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An artist's conception shows a large phased array in orbit, soaking up solar power.
NASA is awarding $100,000 one-year grants to 30 teams for out-of-this-world ideas ranging from new kinds of spacesuits to quantum communication and space solar power.
The awards were announced today under the auspices of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, or NIAC. The space agency said the concepts were chosen on the basis of their potential for enhancing future space missions. The grants will go toward further study, to determine whether the ideas could help NASA meet future mission requirements.
"These innovative concepts have the potential to mature into the transformative capabilities NASA needs to improve our current space mission operations, seeding the technology breakthroughs needed for the challenging space missions in NASA's future," NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun said in today's announcement.
The 30 recipients were chosen from hundreds of proposals, Joe Parrish, director for early-stage innovation in NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist, told journalists during a teleconference. The grants will be disbursed starting in September, and the projects will be highlighted at a conference in the spring of 2012, said Jay Falker, NIAC's program executive.
Falker said project teams will present papers on their work by the end of the year, and some will even develop hardware. The most promising concepts will be chosen for two-year Phase 2 grants amounting to $500,000 each. "We recognize that in order to achieve big gains, we are going to have to accept some risks," Parrish said.
NIAC follows up on an earlier program with the same acronym, known as the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. Between 1998 and 2007, that program pioneered such concepts as space solar power and the space elevator, but it was retooled in response to recommendations from the National Research Council. Unlike the previous NIAC, the new NIAC is open to NASA centers as well as outside academic and industry teams.
"I'm just so thrilled that NIAC is back," Parrish said.
NIAC is just one part of NASA's technology development program, which also offers larger grants for more mature technologies as well as Centennial Challenge prizes that are open to all comers.
The concepts selected for NIAC support are considered to be at least 10 years away from being incorporated into actual missions, although Falker said NASA's mission directorates have already expressed interest in incorporating some of the supported concepts. Here's a rundown of the Phase 1 selections, listed along with organization and principal investigator:
- Variable Vector Countermeasure Suit (V2Suit) for Space Habitation and Exploration, Draper Laboratory, Kevin Duda. NASA says this spacesuit would use flywheels to stabilize and assist astronauts as they work in microgravity.
- Enabling All-Access Mobility for Planetary Exploration Vehicles via Transformative Reconfiguration, North Carolina State University, Scott Ferguson.
- The Potential for Ambient Plasma Wave Propulsion, Ohio Aerospace Institute, James Gilland.
- Space Debris Elimination (SpaDE), Raytheon BBN Technologies, Daniel Gregory. NASA's Falker said this project would look into the possibility of using a balloon-lofted, high-altitude air gun to change the course of potentially hazardous orbital debris.
- Regolith-Derived Heat Shield for a Planetary Body Entry and Descent System with In-Situ Fabrication, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Michael Hogue.
- Atmospheric Breathing Electric Thruster for Planetary Exploration, Busek Co. Inc., Kurt Hohman.
- Economical Radioisotope Power, Universities Space Research Association, Steven Howe.
- Contour Crafting Simulation Plan for Lunar Settlement Infrastructure Build-Up, University of Southern California, Behrokh Khoshnevis.
- Entanglement-assisted Communication System for NASA's Deep-Space Missions: Feasibility Test and Conceptual Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Paul Kwiat. This project proposes using quantum entanglement to create more capable communication systems in space.
- SPS-ALPHA: The First Practical Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array, Artemis Innovation Management Solutions, John Mankins. This study could lead to a demonstration project for space-based solar power satellites.
- High-temperature superconductors as electromagnetic deployment and support structures in spacecraft, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Miller.
- Non-Radioisotope Power Systems For Sunless Solar System Exploration Missions, Pennsylvania State University, Michael Paul.
- Spacecraft/Rover Hybrids for the Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Marco Pavone.
- Ultra-Light “Photonic Muscle” Space Structures, University of Hawaii, Joe Ritter. This project could lead to the development of telescopes and other space-based structures whose shapes can be altered by light beams.
- Low-Power Microrobotics Utilizing Biologically Inspired Energy Generation, Naval Research Laboratory, Gregory Scott. This study would focus on adapting biological models for space robots.
- Printable Spacecraft, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kendra Short. This project would look into using 3-D printing technology to create small spacecraft or components for a planetary outpost.
- In-Space Propulsion Engine Architecture based on Sublimation of Planetary Resources: from exploration robots to NEO mitigation, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Laurent Sibille.
- Metallic Hydrogen: A Game-Changing Rocket Propellant, Harvard University, Isaac Silvera.
- Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy, MSNW LLC, John Slough.
