Six incredible space projects that NASA has invested in
Jumping on Pluto, a rope to the Mars satellite Phobos and the fastest space engine - Gazeta. Ru talks about incredible projects in which NASA decided to invest.
Under the auspices of the American National Space Agency NASA, a competition of frankly insane semi-fantastic projects is held annually, the goal of which is to choose those that, if realizable, could become breakthrough space missions. Within the framework of the program of innovative advanced concepts (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts - NIAC), both fully realizable projects and something from a very distant future are proposed.
So, for example, in 2011, the noise was caused by the allocation of funds to study the possibility of creating a "tractor beam" - like the one that carried objects over a distance in the series "Star Trek". Sometimes even frankly pseudoscientific concepts are offered and subsidized, but fortunately there are not many of them.
This year, the space agency decided to invest in 15 proposed technologies at an early stage (in the so-called Phase I - the first stage). According to the rules, the winners are offered $ 125 thousand each to conduct an initial feasibility study within nine months, to show the concept's feasibility and, if successful, to apply for additional investments (up to $ 500 thousand) within two years within the second stage studying a promising development.
Almost anyone can participate in the competition (it is only important that the group includes at least one American citizen).
“The NIAC program attracts researchers and innovators from the scientific and engineering communities, including representatives of budgetary organizations,” explains Steven Yurchik, assistant chief of staff for space technology NASA. “The program provides youth with the opportunity and the means to explore speculative aerospace concepts that we are evaluating and putting into our future technology portfolio.
One of the winners this time was the project of a native of Russia, NASA employee Vyacheslav Turyshev - a space telescope that uses the Sun as a lens to study exoplanets, which Gazeta. Ru previously reported.
Promotional video:
A complete list of 2017 for the first and second stages can be found here, and we list the most interesting, in our opinion, Phase I concepts below.
Jumping on Pluto
Benjamin Goldman of the Global Aerospace Corporation presented the concept of an automatic interplanetary station (see illustration above), which will enter Pluto's atmosphere at a speed of 14 km / s and deliver a 200 kg lander to the surface of a dwarf planet, reducing the speed due to aerodynamic braking and spending this is only a few kilograms of fuel.
Pluto's surface pressure is 10 million times less than that of Earth, but its atmosphere is about seven times more extensive than that of Earth, and its volume is 350 times that of Pluto itself. Passing a hundred kilometers of such a super-rarefied atmosphere (more precisely, the exosphere), the ship can lose 99.999% of its initial kinetic energy, which will lead to a final speed comparable or even lower than when rovers landed on Mars. With this trick, the total rocket fuel requirement for landing on Pluto can be reduced to 3.5 kg.
After conducting scientific research at the initial landing site, the descent vehicle will switch to the "bouncing" mode - due to low gravity (0.063 "same") it will be able to jump from place to place, examining especially interesting areas of the landscape. The proposed concept will allow a detailed study of Pluto's surface using a relatively low-mass apparatus with a reasonable cost in 10-15 years.
Space elevator over Phobos
Kevin Kempton of NASA's Langley Research Center suggested hanging a probe packed with sensors over the surface of Phobos, one of Mars' two moons. Unlike the second satellite, Deimos, Phobos is more massive and located closer to the planet. It is proposed to fix the probe, named PHLOTE, with the help of a cable stretched from the Lagrange point L1 (this is the area of gravitational stability on the straight line connecting the planet and its satellite).
Since point L1 is located only 3.1 km from the surface of Phobos, no requirements are imposed on the length of the cable that exceed the capabilities of modern technologies (it is planned to make it based on carbon nanotubes).
The probe with sensors can either hover over the surface of the satellite (always turned to Mars with one side), or descend to the ground.
Due to the very low gravity on Phobos, the probe will experience relatively low burst loads.
Phobos itself is a very interesting object; scientists from the USSR, and later Russia, devoted a lot of effort to its study, but all expeditions were unsuccessful. The next "Phobos-Grunt" is planned with us in the future. The Americans are going to study the satellite in stages, having previously hung a GPR on the probe to measure the subsurface composition of the object in order to determine how thick the fine-grained regolith layer is and what problems it will create for future landings. Dosimeters for studying the radiation environment, cameras and a spectrometer for analyzing the mineral composition of the surface can be other essential tools. PHLOTE will provide a permanent "eye in the sky" presence for landing missions and operational monitoring.
Navigational ultra-precise Doppler lidar, ultralight solar panels and highly efficient electric propulsion systems should keep the station "hovering" for a long time.
This design can also be useful during the landing of a person on the surface of Mars. Because Phobos has a composition similar to meteorites - carbonaceous chondrites, it is believed to contain minerals that can be used to replenish oxygen and fuel supplies on the way back to Earth.
However, such a "leash" can be used not only on Phobos, but also on Deimos, as well as at the L1 point of the Pluto-Charon system, where both bodies are tidally "locked" (always turned to each other by the same sides). This means that a spacecraft like PHLOTE could descend on a leash into Pluto's rarefied atmosphere, studying its chemical composition at all altitudes (unlike a traditional probe).
