Jeff Foust reviews the film Lunarcy! (see previous post about it) and discusses what it says about space advocacy: Lunarcy: is the idea of lunar settlement crazy? – The Space Review
Planetary Society Hangout: Programming in the sciences with Chase Millon
The latest Planetary Society Hangout discusses “programming in the sciences with Chase Million”:
Fusion Driven Rocket – NIAC funded project at Univ. of Washington
John. Slough of the Plasma Dynamics Lab at the University of Washington has been developing Pulsed High Density Fusion systems for many years. He has also been working on adapting the technique for space propulsion and has won a couple of grants from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The Fusion Driven Rocket: Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy – NASA
The Fusion Driven rocket (FDR) represents a revolutionary approach to fusion propulsion where the power source releases its energy directly into the propellant, not requiring conversion to electricity. It employs a solid lithium propellant that requires no significant tankage mass. The propellant is rapidly heated and accelerated to high exhaust velocity (> 30 km/s), while having no significant physical interaction with the spacecraft thereby avoiding damage to the rocket and limiting both the thermal heat load and radiator mass. In addition, it is believed that the FDR can be realized with little extrapolation from currently existing technology, at high specific power (~ 1 kW/kg), at a reasonable mass scale (<100 mt), and therefore cost.
If realized, it would not only enable manned interplanetary space travel, it would allow it to become common place. The key to achieving all this stems from research at MSNW on the magnetically driven implosion of metal foils onto a magnetized plasma target to obtain fusion conditions. A logical extension of this work leads to a method that utilizes these metal shells (or liners) to not only achieve fusion conditions, but to serve as the propellant as well. Several low-mass, magnetically-driven metal liners are inductively driven to converge radially and axially and form a thick blanket surrounding the target plasmoid and compress the plasmoid to fusion conditions.
Virtually all of the radiant, neutron and particle energy from the plasma is absorbed by the encapsulating, metal blanket thereby isolating the spacecraft from the fusion process and eliminating the need for large radiator mass. This energy, in addition to the intense Ohmic heating at peak magnetic field compression, is adequate to vaporize and ionize the metal blanket. The expansion of this hot, ionized metal propellant through a magnetically insulated nozzle produces high thrust at the optimal Isp. The energy from the fusion process, is thus utilized at very high efficiency.
His team has made progress on individual components of the system and this summer they will test the entire system:
- Rocket powered by nuclear fusion could send humans to Mars – University of Washington Today
- Full nuclear fusion tests this summer which would enable propulsion for 30 day trips to Mars – NextBigFuture.com
Here is a slide from the presentation: Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy: The Fusion Driven Rocket, John Slough et al, NIAC Spring 2012 Symposium – Mar.2012 (pdf)
Update April.6.13: Alan Boyle has some additional background about the project: Scientists develop fusion rocket technology in lab – and aim for Mars – Cosmic Log.
See also Slough’s company MSNW LLC.
AMS-02 and Shuttle Endeavour
Chris Bergin gives lots of details about the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) experiment, particularly regarding how it finally got to the ISS on Shuttle Endeavour: Endeavour’s ongoing legacy: AMS-02 proving its value | NASASpaceFlight.com
See also the earlier posts here, here and here on the results presented yesterday.
Mars One and University of Twente join forces
An announcement from the Mars One
Mars One welcomes University of Twente as its
first Science and Education partner
The Mars One Foundation, an organization preparing to send the first human settlers to Mars, has joined forces with University of Twente, Netherlands in a partnership where researchers at the university will help tackle specific mission challenges.
AMERSFOORT, April 4, 2013 – Mars One is very happy to announce University of Twente as its first Science and Education partner.
Engaging young researchers in universities and colleges around the world is crucial for the success of the Mars One mission. By working closely with its Science and Education partners, Mars One will address a broad range of social and technical research questions.
Pool of fresh critical minds
The Mars One mission is designed around existing technology; however the team wishes to prepare a premise not only for the settlers’ journey and survival but also for an expanding, productive Martian community.
Bas Lansdorp, founder of Mars One and alumnus of Twente said: “We hope that researchers from University of Twente will help develop techniques to ensure the settlers’ stay on the planet will be a success story.”
“Future research is needed, for example to find ways for making the settlement less dependent on frequent resupply missions from Earth by making smart use of resources on Mars. This collaboration will engage a pool of fresh critical minds with such challenges,” he said.
Mars spin offs for better Earth
Pleased about the partnership, Professor Ed Brinksma, Rector Magnificus of the University said: “The Mars One mission shows a lot of courage and ambition, and the team clearly dares to think big. As an entrepreneurial university, their enterprising spirit appeals to us a great deal.”
“We hope that from the complexity of an expedition to Mars new research projects will sprout as spinoffs in the fields of solar energy and recycling- solutions for problems we now face on Earth,” he said.
Collaboration in Education and Research
Both partners see many starting points of collaboration in the future. To start with, experts from Mars One will contribute to one of the academic semesters at new ATLAS University College, to be launched in September 2013 within the University of Twente.
In addition to education there are plenty of potential research links. Professor Brinksma offers some examples: “Our Robotics and Mechatronics departments can contribute to the manned and unmanned robotic vehicles that the Mars pioneers will use. Our behavioral scientists can also help astronauts learn coping mechanisms and how to deal with uncertainty.”
“Mars One welcomes partnership from research institutes with a foresight. We want to work very actively with places of higher education around the world. We welcome University of Twente as our first Science and Education partner,” said Bas Lansdorp.
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About Mars One:
Mars One is a not-for-profit organization that will establish a human settlement on Mars through the integration of existing, readily available technologies from the private spaceindustry. Mars One will fund this decade-long endeavor by involving the whole world as the audience of a televised broadcast of every aspect of this mission – from the astronaut selections, their eight year training on a Mars-like mock-up on Earth to their arrival on Mars in 2023 and their lives on the Red Planet. The first footprint on Mars will inspire generations and go down in history as the next
giant leap for mankind.
About the University of Twente:
The University of Twente, Netherlands is where talent can best realize its full potential and where students and staff are key. Together, over three thousands cientists and professionals carry out groundbreaking research, bring about socially relevant innovation and provide inspiring teaching for more than nine thousand students. Entrepreneurship is
second nature to us. The campus is home to around hundred businesses, including student-run businesses. The University of Twente has also generated more than seven hundred successful spin-off companies. The University’s business park – Kennispark Twente encourages and assists entrepreneurs to start new companies
Links to further information
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Here’s the Mars One intro video: