NASA just funded research into releasing golem - swarms during flybys , improving animation support system , laser - single-valued function lunar lava caves , exploring the hydrocarbon seas of Titan , converting torpedo ability supply for abstruse infinite , creating an oasis of unceasing temperateness on the lunation , and characterizing electric sails . awful .
NASA push bound between science fiction and skill fact with theNASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program ( NIAC ) . We ’ve seenthis year ’s phase angle I of fuzzed conception ; now they ’ve announced funding selections for Phase II of good ideas , give them meter and money to figure out the practical details of execution .
The NIAC course of study provides funding in the Bob Hope of develop unconscionable fresh technologies for future enquiry expeditions . NIAC projects initially win $ 100,000 for nine month of research during Phase I , leave researchers to watch if idea is even feasible and a reliable welfare to infinite exploration . If it still look good at the end of the initial flow , the researchers can apply for Phase II funding : $ 500,000 over two years to refine the ideas and explore how to execute them . Once the program ends , the researchers should have a solid idea of how to develop their projects , although it will still probably be another decennary before we see them pop up in mission enquiry proposals .
This year ’s phase angle I winners includeda automatic squid for alien seas , a pulsar - based piloting scheme , and robotic swarm to mine the moon along with 12 other wild ideas . Here ’s this class ’s Phase II labor that already work in conception , and now have the time and money to envision out the details :
Getting the Most Out of Flybys with Swarms of Tiny Robots
CubeSats — compendious , bare - bones satellite — are dumbfound traction as a low - cost room of conducting short - full term experiments in the near - Earth environment . Justin Atchison and his team at John Hopkins University are use up the applications a step farther by testing out if major spaceprobes could persuade a payload of mini - probes that could be released during flybys to conduct secondary science missions . This approach would apply swarm theory to inscrutable space exploration , maximize the skill that can be perform during flybys , and introduce a whole new style of data solicitation by on purpose swear on integrating data from many independent probe instead of multiple unique encounters by a single investigation .
During Phase I , Atchison and his team confirmed the feasibleness of using a swarm of low , cheap(ish ) probes to measure the gravity field and subsurface mass distribution of an asteroid or a comet by simulating theoretic encounters . For Phase II , they ’ll be extend the simulations by upping fidelity and comparing trade-off in the investigation ’ capacities . They ’ll also be prototyping a dispenser and actual probes , characterizing how they run in the real world .
If this labor works , one day we can look frontwards to future deep space probe likethe current New Horizons spacecraftcarrying a payload of dry pint - sized robots . By strategically dumping petite representatives along their path as they sailplane through quad , we ’ll increase the amount of secondary scientific discipline we can do in a single mission .
learn more about the undertaking here .
Harnessing High-Energy Light for Safer Life Support
The unfiltered sunshine outside the Earth ’s atmospheric state is an splendid untapped imagination to power life story support systems . Bin Chen and her team at the University of California Santa Cruz are developing a new aliveness reenforcement system that use a unlike catalyst and new physical design that is theoretically more elastic , more efficient , and safer to manoeuver . With a fleck of tweaking , the new design could even be invent only in space , send away cost and increasing usability even more .
By using titanium oxide ( TiO2 ) as a co - catalyst to bring forth atomic number 8 , the sprightliness accompaniment system can function without trust on thermic or electric energy . The design feeds air through a highly twisted grid , dropping the mass and volume required . It does this through using photoeletrochemistry paired with a new three - dimensional design for the aviation flow system , resulting in a decrease in mass , reduction in system complexness , decrease in its power and cooling requirements , increase in deployment flexibility , and increase in efficiency . By operating at near - room temperature and pressure , the organisation will also be safer for spaceman .
Phase II support will allow Chen ’s team to execute experiments to characterize the system ’s performance compared to current engineering science , hopefully confirm the drastic decrease in requisite to execute the system in reality instead of just theory .
Peek Into Lunar Caves With Lasers
When lava tubes break down , they createskylights , diminutive window into their tunnel systems . The synodic month is riddled with lava tube and tantilizing skylights into these cave scheme , but we have n’t been able-bodied to research them ( yet ! ) . Jeffrey Nosanov of Nosanov Consulting in Maryland want to create a LiDAR system for ballistic capsule , bouncing laser pulse into lunar skylights to create a 3D map of the interior of caves form byprehistoric lava flow on the moon . This is cool becausebuilding in lunar cavesis one of the wayswe’re investigatingfor establishinga long - full term human front on the moon . This also couple nicely witha old recipient of an NIAC accolade for a cave - crawling robot .
During the Phase I enquiry , Nosanov and his team used a variety of simulations and analytical tools to set up the construct was feasible for being able to interpret the multiple reflections of laser pulses to create an interior three - dimensional map of the caves ’ interior beyond the space vehicle ’s direct line - of - sight .
Schematic of proposed LiDAR mapping of lunar caves . Image credit entry : Nosanov Consulting
For Phase II , they ’ll be trying to build up the idea enough to be a viable campaigner for a full mission marriage offer , possibly including more detailed mannequin and experiments with real - world material to see how the system of rules would respond to expect subsurface materials on the moon .
Dive Into the Seas of Titan With a Submarine
The seas of Titan are a seriously sexy lure in planetary scientific discipline . After a undivided investigation into its atmosphere and ongoing monitoring by the Cassini satellite , we know just enough to be entirely unsatisfied with our current understanding of the challenging moon of Saturn . Its fluid hydrocarbon seas present a alone challenge for exploration .
For Phase I , Oleson and his squad established that ’s even possible tocreate a Cuban sandwich capable of operating in a liquid hydrocarbon sea . Now it ’s clip to work out out all the contingent from how a submarine would interact with the unknown environment to how to even get a emphatically not - flightworthy pigboat from orbit into Titan ’s seas in the first place .
Schematic of a Italian sandwich to explore the smooth hydrocarbon sea of Titan . picture citation : NASA
For Phase II , they ’re harness the basic physic interrogative like how the ocean would react to the presence of a fond submarine at different atmospheric pressure and chemical substance compositions , and using that to refine the conceptual ballast and propulsion system . They ’re also pass along the conceptual conception to the Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory to evaluate using their hydrodynamic fluid model , mix the latest data point from Cassini on the composition and depths of the northerly Titan Seas .
Payload and interior schematics of the Titan submarine . trope citation : NASA
Beyond the forcible problem , the squad is also harnessing the corporate noesis of outside expert by run a series of workshops at scientific discipline and cryogenics conferences to guide possible skill goals and capacities for a Titan submarine . in the end , Phase II cash will also be fund investigating into figuring out how to found and cede a long , cylindrical bomber safely into the sea , and how to set up up racy communications system so it can describe home what it finds ( either directly or via a consecrate Titan orbiter ) . By the end of this financial backing phase , the team hop to have the Titan Submarine concept sufficiently developed in both engineering science and delegation science goal to give NASA the confidence to invest via more traditional financial support avenues .
Finding a New Power Source For Robotic Explorers
Just about every space geographic expedition golem relies on one of two energy sources : solar great power ornuclear major power . Not everywhere has enough sun to make solar power feasible , and atomic number 94 author are endure low enough that NASA is get downright stingy in approve it for new missions . Michael Paul and his team at Pennsylvania State University are looking at adapt the U.S. Navy ’s Stored Chemical Energy Power Systems ( SCEPS ) for use in space . In theory , the organization outgo carrying into action of current barrage fire systems , could operate in low- to no - sunshine situations , and not bank on dwindling plutonium resource .
In Phase I , Paul and company checked out the electrical capacity of using a SCEPS arrangement to power a theoretic mission to mirky Venus as compared to conventional solar or radioactive systems .
In possibility , a Venus lander could use a power system adapted from Navy torpedoes . double credit : NASA
Phase II will involve scaling down SCEPS world power generation to the few watts necessary for spacecraft exploration , on ordering of a few hundred watts instead of the millions of watts used for current military program . It will also regard testing out how to make the best habit of extraterrestrial environment to enable fuel burning . This will need elaborating on the theoretic Venus mission , influence if a SCEPS - powered mission to Venus could still function when using CO2 as an oxidizer , or if it ’d want to bring along aggregative - exact materials to fuel combustion .
