Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By European Space Agency
It's 'Lights, camera and... action!' for ESA as the agency launches Film ESA, a dedicated film location guide.
View the full article
-
By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER)James Bickford James Bickford
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
New exciting missions, such as a rendezvous with a passing interstellar object, or a multi-target observing effort at the solar gravitational focus, require velocities that are well in excess of conventional rocketry. Exotic solar sail approaches may enable reaching the required distant localities, but are unable to then make the required propulsive maneuvers in deep space. Nuclear rockets are large and expensive systems with marginal capability to reach the location. In contrast, we propose a thin film nuclear isotope engine with sufficient capability to search, rendezvous and then return samples from distant and rapidly moving interstellar objects.
The same technology allows a gravitational lens telescope to be repointed so a single mission could observe numerous high-value targets.
The basic concept is to manufacture thin sheets of a radioactive isotope and directly use the momentum of its decay products to generate thrust. The baseline design is a ~10-micron thick Thorium-228 radioisotope film which undergoes alpha decay with a halflife of 1.9 years. The subsequent decay chain cascade produces daughter products with four additional alpha emissions that have halflives between 300ns and 3 days. A thrust is produced when one side of the thin film is coated with a ~50-micron thick absorber that captures forward emissions. Multiple “stages” consisting of longer half-life isotopes (e.g. Ac-227) can be combined to maximize the velocity over extended mission timelines.
Key differentiators of the concepts are:
• Cascading isotope decay chains (Thorium cycle) increases performance by ~500%
• Multiple ‘stages’ (materials) increases delta-V and lifetime without reducing thrust
• Thrust sheet reconfiguration enables active thrust vectoring and spacecraft maneuvers
• Substrate thermo-electrics can generate excess electrical power (e.g. ~50 kW @ eff=1%)
• A substrate beta emitter can be used for charge neutralization or to induce a voltage bias that preferentially directs exhaust emissions and/or to exploit the outbound solar wind
Leveraging 30kg of radioisotope (comparable to that launched on previous missions) spread over ~250 m^2 of area would provide more than 150 km/sec of delta-V to a 30 kg payload. Multiple such systems could be inserted into a solar escape trajectory with a single conventional launch vehicle allowing local search and rendezvous operations in the outer solar system. The system is scalable to other payloads and missions. Key advantages are:
• Ability to reach a velocity greater than 100 km/sec with spare capacity for rendezvous operations around objects outside the solar
system including options for sample return.
• Simple design based on known physics and well-known materials
• Scalable to smaller payloads (sensors) or to larger missions (e.g., telescopes)
• Novel ability to reach deep space (> 150 AU) very quickly and then continue aggressive maneuvers (> 100 km/sec) for dim object search/rendezvous and/or retargeting telescopes at the solar gravitational focus over a period of years.
2024 Phase I Selection
Keep Exploring Discover More NIAC Topics
Space Technology Mission Directorate
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts
NIAC Funded Studies
About NIAC
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Video: 02:02:28 One giant planet. Three icy moons. An eight-year journey. One special spacecraft.
Building a mission to Jupiter took years of planning and thousands of people. Now that Juice is finally en route to its destination, we go behind the scenes to discover the story of the making of Juice.
The film features exclusive interviews with scientists and engineers from across Europe, as well as backstage footage from the planning, testing and launch of this once-in-a-generation mission.
Follow the final three years of Juice’s life on Earth. Discover why the mission was named Juice, how teams working on the spacecraft handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and why the spacecraft carries a special plaque dedicated to Galileo. Join Juice as it gets assembled, probed and tested to be certain that it is ready for Jupiter. And experience the emotion as Juice is put into a rocket and launched into space, marking the beginning of its 12-year adventure in the Solar System.
View the full article
-
By USH
On June 29, 2019 a deep ocean ROV (remotely operated vehicle) captured at a depth of 1789 meters a UFO/USO passing the ROV at high speed.
This USO/UFO footage was filmed with a work class ROV at an ocean depth of 5870 Feet (1789 Meters) in the Gulf of Mexico. The USO was untethered and was operating at a depth that prevented any kind of remote operation.
While the footage quality isn't excellent, ROV operators that have seen the footage have no idea what the object may have been but concluded that it is not organic.
The USO demonstrated advanced AI operation, construction, and power management capabilities that are not known in the commercial ROV world.
This footage is further proof that these USOs do exist and have been with us for as long as airborne UFOs have. We only need to recognize and understand this phenomenon whether they are of extraterrestrial origin or military.
Timestamps Video: 1. Context from an ROV Operator (00:30) 2. USO Footage (12:00) 3. USO Replay (12:40) 4. USO Slow Motion (13:00)
View the full article
-
By USH
On January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died in the crash of his P-51 Mustang fighter plane near Franklin, Kentucky, United States, after being sent in pursuit of an unidentified flying object (UFO). The event was among the most publicized early UFO incidents.
Later investigation by the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book indicated that Mantell may have died chasing a Skyhook balloon, which in 1948 was a top-secret project that he would not have known about.
Mantell pursued the object in a steep climb and disregarded suggestions to level his altitude. At high altitude he blacked out from a lack of oxygen; his plane went into a downward spiral and crashed.
In 1956, Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt (the first head of Project Blue Book) wrote that the Mantell crash was one of three "classic" UFO cases in 1948 that would help to define the UFO phenomenon in the public mind, and would help convince some Air Force intelligence specialists that UFOs were a "real" physical phenomenon.
Image left: A skyhook balloon from 1957 - Image right: The alleged UFO 'which does not resemble a skyhook balloon.'
Somewhere in the archives of the Air Force or the Navy there are records that will show whether or not a balloon was launched from Clinton County AFB, Ohio, on January 7, 1948. Captain Edward J. Ruppelt never could find these records.
People who were working with the early skyhook projects "remember" operating out of Clinton County AFB in 1947 but refuse to be pinned down to a January 7 flight.
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.