Humility, it is said, is not the ability to know your faults as much as the ability to know your limits. Success sometimes comes at the expense of humility, especially when success comes early and often.
Most proud Americans would look at their beloved NASA program and pronounce proudly ‘there is a successful government agency’. After all, they flew us to the moon with Apollo, they developed a space truck to take huge modules in orbit with the Space Shuttle, and they were instrumental in the erecting of a giant, football length, orbital laboratory with the living space of a 747 in the ISS (International Space Station). NASA has rovers driving around mars, a satellite doing scientific research and imaging as it orbits Saturn, and two working robotic probes, launched over 40 years ago, (arguably) about to leave the solar system. Yet, NASA has been humbled, because success did not come early, and it did not come often.
The first seven astronauts watched in horror as rocket after rocket, exploded on the launch pad while they were training themselves to sit on top of one, six years later, one of those seven will burn to death in Apollo 1.[1] The shuttle program has retired; four of the multibillion dollar vessels now sit in museums, partially because two of them exploded during mission, killing all on board. The ISS was originally designed to be larger and completed long before now (2013), yet as of this date, it still awaits its lasts Russian module. For every probe sent to Mars there is one that has been lost. As stunning images and new revelations flow from Saturn, the Galileo probe, placed in orbit of Jupiter, could only send a trickle of the data rate it was designed for[2].
Is this criticism from me? No, we are talking about rocket science, and you don’t have to be an aerospace engineer to realize, that when you push the envelope of knowledge you learn some painful lessons. Yet, these lessons are no more painful as the ones our forefathers bore, starting half a millennium ago when they explored another world across the ocean; and these lessons are no less important to the history of humanity.
In humility, and the economic shackles that have plagued them these last 10 years, NASA has turned to the talent that lies outside its walls. It knows its limits.
With the Commercial Crew Development program (CCDev), the robotic challenges, and their participation in the X-prize contest,[3] NASA has reached out and rewarded the talents of those who kept the dream of spaceflight alive in the private sector. NASA knows there are bright minds outside its gates that can contribute to the future of spaceflight. Another program it has developed for that outreach is the NASA Innovative Advance Concepts program or NIAC.
In the NIAC, NASA is daring!
Twelve proposals in Phase 1 were selected and awarded $100,000 each for research that “have been selected based on the potential of their concepts to transform future aerospace missions, enable new capabilities, or significantly alter and improve current approaches.”[4] Phase 2 would award $500,000 to those proposals after nine-months of initial analysis for concept development.
The twelve recipients are:
Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System
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Mr. Adams is keeping alive the Orion Project of the 1960’s. There are two types of engines being deployed in space exploration: Chemical Reactors, and Electric Propulsion. Chemical Reactors (also known as Thermal propulsion) are your traditional rocket engines where the specific impulse (Isp) or the amount of thrust per unit of fuel if very low. Electric Propulsion spacecraft actually have a higher isp but the amount of energy (and therefore mass) to produce the electric fuel is very high. The Dawn Probe that is visiting Vesta and Ceres is an example of an Electric Propulsion Vehicle, using solar panels, it generates a very minute amount of thrust that takes it years to get to its mission targets but using very little fuel. The Pulsed Fission-Fusion Propulsion System that Rob Adams wants to explore would combine the benefits of both of these systems, attempting to get high ISP with high thrust, using a Pulse Plasma Propulsion.
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Adams, Rob
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NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center
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Marshall Space Flight Center, AL. 35812
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Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitat
For Human Stasis To Mars
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Suspended Animation has been a prop in science fiction dramas for decades, but the ‘freezing’ of human bodies and reviving them later has proved allusive and dangerous. Coma inducing drugs such as sodium thiopental[5] however have been shown to lower the metabolism. Mr. Bradford believes that inducing astronauts into a stasis torpor can reduce the living space requirements of astronauts by as much as 10 fold, taking a standard 200 m3 estimated cabin space for a Mars mission down to 20 m3. His proposal is to do a end-to-end Mars mission study comparing a torpor-induced module system with a standard theoretical Mars mission module.
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Bradford, John
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Spaceworks Engineering, Inc.
