Techdirt. Stories filed under "propulsion"

Techdirt. Stories filed under "propulsion" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "propulsion"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Interstellar Travel -- 'To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before' Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120303/01062217972/dailydirt-interstellar-travel-to-boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120303/01062217972/dailydirt-interstellar-travel-to-boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before.shtml Star Trek... While we won't be traveling beyond our solar system anytime soon, there are already plenty of efforts underway to develop the technologies needed to make interstellar travel a reality. Here are a few examples.

DARPA is funding the "100 Year Starship Initiative" which aims to make long-distance space travel possible within the next century. The initiative will focus on identifying and driving advancements in the technologies needed for interstellar flight, as well as using them to improve the quality of life on Earth. [url]
According to an estimate of how much energy would be needed to make interstellar travel possible, it will be at least another 200 years before humans will have enough to trek to the stars. For example, a mission to send 500 people on a one-way trip into space would require 10¹⁸ Joules of energy for rocket propulsion. In comparison, a shuttle launch requires 10¹³ Joules of energy. [url]
NASA's Glenn Research Center has compiled a list of some ideas for interstellar travel that are based on scientific knowledge that exists today. To make interstellar travel practical, we'll need to be able to control gravitational/inertial forces, travel faster than light, find ways to harness the energy in the vacuum of space, etc. [url]
Icarus Interstellar Inc. is working on the concept of using powerful lasers to generate antimatter from the vacuum of space. The large amount of energy produced through matter-antimatter annihilation could then be used for interstellar propulsion. [url]

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120303/01062217972 Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Spaceworthy Engines That Will Take Us 'To Infinity And Beyond!' Joyce Hung http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/16222712371/dailydirt-spaceworthy-engines-that-will-take-us-to-infinity-beyond.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/16222712371/dailydirt-spaceworthy-engines-that-will-take-us-to-infinity-beyond.shtml colonize Mars by 2023, then some new propulsion technologies might be in order. Here are a few examples of various efforts going on around the world.

MIT researchers have developed a penny-sized rocket thruster that runs on jets of ion beams. The thruster is flat and square, like a computer chip, and covered with 500 microscopic tips that emit ion beams strong enough to propel a shoebox-sized satellite. Placing several of these thrusters on a small satellite could enable it to move to change its orbit, as well as turn and roll. [url]
Engineers in the UK are testing some key technology for a propulsion system that could one day take a spaceplane, like the Skylon vehicle, straight into orbit without all the multiple propellant stages required with current throw-away rockets. The Sabre propulsion system, which is part jet engine and part rocket engine, burns hydrogen and oxygen to provide thrust. [url]
Researchers at The Australian National University are working on a plasma thruster that could eventually be used to send satellites to Mars. The plasma thruster could be ready by 2014, and initial missions will attempt to send old satellites into "graveyard" orbits using the thruster. [url]
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA are both testing solar sail technology as a form of primary propulsion for spacecraft. The solar sail technology relies on the concept that surfaces exposed to electromagnetic radiation will experience "radiation pressure," which exerts a small pushing force against the surface. Japan's Ikaros 27-square-meter solar sail gets only 0.0002 pounds of force due to radiation pressure from the sun, but over a long period of time, incredibly high speeds could be achieved. [url]