DailyDirt: Spaceworthy Engines That Will Take Us 'To Infinity And Beyond!'
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Humans -- not content to be stuck on this planet and itching to find alien life -- are hard at work developing better ways to send satellites and spacecraft into orbit and outer space. If we actually want to 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]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: exploration, jaea, nasa, plasma thrusters, propulsion, rockets, skylon, solar sail, solar system, space
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Warp Drive
http://news.discovery.com/space/warp-drive-possible-nasa-tests-100yss-120917.html
Nigel
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Propulsion is obsolete and it's time to get over it.
For a space drive with real balls, check out Keshe Foundation's plans for cheap, safe, space travel based on gravitational positioning...
http://www.keshefoundation.org/en/applications/space/gravitational-technology
Keshe Foundation Intro movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrN99RELqwo
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Propulsion is obsolete and it's time to get over it.
Gravity is caused by mass, and the attractive force between two bodies is proportional to their masses. 400+ years of observation and experimentation pretty much proves that fact. That Keshe gravitational technology looks like pseudoscientific rubbish.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Propulsion is obsolete and it's time to get over it.
"Pretty much" is nowhere near enough proof for me. Today's science can levitate a live frog in an ordinary, but strong, magnetic field...against the force of gravity. That was also considered "pretty much" impossible by all scientists just a few short years ago.
I agree that the Keshe ideas are hard to believe. So were Nikola Tesla's comments about his electric flying machine that were similar...before being classified. But I can't deny that the principle concepts expounded by Keshe resonate with my gut instinct that says they're correct.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Propulsion is obsolete and it's time to get over it.
It also talks about things which astrophyicists don't event understand.
No-one knows what dark matter is, though there are hypotheses. If Keshe knows otherwise, he might want to let the rest of the scientific community know.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Propulsion is obsolete and it's time to get over it.
That pretty much sums up most scientist's responses to Keshe.
Also, Keshe explains he is trained as an engineer, not a physicist. He says he builds what he talks about, instead of talking math.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Mars
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Mars
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Scotty we need more power!
http://gizmodo.com/5942634/nasa-starts-development-of-real-life-star-trek-warp-drive
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Add Your Comment
Add A Reply