- Interplanetary CubeSats: Opening the Solar System to a Broad Community at Lower Cost, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Robert Staehle.
- Ghost Imaging of Space Objects, NASA Jet Propulsion, Dmitry Strekalov. NASA says this technology culd eventually be applied to observations of extrasolar planets or black holes.
- Laser-Based Optical Trap for Remote Sampling of Interplanetary and Atmospheric Particulate Matter, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Paul Stysley.
- Steering of Solar Sails Using Optical Lift Force, Rochester Institute of Technology, Grover Swartzlander.
- Aneutronic Fusion Spacecraft Architecture, University of Houston at Clear Lake, Alfonso Tarditi.
- Radiation Shielding Materials Containing Hydrogen, Boron, and Nitrogen: Systematic Computational and Experimental Study, NASA Langley Research Center, Sheila Thibeault.
- Meeting the Grand Challenge of Protecting Astronaut's Health: Electrostatic Active Space Radiation Shielding for Deep Space Missions, NASA Langley Research Center, Ram Tripathi.
- Proposal for a Concept Assessment of a Fission Fragment Rocket Engine (FFRE) Propelled Spacecraft, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Robert Werka.
- Radiation Protection and Architecture Utilizing High Temperature Superconducting Magnets, NASA Johnson Space Center, Shayne Westover.
- Technologies Enabling Exploration of Skylights, Lava Tubes and Caves, Astrobotic Technology Inc., William Whittaker. The Google Lunar X Prize entrant has long talked about using caves on the moon as low-cost shelters for rovers and astronauts.
- Optimal Dispersion of Near-Earth Objects, Iowa State University, Bong Wie. In the past, Bong Wie has suggested that subsurface nuclear explosions could provide a feasible option for dispersing a threatening near-Earth object. Maybe "Armageddon" wasn't that far off....
More about innovation at NASA:
- NASA offers $5 million for new feats
- NASA will need new ways to do everything
- The next giant leaps for NASA technology
- From 2004: NASA investigates way-out ideas
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also add me to your Google+ circle, and check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
How can they afford this? The last time I looked our government was having financial difficulties. This is the type of BS spending that needs to STOP!!!
Jesus, can we get one, just one, space post without you morons posting under it?
NASA gets 0.5% of the Federal Budget. It is one of the few GOOD investements our country makes. The R&D, earth/solar monitoring, etc., that they provide is extremely valuable. I am glad to see NASA investing a tiny fraction of their tiny fraction of the budget in the research of these somewhat exotic technologies. They have the potential to change the world as we know it for the better... game changing technological leaps.
Projects like this and the X-prize program are invaluable, and could one day pay huge dividends.
I agree with you that there is absolutely waste in the gov't, which needs to be eliminated. BUT we need to increase investment in technology and infrastructure (airports, roads, bridges, rail, the electric grid, etc.) in a smart, focused, and transparent manner, to rebuild our economy and a better future.
I thought we were in financialy troubles. This is the kind of spending that gets the country in trouble and keeps the country in trouble. When are they ever going to wake up and get it right.
This is the kind of spending that gets a country out of trouble and can help keep it out of trouble. When are the likes of you and your sixth grade education ever going to wake up and get it right?
It's all drama. Making you think one thing one minute and then one thing another minute to make you spend money to keep you moving so that the wealthy can feel like they are responsible for all of the good times while the devil is the result of all of the bad times.
Sue,
Every time an article about science is published on MSNBC, the pitiful simpletons show up and; while wearing their cotton and polyester clothes, sitting in their centrally heated and cooled houses full of electrical appliances, under their electric lights, with their mouth full of sophisticated dental work, having had their lives saved at least once by modern medicine, with a lifespan at least twice that of their ancestors of 500 years ago, listening to music from a CD on their stereo system, with the TV on in the background showing the latest satellite weather images, their cell phone in their pocket, with their car in the driveway and typing on their computer; ask the same utterly stupid and moronic question, "How come we waste all that money on scientific research?"
Do not confuse the poster's point. It is not against scientific research, but taxpayer funded scientific research. Many of your examples were of privately funded research. Cotton is ancient, polyester privately discovered. I can not point to anything that was government funded sans internet.
Just because you disagree with someone's point (sillyson and S. McIlnay) does not mean you get to make ad hominems and straw man arguements against him. Using specious reasoning to win an arguement shows weaknesses in your arguement that should be addressed. After all, the point is not merely to win, but to get at the correct conclusion. Whether or not someone has a 6th grade education, or none for that matter, does not figure in their arguement, whose validity rests on its on merits, not of those presenting it.
