air. If we had less gravity and more dense air.. I mean boats don't need to do anything to float really.
But yeah, people suck at eve
ticketmaster hidden fees may be more the base tick (Score:4, Insightful)
ticketmaster hidden fees may be more the base ticket for this venue
Disaster Area (Score:2)
At last Earth could host this plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones - generally regarded as not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but also as being the loudest noise of any kind at all.
https://hitchhikers.fandom.com... [fandom.com]
Well (Score:2)
There has been one successful space (musical) artist:
Chris Hadfield
Lots of what-ifs to consider... (Score:2)
Let's just pretend for a moment that someone commits to this idea, and that some preexisting orbital concert venue already exists, and that we're completely ignoring the cost of its construction and ongoing maintenance. And let's pretend that Elon Musk gets his wish, wherein each rocket launch costs only $10 million dollars. [axios.com] With each payload being 150 tons, we could theoretically launch one rocket, the band, all their audio gear, and about 500 attendees, to this venue for the performance..
Or, call me cra
Ariel Ekblaw is objectively stupid (Score:2)
Wtf is MIT creating as students? It used to be some of the best, brightest engineers on the planet. Now it's apparently specializing in make-believe?
"...a trip off the planet could become as accessible as a first-class airline ticket ..."
On what conceivable basis would anyone make this ludicrous prediction?
Falcon heavy, the current-best option, is currently at $1500/kg, meaning $150,000 for 100kg human.
This is the same stupid shit that leads design artists to draw a nuclear airplane and have supposed "tec
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She was home-schooled, so go easy on her. She has an impressive list of degrees. But it seems like she read Seveneves and decided all that space shit would be cool. Probably except for the earth burning for 5000 years. That wouldn't be cool at all. But the space stuff. Living in space sucks and she refuses to acknowledge it because MIT keeps paying her to be an optimist.
No signal for the ticket app (Score:3)
If earth venues can't install a femotcell in their deadspots so the frickin ticketshafter app can get a signal to show the barcode (all for my convenience, remember) then sure, you can hold a concert in orbit, but nobody can get in.
But more seriously, there are far better payloads to put into space and far better ways to support live music of all kinds.
Douglas Adams (Score:1)
âoeThe Hitch Hikerâ(TM)s Guide to the Galaxy notes that Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert-goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves play their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulat
watching a guitarist shred? (Score:2)
What year does this guy think he's in?
Moshed In Space. (Score:1)
Going to be some weak swirling pits.
Will Roger Waters br first (Score:2)
Call a guy.. (Score:1)
towards the center (Score:2)
Space habitats will eventually be rotating cylinders a km or more in radius with multiple levels, where gravity varies by distance from the center. Cost of cables to support things varies with the square of the distance to the center (longer cables x more gravity). The outer surface has cable costs as high as they get, but it has to hold in atmosphere, so you'd expect just about nothing but retaining wall at that level. But atmosphere weighs as much as several meters of soil, so you might as well have so
Ambition! (Score:2)
I love that somebody experienced the Sphere and thought to themselves "this is cool, but many of these people aren't suffering from vertigo. We can do better!"
Just imagine... (Score:1)
American System assumptions lfor bad climate (Score:2)
Thousands of people burning more energy to go to a concert?
We need to change our gaze,
https://www.lowco2america.com/... [lowco2america.com]
zero g? (Score:2)
>inventing dance moves that Earth's gravity would forbid.
World's worst mosh pit.