The Reusable Rocket Take Two

The company SPACEX is at the forefront of space travel and innovation.  This Sunday, February 8, at approximately 6:30 a.m. the company will be trying to push even further.  SPACEX will be for the second time trying to launch and land its Falcon 9 rocket.  This attempt was made earlier and can be seen failing here: https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK .  The attempt failed but just barely.  The rocket landed on a 300 ft. by 100 ft. barge in the Atlantic Ocean which is an enormous achievement for human space travel.  The company is obviously hoping to do much better this attempt but if they fail, SPACEX has another 15 launches already planned for this year alone, including its Falcon Heavy the world's most powerful rocket by a factor of 2.  What is the big deal about landing a rocket and taking off with it again though?  The answer is that this process would significantly decrease the cost of going up into space.  We would be able to send many more missions into space and learn a lot more about a vast area we still know very little.

 SPACEX Home

Jon Ross at @zlsadesign and zlsa.github.io
         Artist's impression of SpaceX rocket landing.                    

Sailing on the high Space?

We will as a civilization be sailing through space like we once sailed the oceans to find new lands? The Planetary Society hopes so.  This non-for profit group has been funded solely by citizens and is planning to send two missions into space in the coming months.  In May 2015 the company will be sending up its first test satellite in order to test the operational systems of their space sail or LightSail as they call it.  Then in 2016 the company will send the finalized rocket up out of Earth's orbit and find out if the idea of a space sail is effective. But how does a space sail work?  There is no wind in space so what can push it and the craft it's attached to forward? The answer, tiny light energy particles called protons.  When the protons hit the surface of the sail they transfer their momentum to the sail and cause it to accelerate forward.  These particles travel extremely fast, the speed of light, but have very little mass.  This gives them very little momentum but over a period of time the momentum would build as the space craft traveled causing an eventual acceleration that would get very fast.  This way of producing acceleration for a spacecraft would be very cost effective because it provides a limitless source of power to push the craft forward unlike chemical or gas rockets.

PHOTONS HAVE ENERGY AND MOMENTUM

THE PHOTONS REFLECT OFF THE SAIL, TRANSFERRING MOMENTUM

The Rocket That Will Power Orion

NASA's new rocket is constructed is about to begin testing.  The Space Launch System or SLS is designed specifically for Orion and to propel the ship to Mars and asteroids in the near future.  The new rocket is similar to the ones used on the space shuttle and employs some of the same technology. The boosters for the rocket will be used for the first two minutes of flight in order to get the ship out of the Earth's gravitational pull.  There are two boosters and each will provide a trust of 3.6 million pounds of thrust.  Once the boosters run out they will detach and the ship will be left with its cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen supplies that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines. These engines will do all the work once in space and will be able to take man to, with the help of Orion, finally to the red planet.

The first qualification motor for NASA's Space Launch System's booster is installed in ATK's test stand in Utah and is ready for a March 11 static-fire test.

Image Credit: 

ATK

The EmDrive, breaking Physics??

Two weeks ago I talked about the great possibilities of metallic hydrogen as a fuel source for deep space travel.  This week I looked into the idea of an EmDrive.  This device as seen to the left uses microwave technology with the input of DC power to propel objects forward without using a propellant like gas.  It uses a magnetron to push microwave waves through a tunnel slowing them down, and creating different levels of pressure in the cone of the device which causes the thrust.  This system of creating thrust in space has many advantages.  First it substantially reduces the weight for fuel on any spacecraft.  It also can run continuously for 15 years with only the help of a solar panel to supply its needed electrical input which also saves on the costs for sending a project into space. The EmDrive has also been tested and passed by NASA as having serious potential for the future.  The current thrust for this machine low but in space it doesn't take much force to get moving and being able to apply a force for a long time allows for a constant acceleration.The EmDrive is a very complex machine and if you would like to learn more about how it works, its potential for future exploration, and how it was created visit http://emdrive.com/. 

Cryosleep?

Some of the major issues with deep space travel lie with how to sustain human life.  Humans eat, sleep, exercise, work, and relax.  All of these facets of life require space and some form of energy.  These two factors cause the price of sending a person into space to literally skyrocket.  One way to get around all of these issues would be an extended human hibernation.  You may be thinking cryosleep that's only in science fiction movies, but recently NASA has been looking into a process much similar to it.  The process is called Torpor.  To put the astronauts to sleep their bodies are put into a low-metabolic state using therapeutic hibernation and total paternal nutrition.  These processes would keep a person's body asleep but also supply them with the nutrients they need.  The leading research partner to NASA in this process is called SpaceWorks and already the company is making huge plans.  As seen on their power point on Torpor, Torpor pdf , the company has already made preliminary designs for deep space travel using their system of hibernation.  With this system it would allow for a 180 day journey where the crew of the spaceship would be awake for just the beginning and end of the voyage. The continuation of research into this area may be one of the largest contributing factors to allow the human race to finally explore the universe.

Artist’s concept of “sleeping to Mars”. Photo Credit: SpaceWorks Enterprising

                                                                 Artist’s concept for Mars-ready habitat. Image Credit: SpaceWorks

The Fuel of the Future?

CARSTEN COSTARD

Mikhail Eremets (left) and Ivan Troyan stand by the 

apparatus they used to create what they believe to be 

metallic hydrogen

Is metallic hydrogen the key to future space travel? Many believe this is so.  The fuel is very lightweight, powerful, and is theorized to be found on Jupiter and Saturn.  Water is the fuel's only after use by-product and the fuel creates up to five times the efficiency of liquid H₂/O₂, the fuel that the Space Shuttle previously used.  The only draw back to this source of power is that it has not yet been officially created.  In 2011 the men shown above, believe they created the metallic form of hydrogen by pressing the gas form between two diamond tips until the pressure reached 270 billion pascals (270 G Pa), or about 2 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.  This amount of force caused the gas to turn into a metal for a brief moment, but this is still highly questioned.  If this form of hydrogen can be created on Earth it would be a huge advance for deep space travel because it would allow for deep space refueling at the giant gas planets.       

Finally Liftoff

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 at at 7:05 a.m. EST, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, in Florida.

Image Credit: 

NASA/Bill Ingalls

The Orion crew module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles southwest of San Diego.

Image Credit: 

NASA TV

After much anticipation and a whole extra day of waiting Orion was finally launched into orbit around the Earth.  At 7:05 EST Friday December 5 Orion took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on top of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.  The original launch date, December 4, was scrubbed after many difficulties with high winds, a boater, and a valve issue on the Delta IV Heavy Rocket.  The launch time was continuously pushed back until the two hour and thirty minute launch window starting at 7:05 was over.  Friday, however was a success all around.  Orion took off at the planned 7:05 and returned to Earth at 11:49.  The flight was seen as major success by all of the parties associated with the rocket and capsule.  The purpose of the mission was to test the separation systems, radiation shields, and return systems of the rocket.  By just watching the liftoff and return the separation and return systems worked like they were designed to.  The parachutes on the return of Orion slowed the module down from 20,000 mph to 20 mph before the rocket landed in the Pacific Ocean.  NASA is reporting good signs from the initial data they have received from the rocket so far for its radiation shields.  Overall this launch is another huge step for deep space exploration and for mankind.