Should taxpayers fund these endeavours is a valid question. I would like to see NASA funded by a line on your federal tax form similiar to the presidential election fund. My state, Kansas, has a system like this for its wildlife program (chickadee checkoff), which I give to each year. This way no one is forced to do something they don't want nor see something they see important go unfunded.
The government should most definitely fund this type of research and more. Most of the things we enjoy today came from government funded research, just because a couple of business people come up after the fact and offer it in different colors or make it smaller, doesn't mean that they are the ones innovating. Some things are just big to fund privately, like CERN, or ARPNET, or NASA, for that matter.
We are all only here for a little while, we NEED to move forward and advance our knowledge while we are here. We are here for no reason, so we have made our advancement our reason for being.
If everybody's priorities were in the correct place, everyone would be employed and no one would be hungry, and no one would live in 30 million dollar houses and drive $200,000 cars, until then, we will have to use our rich uncle Sam to further us along in our pursuit of knowledge.
@Robtzu,
My reply is strictly sarcasm to Sue, nothing more. Whether research is funded through private grants, public grants, or straight taxpayer money, it is not the reason for the financial mess we are in. Anybody who thinks so needs to wake up and look at the big picture.
Robtzu, I'd like to see welfare funded the same way, that way I wouldn't have to keep all those parasites alive on MY DIME!!!
It doesn't matter what happened in the past, the thing we need to look at is our current financial situation, and that is, WE ARE BROKE! Our country is in debt up to our ears, that means ANY unnecessary spending needs to stop until we can fix it. And guess what? NASA research is not going to get us out of debt, so that means IT NEEDS TO STOP! Once our economy is back on track, then we can afford it again, but for right now, it just isn't necessary!
Prohibition - Ok, since you obviously aren't seeing the connection here, let me spell it out to you: The last space race we were in generated TONS of jobs, tons of spinoff technological benefits, which meant there were tons of new products entering the market, thus helping to give the economy a boost. The same thing can be achieved again. Also, cutting NASA funding will do next to nothing to balance the budget and in the long run (you know, the thing no one seems to be able to think about these days) it will hurt this country. If you really want to reduce spending, pull ALL of our overseas troops back home (including the ones based in Germany, Japan, Bahrain, etc) and stop funding those bases. We'll also need to repeal the idiotic Bush tax cuts (only a fool cuts taxes and starts a war at the same time, look where it got us!) so that we can further close that gap. If we don't raise taxes, we'll have to make other large cuts that would only worsen the state of this country.
One last note: Seeing as NASA's budget is being kept small, the good news for you is that the next space race is going to be amongst private companies. Some of these have indeed received tax payer money to get off the ground, but the return on investment will be astronomical (pun intended)
If NASA is creating so much intellectual property, licenses and creating
so much wealth.
How come they need to be funded by the American People ?
NASA brags about all these things but can't show a profit, just
like our US Mail system.
I say shut them both down if they can't support themselves.
I've had a company or two and never once did I get a hand out. In
business if you can't make a profit you don't exitst. The same should
apply for NASA.
Holoman, by law NASA makes its intellectual property and technology available for free to the public. If NASA were able to charge royalties it would be a fortune five company.
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/index.html Here is the spin off site. Maybe NASA has developed something you can use or adapt to your business.
Some of the ideas could save us a LOT of money in the long run. Many ideas can be used in military technology, satellites, among other things - which.. we put a lot of money into already, efficiency can do wonders. Breakthroughs in science/engineering can never be called a "waste of money." It's what advances our race, but if you'd prefer to live in the '30s at this day and age, go ahead.
Quantum entanglement communications is something I was looking into years ago. In a nutshell they are most likely taking about using entangled quantum particles for encoding data, such that a change in the orientation of the "bits" in one device creates the same change in the entangled "bits" in the other device. The magic is that the change happens instantaneously across any distance, and through any objects. It would be the same as "faster than the speed-of-light "Wifi" that works at any distance from the base station (even on the other side of the universe)."
There are reasons why people say it won't work, and they are many (and complicated), but it was once thought that our heads would explode if we went any faster than 60 MPH, and no one thought it would ever be possible to land on the moon. You never know what is possible until you have tried everything.
Does anyone remember the commercial that started with the irate boss asking the employee to explain what was going to happen to the company's money if they invested in XYZ and the sweaty employee said "Every dollar invested will produce three by the end of the year".
THis is exactly what happens when money is invested in the space programs. All that invested money is SPENT on this planet in the form of salalaries, orders for goods and parts, etc, etc.
I'm working on a sci-fi piece taking place 40 years from now. I though my idea of quantum entanglement based communications to essentially'teleport' communications across the universe was far-fetched. But now that it's actually being funded, I feel quite invigorated.
