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Posted on 03/07/2010 12:40:28 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Future Mars outposts or colonies may seem more distant than ever with NASA's exploration plans in flux, but the rocket technology that could someday propel a human mission to the red planet in as little as 40 days may already exist.
A company founded by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has been developing a new rocket engine that draws upon electric power and magnetic fields to channel superheated plasma out the back. That stream of plasma generates steady, efficient thrust that uses low amounts of propellant and builds up speed over time.
"People have known for a long time, even back in the '50s, that electric propulsion would be needed for serious exploration of Mars," said Tim Glover, director of development at the Ad Astra Rocket Company.
The rocket technology could drastically cut down the amount of time a spacecraft needs to send astronauts on Mars missions. Instead of half a year, a spacecraft could make the trip in just over a month using the engine and a large enough power source, according to an Ad Astra mission study.
NASA's recent course change has freed up some funding for new propulsion technologies. And the U.S. space agency has not lost sight of the red planet, NASA administrator Charles Bolden told Congress as he presented a new budget last month.
"While we cannot provide a date certain for the first human visit, with Mars as a key long-term destination we can identify missing capabilities needed for such a mission and use this to help define many of the goals for our emerging technology development," Bolden said.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Easy enough solution. Send the supplies on an unmanned ferry using conventional rockets. Crew makes the transit on a different vessel using a conventional rocket boost. Analagous to the JATO & RATO units that used to assist heavily laden aircraft into the air.
New? Pfffft! This concept has been on the books for decades. Looks like another laboratory experiment that won’t scale to the power and propellant load requirements of an actual vehicle. I’m also wondering how safe this will be to test on the ISS. I’ll bet the safety folks have not reviewed the requirements for this yet either.
Why don’t they just fire up that Roswell thing
And let’s not overlook the fact that you have to slow down as you near your destination - on both legs, out and back.
Traveling at such high velocities requires a significant source of power to slow down - such planetary gravity, plasma engines, rockets, etc.
We ain’t going anywhere with O in charge. Ever since Mondale they’ve been trying to kill NASA, and now they’ve succeeded.
“Carter /spit signed off on a treaty that killed the Orion project,”
Orion was dead by 1965. Blame Nixon-Ford.
The US Space Treaty came long after the Orion was dust.
More along the lines of needing a significant fraction of a gigawatt power source - Redundancy for manned flight generally would suggest that there'd be three 200 megawatt plasma engines on board, whereas the International Space Station, our most advanced power source in space, generates merely .126 megawatts.
I was pleased to see I was right, but not pleased they have not come up with a better technology. The canonical method of interplanetary space flight is to build the ship in orbit. You use a lander at your destination (Mars, moon, whatever) and then return the ship to orbit. This has been known my whole life (54 years)
The big issue with space flight is commercial viability. Once we make money doing it, then private enterprise will take over. I propose creating a geosynchronous solar energy station big enough to power the US. From the profits from that, build another over Hawaii. From those profits, build a third. Then you will control the world's energy supply and no longer need to worry about oil or money.
Thats nice, now try building a man-rated vehicle for long space voyages using such a concept.
It's that "large enough power source" that's the hard part. Power requirements for the sort of engine in question run in the kilowatts per newton of thrust.
I’m fairly well versed in the history of the nuclear test program, but I am unfamiliar with any propulsion test during the Castle series.
Could you kindly provide more info? Thanks.
//Looks like another laboratory experiment that won’t scale to the power and propellant load requirements of an actual vehicle//
Such details seem lost on some folks. But dont point that out though or you are ‘anti-space exploration’ yada yada yada.
“The other problem is getting back.”
I suggest a crew that includes, Obama, Biden, Pelosi, Reid. Add others as you wish. A one way trip...
Unfortunately, the astronauts would remain in orbit around Earth. ;’)
How about this...stop spending our tax dollars on this superfluous stuff! I am sick of being ripped off by the income tax!
Cosmos 954
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