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Atlanta, GA. 30338-6908
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Two-Dimensional Planetary
Surface Landers
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Circuit board systems have reach such a thin and flexible state, they can emulate paper, the circuit board inside a standard electronic keyboard is very good example. Hamid imagines dropping leaflets on Mars instead of bouncing ball rovers or sky crane mini-coups to deliver instruments onto the Martian surface. The advantages are size, quantity and delivery. An orbiter could fly over the red planet (or any other color) and casually drop hundreds, even thousands of smart leaflets with tiny power supplies, and scatter them over the surface of the planet, collecting comparative data over a wide range of territory – potentially even planet wide.
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Hemmati, Hamid
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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Pasadena, CA. 91109-8001
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Dual-mode Propulsion System
Enabling CubeSat Exploration of
the Solar System
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Nathan Jerred’s approach to the benefits of the two propulsion systems, mentioned in Rob Adams proposal is to create a hybrid of the Electronic and Thermal Propulsion systems. His proposal is to take a cubesat and provide it with one of these hybrid systems. You may have seen a cubesat floating around inside the International Space Station in a news cast. About one cubic liter, or the size of a soccer ball, these micro-satellites have been taking up empty space in the nooks and corners of larger satellite launches since 2003.[6] Jerred Nathan proposes to use one of these hybrid cubesats for a exploration of Europa. It would utilize the Thermal propulsion during earth orbit escape and European orbit insertion, while the Electronic Propulsion part would come into play during interplanetary space travel. The work would be done by a consortium of Universities in response to the budget cuts of interplanetary science missions.
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Jerred, Nathan
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Universities Space Research Association
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Idaho Falls, ID. 3401-6290
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Growth Adapted Tensegrity
Structures - A New Calculus for
the Space Economy
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Buckminster Fuller, proposed airborne habitats that were giant geodesic spheres, presumably his bucky-tubes would be the primary assembly material. He points out that as the sphere material gets larger in mass the mass inside the sphere increases 4/3 times. He envisioned giant floating habitats, that float high in the atmosphere simply by increasing the temperature inside the sphere by a single degree.[7] Mr. Longman would like to research the possibility of building such a structure in the Earth-moon L2 position, the gravity stable-neutral point that lies beyond the moon, opposite the Earth. The structure would reach huge proportions, containing air, water for radiation shielding and irrigation, and soil for in-situ recourses. The long term goal being a structure inhabited by future astro tourists, research base, even a orbiting, economic hub. He envisions robotic maintenance devices constructing the habitat.
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Longman, Anthony
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Anthony P. Longman
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Camarillo, CA. 93012-5247
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Eternal Flight as the Solution for 'X'
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Mr. Moore is attempting to reach, ‘unlimited high altitude long endurance flight’. His goal is to create a stationary atmospheric montitor in a concept designed to reduce weight and drag by 50%. The system incorporates three winged supporting engines, floating the payload over a relatively stationary target.
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Moore, Mark
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NASA Langley Research Center
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Hampton, VA. 23681-2100
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Deep Mapping of Small Solar
System Bodies with Galactic
Cosmic Ray Secondary Particle
Showers
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Mr. Prettyman has revealed a fascinating monitoring method that is currently employed. Cosmic rays continually bombard the world, and, of course, beyond. These cosmic rays ‘crash’ into different materials in different ways. There are monitoring devices that read these pions and muons when they are released under collision. The Red figure to the left is a Volcano, effectively x-rayed by these cosmic ray particles. To the right of the Volcano is a picture of the Mir docked to the ISS, to the right of that is the same picture generated by pions. This technology is currently also used in archeology and National defense. Mr. Prettyman wants to explore the possibilities of using this same technology to extrinsically probe celestial bodies like comets or asteroids without ever coming in contact with them.
