Today Samiullah brought me and his cousins to Paghman, an area just west of Kabul. It is the favorite Friday-picnic spot for Kabulis, so we shared the mountain site with about ten thousand fellow citizens. As we headed west through Kabul we passed through the Kota-e Sangi commercial district, which is dominated by Hazaras. This
Karte Sakhi is adjacent to Kabul University. As with Deh Mazang, and most of Kabul, it is a vast (re)construction site. The houses look neoclassical–not in the European sense, but as if ancient Mediterraneans were building their houses with materials available today. I like the new warm color palette, compared to the popular 1970s Kabul-green.
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Here I am in the lovely, garden-like campus of Kabul University. Within the trees is the Faculty of Agriculture, and the field in the foreground will be used as a demonstration/laboratory field once the irrigation system is restored. In the background is Deh Naw (new village), on the south flank of Kuh-e Ali Abad. The
The neighbors of our guesthouse are rebuilding the lot-line wall to make it higher. When A4T rented this guesthouse, it was the only inhabitable building on the block. Still, about one third of the lots are just ruins; but construction proceeds apace on both sides of us here. I took this photo in 2003 on
Here are Engineer Dehyar and Sabri, whom I worked with in 2003. At that time one of my tasks was to go through the International Building Code and identify passages for translation from English. The two sections that seemed useful were 1) the approach to exiting design, and 2) post-construction testing of concrete structures (a
I arrived in Kabul on Weds, May 31, two days after the worst rioting in the city in several years. News of the riot began to emerge several hours after I had begun my journey, so it was disconcerting to be in transit, glimpsing news in airports to find out how bad the situation was.
REMOTELY-OPERATED MACHINERY Originally written: 8 August 2005. Previous | Overview Beyond the earth’s atmosphere, most exterior operations will be done using mechanical remotes. Machines can operate outside without worrying about radiation shielding, pressurized suits, or extreme variations in temperature. The main problem is how to control and guide them for non-routine operations. The simplest solution
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MANUFACTURING Originally written: August 3, 2005. Previous | Overview | Next Bulk manufacturing on Luna will need to be done by automated or remote-controlled machines. Humans-in-spacesuits is too costly, as are pressurized, breathable environments. To control for temperature and dust, factories probably should also be enclosed, so again, the geodesic dome design is easiest for
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LOCAL RESOURCING: Originally written: 8 August 2005. Previous | Overview | Next A solar oven seems the obvious way to melt and separate Lunar ore. Beyond the initial Earth-built small equipment, Luna-built reflectors seem easy to manufacture, so at least that part of the system can be scaled easily. The separating system might be more
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MINING Originally written: 8 August 2005. Previous | Overview | Next Mainly this will include electric-powered, remote-controlled diggers and conveyor trucks or belts. The first target for mining is to grade a level path for the maglev launcher track. This means that the mined material will not be specific; it will be generic Lunar soil,
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