The squad is also tot in more possible scenarios to analyze the viability of SCEPS for exploring humble bodies like steroids , lunation , and comets , or for deep space exploration of stunned solar system objects . This demand using trade quad tools to compare the intersection of SCEPS capacity with its utility to missionary post requirements , single-valued function out how to best aim the evolution of SCEPS capacity in a way most utilitarian for NASA ’s solar system skill end .
Creating an Oasis of Perpetual Daylight on the Moon
One of the biggest challenge in using solar power is limited daylight . Adrian Stoica and his team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory determine to work around this with the innovation of TransFormers , a data processor - see to it mirror ( heliostat ) to redirect sunlight to solar panels . During Phase I , the squad was pleasantly surprised to get word that the 40 - metre diameter TransFormer heliostat supply a million watts of business leader , enough to supply one hundred Mars Curiosity style rovers . That means that for Phase II , they stepped up ambitions : instead of a portal heliostat to power a single roamer , they could carefully put heliostats to make an haven for roamer to blithely work while basking in perpetual daylight .
The TransFormers could modify the utmost surroundings of the moonshine to supply power and warmth to a swarm of small wanderer . Specifically , a pair of heliostats carefully positioned along the brim of Shackleton crater could be enough to provide illuminance for 86 to 94 % of the clock time , providing near - uninterrupted reflected igniter for solar baron . These robots could prospect for and excavate useful constituent , kick - starting in - situ resourcefulness utilization on the synodic month to extract water , atomic number 1 , and O . The prey dimensions are to create a TransFormer that can pack into a regular hexahedron that packs into less than a three-dimensional meter , weighs between 10 and 100 kilograms , and can unfold into a tenuous ( 0.1 to 1 mm ) reflective surface binding over 1,000 meters2 .
Riding the Ions of the Solar Wind with an Electric Sail
Bruce Wiegmann and his team at NASA ’s Marshall Space Flight Center are break an electrical sheet as part of a solar exploration project . Like asolar canvass , the electric canvas extracts momentum from the Dominicus , but unlike solar sails which extract impulse from photons in cheerfulness , electric cruise utilize electromagnetic W. C. Fields to extract impulse from ion in the solar wind . This mean the sail itself look entirely gonzo : a series of radiating telegram spreading out from the spacecraft .
An electric sheet utilize electromagnetic fields to deflect the solar wind into creating propulsion for a space vehicle . The sail is compile of long , thin , conductive , positively - charged tethers extend radially from the ballistic capsule , with its electrical field extend piles of meters beyond the sails into space . The leash drive back solar malarky proton , extracting momentum and creating thrust , while at the same time pull in electrons to keep the current flow . The attitude of the spacecraft is controlled by tune the potential of individual tethers , qualify on the nose how it is deflect the solar wind is a manner akin to tack a sail into a terrestrial wind .
An electrical cruise has a trio of major limitation : directionality , available surround , and thrust command . An galvanic sail could theoretically only operate up to 60 ° inclination to the tip , take into account for up to 30 ° between the direction of solar farting and the spacecraft ’s poke , limiting where a space vehicle could go . The sail is only useable external global magnetospheres where the solar wind is stiff . More problematically , a spacecraft relying exclusively on electric cruise for actuation has no method of slow up down to rival orbits with its object destination .
During Phase I , the team determined than an galvanizing sail could propel a spacecraft over 100 times the Earth - Sun space ( 100 AU ) in less than a decade , or to the Heliopause ( 120 to 150 AU out ) in less than 15 geezerhood . For Phase II , the squad is mark off out what other deputation could benefit from an galvanic sail propulsion system , possibly increasing passage times so researchers could start receive information back from out planetary deputation within two long time of found .
I eff NASA ’s forward-looking concepts programme because the project go beyond the safe and reliable into the kingdom of explore just how innovative we can be . By emphasize creativeness and imagination , we get all - fresh power systems , new form - cistron for robotic explorers , and delve by reliable to crowd into something truly novel .
[ NASA ]
Top image : collage of several Phase II fund concept . Credit : M B. Wiegmann / MSFC / A. Stoica / JPL / S. Oleson / J. Atchison
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