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Prettyman, Thomas
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Planetary Science Institute
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Tucson, AZ. 85719-2394
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Biomaterials out of thin air: in
situ, on-demand printing of
advanced biocomposites
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Lynn Rothschild wants to bring 3D printing to a whole new level, making it the primary source of building equipment, food, and parts (both inanimate objects and human body parts) for future Mars explorers. She is searching the limits of what 3D printer arrays can do with finished parts, novel biomaterial and even organic-inorganic composites that make use of in-situ materials, from Martian air to regolith. This proposal is a must in my opinion. The greatest obstacle to human off-world activity is the amount of mass lift needed to support people in space. The 3D printing revolution will inevitably lead to the off world destiny of humanity.
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Rothschild, Lynn
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NASA Ames Research Center
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Moffett Field, CA. 94035-1000
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Plasmonic Force Propulsion
Revolutionizes
Nano/PicoSatellite Capability
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Rovey, Joshua
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University of Missouri, Rolla
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Rolla, MO 65409-6527
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Transformers For Extreme
Environments
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Adrian Stoica’s team has come up with a design for a multi-functional platform that changes shape as required to focus electro-magnetic radiation (light, heat, and communication signals) into specific areas. He envisions this device sitting on the rim of a lunar polar crater or outside an opening to a lava tube on Mars. Information as well as light can be deflected into a specific location for use by robotic rovers or astronauts. This device can open up the dark hidden corners of worlds that we have already revealed to the curious souls of Earth.
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Stoica, Adrian
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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Pasadena, CA. 91109-8001
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10-Meter Sub-Orbital Large
Balloon Reflector
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Christopher Walker has developed the concept of a 10 meter balloon reflector encased in an even larger balloon that will bring it up to an altitude that will both serve as a communication relay for those on the ground and a radio telescope for those who have loftier sights. The devise is a promise for NASA during the budget constraints.
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Walker, Christopher
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University of Arizona
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Tuscon, AZ. 85721-0009
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Low-Mass Planar Photonic
Imaging Sensor
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BenYo is heading a team at UC Davis that would like to develop a new type of orbital telescope / imaging Sensor. The device would not have any mirrors or lenses, instead it incorporates an array of light sensitive, interferometer chips. He maintains that the device would be cheaper, smaller and lighter than its conventional counterparts using the latest photonic engineering advances and interferometry. Interferometry is the practice of taking two or more different telescopes/sensors and combining their signals to create a virtual telescope sensor equal to one who’s size is equivalent to the distance between the sensors. For example four telescopes, 10 miles apart can receive signals equivalent to a single telescope with that diameter. Using the cost effective devices in solar orbit that Mr. Yoo proposes could yield an astounding aspect ratio for telescopics. The research money would go to radiation ‘hardening’ and environment protection of his device.
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Yoo, Ben
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University of California, Davis
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Dais, Ca. 95616-5270
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[1] “The Right Stuff”, Dir. Philip Kaufman, Perf. Fred Ward, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Scott Paulin, Charles Frank, Lance Henrickson, Warner Brothers Pictures, 1983, DVD
[2] “National Space Science Data Center Header Galileo Orbiter”, NSSDC Master Catalog Search, NASA, 16 July 2013, WEB, retrieved 26 July 26, 2013, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftTelemetry.do?id=1989-084B
[3] “X-prize foundation Government Partners”, X-Prize, X-Prize Foundation, 2013, WEB, retrieved 26 July 2013, http://www.xprize.org/about/government-partners
[4] “NASA - NIAC 2013 Phase I Selections” Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA, 19 July 2013, WEB, retrieved 20 July 2013, http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-niac-2013-phase-i-selections/
[5] Sodium Thiopental, Wikipedia, quoting Morgan DJ, G.L. Blackman, J.D. Paul, “Pharmocokinetics and plasma binding of thiopental” , 1981, Anestesiology 54 (6): 4674-480, Wiki Refr.
[6] CubeSat, Wikipedia, quoting Puig-Suari“The cubsat Movement”, 2012, Space News, 08-13: 30, Wiki Refr.
[7] Baldwin, “BuckyWorks: Buckminster Fuller’s ideas for Today”, John Wiley and Sons. Page 190. Print
[8] Borucki, W.J. “Kepler – A search for habital planets: About the mission”, Ames Research Center, NASA, n.d. WEB retrieved 25 July 25, 2013, http://kepler.nasa.gove/Mission/QuickGuide/
[9] Ibid 4
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