Apple trees on Mars
Adam Erkin of the University of California at Berkeley, inspired by the vivid (but scientifically dubious) episodes of growing Martian potatoes by the hero of Matt Damon in the movie "The Martian" (2015), thought about the possibility of transforming Martian soil into a nutrient medium using bioengineering. It is proposed to remove bacteria that can detoxify perchlorates (salts of perchloric acid) in the Martian soil, as well as enrich it with ammonia.
Of course, such developments can hardly be overestimated in terms of supporting future manned missions to Mars, as well as further terraforming this planet. Separately, the processes of getting rid of perchlorate and fixing nitrogen are already known to biologists, but it is required to create strains of microorganisms of one species, capable of both at the same time.
For this purpose, it is planned to study extremophile bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas and, first of all, Pseudomonas stutzeri, different strains of which can both fight perchlorate and have the ability to fix nitrogen (for example, strain A1501). Pseudomonads have two important advantages that make experiments with them more convenient than, for example, with photosynthetic extremophiles - cyanobacteria: you can use methods already worked out on E. coli, and besides, doubling the "harvest" is possible in just an hour (not seven hours or even four days, as is the case with cyanobacteria).
A camera has already been developed to simulate the conditions on Mars: pressure less than 10 kPa, temperature from –60 to +40 ° С, low light intensity, ultraviolet radiation, atmosphere consisting of 95% carbon dioxide and 3% nitrogen. It is necessary to clarify the range of the most extreme conditions in which the studied strains will be able to survive, multiply and fulfill their purpose.
These developments, however, will not be limited to Mars - in the future, it is planned to study the possibility of bioremediation of the earth's soil with removed bacteria: for example, cleaning the land near oil wells, in case of toxic spills, enriching the soil to increase vegetable production, fighting hunger in arid regions, meeting the needs of large groups population, etc.
Vacuum airship for Mars
This concept, proposed by John Paul Clarke of Georgia Tech, is similar to a conventional airship with the only difference that the lift is generated not by heated air, helium or hydrogen, but by a rigid structure that maintains a vacuum inside, displacing the air and thereby providing lift.
The existing materials cannot yet withstand the atmospheric pressure on Earth, but on Mars the atmospheric pressure is two orders of magnitude lower, in which the operation of a vacuum airship is not only possible, but also brings certain benefits in comparison with traditional airships. The shell is supposed to be made multilayer and lattice. The grid is used to support two layers of the vacuum jacket. The Martian atmosphere has a higher average molecular weight and temperature than other planets in the solar system.
As a result, a vacuum Martian airship can theoretically carry twice as much payload as a helium or hydrogen one of the same size, but it compares favorably with a rover in that it will not get stuck in the sands.
If a vacuum airship is depressurized, then it can be repaired and the air pumped out again, while a conventional airship is not able to return the supply of helium or hydrogen. Since the vacuum airship does not use gas for ascent, it can perform an almost infinite number of compensatory maneuvers to adjust or stabilize altitude in response to changes in ambient temperature.
The vacuum blimp can also use its rigid shell to protect instruments from solar radiation and high-energy particles, and can accommodate solar panels. It remains only to find such materials and structures that will be light and strong enough to withstand external pressure …
Fastest ship
John Brophy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has proposed a new way to fly to the outskirts of the solar system. Pluto on his ship can be reached in 3.6 years,
and a distance of 500 astronomical units is covered in 12 years.
In one year, it will also be possible to deliver a payload of 80 tons to the orbit of Jupiter, which opens up the possibility of manned missions to the giant planets.
The new architecture involves the creation of an array of laser emitters with a diameter of 10 km and a power of 100 MW, which accelerate the apparatus; the presence of an array of photocells on the spacecraft itself, effectively capturing the transmitted energy by fine tuning to the laser frequencies and generating a voltage of 12 kV; finally, an ion engine with a specific impulse of 58 thousand with a power of 70 MW (it turns out that the efficiency of light conversion is 70%), where lithium is used as a working medium, and not the more familiar xenon.
Lithium is stored as a solid, it is easily ionized, eliminates the leakage of inert gas from the thruster and erosion, which ensures a very long life of the rocket motor.
For a fast spacecraft, it is important to have a low mass with a high specific engine thrust. By removing the power supply and most of the power conversion hardware from the ship, replacing it all with a light array of solar cells, a ratio of 0.25 kg / kW can be achieved. For comparison: the modern automatic station Dawn, engaged in researching the asteroid West and the dwarf planet Ceres, has 300 kg / kW and a specific impulse of 3000 s, respectively.
In the future, all this makes it possible to think about interstellar travel.
Visit to hell
Robert Youngquist of NASA's Kennedy Space Center has proposed developing a new high-temperature coating that will reflect up to 99.9% of the sun's rays, 80 times better than current counterparts. This will be achieved through the use of a low temperature coating currently being developed with financial support from the NIAC.
Through computer simulation, it is expected to increase the efficiency of the reflector, calculate its performance and obtain a working prototype, which will be sent for testing to partners from the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University. The results of modeling and testing will be used to develop a mission to the Sun, during which the device will have to approach the surface of the star at a distance of one solar radius
- an order of magnitude closer than Solar Probe Plus, which is scheduled to launch in August 2018. In addition to breaking another record, this project will make significant progress in solving thermal protection problems and improve thermal control during future missions to Mercury.
Maxim Borisov
