It's funny that even in the space industry, it's not every day that you manage to work on really big ideas. At Made In Space, the lion's share of our engineering energy is spent developing concepts that will turn into real-life equipment within five years. We love to talk a lot about the future, paint views of space colonies on boards, or discuss the challenges of production on Enceladus. Although we usually do not work on long-term projects, thanks to the NIAC program we will still be able to participate in something like this.
NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program provides research grants to explore various non-standard ways of exploring space. The main attention is paid to fairly long-term projects that are being implemented in 10 years or more. We at Made In Space recently proposed a new vision for asteroid exploration and use, and received a grant from the NIAC for this. This is our proposal.
Over the past several decades, ideas have been considered for missions that would use deep space bases at libration points and in near-lunar orbit.
In 1974, Gerard O'Neill proposed building a space colony with manufacturing facilities at the Earth-Moon libration point L5. Representatives of the L5 Society described solar energy harvesting satellites located at libration points to conserve power generation on Earth. Soon, NASA proposed the ARM (Asteroid Redirect Mission) program, within which a concept was developed for the safe transportation of a multi-ton asteroid to lunar orbit using robotic spacecraft. At the destination, a team of astronauts would have to collect an unprecedented number of samples for further study on Earth.
All of these ideas are as exciting as they are diverse.
At the same time, the described scenarios are united by one thing - the need for a space base in building materials.
It was proposed to solve this problem in all possible ways. For example, the specialists working on ARM suggested transporting the asteroid using a solar-powered tug. And O'Neill promoted the idea of transporting the necessary materials from the surface of the moon.
At Made In Space, we offer a different way of delivering materials. It is highly scalable, cost effective, and automatically supplies abundant resources to any location in the solar system. We are developing the RAMA architecture, thanks to which an asteroid can be turned into a primitive spacecraft that can independently move to the desired point in space.
Promotional video:
RAMA stands for Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata (Converting an asteroid into a mechanical automata). Our project is supposed to take advantage of additive manufacturing and resource utilization on-site, at the “construction site” (in-situ resource utilization (ISRU)). This will allow for the highest efficiency of asteroid redirection missions.
In other words, we are investigating the possibility of transforming asteroids into self-powered spacecraft.
A mission worth exploring
A key aspect of the NIAC program is that the proposed concepts must be described in the context of the mission. We have many different ideas for using the RAMA architecture, but our favorite is this:
In the late 2030s, the Primary apparatus is launched from the Earth, which, with the help of an electric power plant and gravitational forces, is sent to intercept an asteroid flying at a distance no more than 10 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
After a successful meeting with the asteroid, with the help of the ISRU technology developed by NASA, the Primary Vehicle begins to extract materials from the surface and from a shallow depth of the celestial body.
These materials are used to stockpile the mechanical components for the spacecraft.
The asteroid, transformed into a giant mechanical spacecraft, is independently sent to a mining base.
As components are manufactured and tested, they are built into a large, complex design that includes mechanical computing, maneuvering, acceleration, energy storage, and navigation subsystems.
As a result, the asteroid will turn into an autonomous mechanical free-flying spacecraft - RAMA-1. It will be programmed to slowly change its course in order to eventually arrive at the L5 libration point, where useful resources will be extracted from it.
As soon as RAMA-1 begins to move towards its target, the Primary Vehicle will travel to a new asteroid to transform it into RAMA-2. And so on until the Primary apparatus fails.
What funding has been allocated to us now
Made In Space has received funding from NASA to carry out the initial Phase 1. This means we will be investigating the feasibility of the RAMA concept over the next 9 months.
At an early stage of work, we will concentrate on working out the mission plan, and also try to better understand how an asteroid can be controlled using an analogue mechanism.
Our immediate goal: in 9 months to have a detailed description of the mission structure, as well as provide a list of technologies necessary for the implementation of RAMA and requiring investment (in the production and use of materials).
Why is it important to develop long-term projects
Finding a research topic that meets the NIAC criteria is not an easy task. Basically, it's a combination of powerful technological concepts with a touch of science fiction.
We found inspiration in the idea of a space mechanical automaton, like John von Neumann's Self-Reproducing Machines and Freeman Dyson's Astro Chicken. These technological concepts have been analyzed for decades, and there are many ideas for their implementation.
With the help of the RAMA project, we will give new impetus to the idea of self-replicating spacecraft, taking into account the fact that these automata will be simple computers and transport devices, simply enlarged to the size of an asteroid.
Antikythera mechanism. Created around 150 BC, the oldest analog computer in the world.
How simple can such an automaton be? Our developments are based on technologies that have existed for thousands of years. The Antikythera Mechanism is considered the world's oldest analog computer, dating back to a century and a half before our era. The device made it possible to calculate the movements of stars and planets with incredible accuracy, and researchers still argue about how it could have been designed and manufactured in such ancient times.
Of course, the transformation of a whole asteroid into a kind of Antikytheria mechanism looks fantastic. Indeed, the name RAMA was inspired by Arthur Clarke's A Date with Rama. But cool tech, inspired by a wild vision of the future, is being built by teams ready for this epic new challenge. And for Made In Space, projects like RAMA, located at the far ends of our product roadmaps, are helping to achieve success in the short term.