ModRing Space Habitat

The Way Forward—Now—for Living in Space for Years at a Time

presented by

Ken MacLeod

Retired: HP, Western Digital, Toshiba, and startups

 Wednesday, August 8th, 2018

Huntington Beach, CA

The world's space agencies have never found a path forward that supports people living in space -- in reasonable comfort and safety -- for years at a time.  After 18 years of continuous occupation of the ISS, more than 30 years including the Mir and other space stations, and 57 years after Yuri Gagarin's first orbit, living in space is still very challenging, debilitating, and risky for long term health.

Proposals over the decades for safe and comfortable space stations have all been far too large and difficult to build.  They were far out of reach when proposed, and are still far out of reach today.  Those ideas of Willy Ley, Wernher von Braun, Gerard O'Neill, and Al Globus are each brilliant, but they all require construction of a very large monolithic pressurized volume before the first resident can live there.

The Modular Ring (ModRing) Space Habitat can provide a safe and comfortable place for people to live in space for years at a time.  And it is also modular and scalable, to facilitate growth to hundreds of residents, while starting with a smaller configuration -- now.

Ken MacLeod spent the first half of his career as an engineering manager at HP in Silicon Valley and then Roseville, California.  He then moved to Orange County, taking product definition roles at Western Digital, Toshiba laptops, Standard Microsystems (SMC), and PairGain.  Finally, Ken took on director and VP roles at 4 startups in Irvine.  He is now retired.  He has a BS in EE with CS from Penn, and an MS in EE with CS from Stanford, and he has 4 patents.  Ken has been an active member of AIAA.

NOTE:  This program is the first of a series co-sponsored by AIAA OC and Golden West College.  It will be held at Golden West College in Room 102 of the Technology Building (Building 19 in the campus map).  On-campus parking in Lot A or Lot B for this event is free.