Talon Scott Card used the same concept in Ender's Game, though that one was set a lot further than 40 years into the future :-)
This is $3 million or so for the fiscal year. A little bit analogous to buying a technological lottery ticket.
I too would like a shot at one of those "lottery tickets" Alan...please do what you can to tell us as soon as possible about these space related contests, grants, bids, rfps, whatever as soon as possible after the submission period has opened.....I note some but not all the awards go to large universities, many of whom already garner larger than 3 million dollar yearly "gifts" for their programs already....not to knock it but it is notable that her majestey's navel service offered many contests that were successfully taken by the average man (and women), many of those very same winners advanced british engineering in pivotal and key areas that still affect the average earthling to this day. Thank you for posting the results....yea, I am well aware of many of the programs on first gov like the sbir, darpa et all, but to be fair, the sooner the masses know of a submission deadline the more even the playing field AND, the more lilkely that these agencies and departments get THE correct and best idea, not a lobbyists version of a correct idea..(not saying that applies to any of these, just that involving the media more is the constitutionally correct way to advertise these things, as opposed to the pc way many would tort it today).
My vote goes for the guy who proposed a couple years back of landing a sumersible on Europa that would melt it's way through the ice, laying a feed wire while it descends through the ice, and then disconnecting once it reached the ocean underneath, transmitting a live feed while it explored.
God only knows what is below that surface, but I'm willing to bet it's something beyond our wildest dreams.
I'm with you D-Man. The potential is there for a major discovery (on Europa). Can you imagine the implications if complex life is found down there? It would be HUGE. It is also a huge technical challenge... Lake Vostok would make a good proving ground. I really hope to see such a mission in my lifetime.
I'm with you two, there and Enceladus!!! Let's get crackin'!!!
@Ray: The reason universities often win awards like this is because of experience. The reason that NASA can spend $3m on "technological lottery tickets", though that number really is small in the grand scheme of things, is because they invest in people who have proven in the past that they can follow through. Much of the work that will be done on these awards will be done by the everymen (or women) at these universities and companies, graduate students or wet-behind-the-ears employees. However, their efforts will be backed up by the company or university's reputation and that of the managing or advising staff. I agree that great things can be accomplished or thought of by people not in one of those environments, but I think if MSNBC were reporting right now that Joe Smith from Anytown, USA were just given $100k because he thought of some crazy idea that might not work, there would be a significant amount more outrage in these comments. There's no pressure on Joe Smith to write reports or do serious research into that idea - he doesn't have an institutional reputation on the line. These strategic investments are strategic because they have better odds of positive returns.
I hear you D Man, the small minds come out when things like science threatens them. The fact that investments in all the above is far more important than any short term politically motivated budget issue, is so over their heads. The Nasa budgets are an extremely small drop in the us budget and the rewards are most likely the difference in survival of the human race.
Small minds? Sounds like a T-Rex that retardly runs rampant through it's habitat eating all before it just because it is the biggest meat eater. You know what they say about the such large beasts. The bigger they are and the more they eat will eventually lead to their own death of not having anything more to eat.
Such is the same with the non-scientific who is now only regurgitating it's own beliefs hoping that it can somehow someway make anew the taste as well as the protein value of their own belief.
Fantastic...if they don't let SLS eat it alive.
Now this is where money should be invested. Into things that have potential to improve the world, and our individual lives as well. Things like Velcro, and super light, super strong materials, are what the space program has given us. Much of what we take for granted today, is due to the space program and its advancements.
Even our present day communications abilities go back to advancements in the space program. So your ability to even post here, is due to the space program.
Passion and D man - I'm there with you both. I laugh and shake my head when these people say waste of money (not to mention the fact the tech they use to post in some way is tied back to funding projects like this). The amount of money that is being "wasted" on these types of projects isn't even worth batting an eye when compared to the real waste that goes on in our government. Continuing these types of projects is what sets us apart from the backwards and other 3rd world countries. I say if these people don't like it then find one those countries that doesn't promote science to live in - middle east has a vast list to choose from. The fact is sometimes some of these projects don't produce anything but more often than not the payback on just one of these successful projects outweighs the cost for the entire program. A lot more than I can say for many other government programs. Also, for those who call this a waste, where do you propose we spend this money then? Most of the government programs have issues beyond funding that need to be addressed, throwing more money at them won't solve a thing. It is time we continue to fund and approve projects like these more and more. With these projects the human race wins and it is time to give them the importance they deserve. DC's Personal political agenda's be damned - time for term limits and a fair tax!
I think these space technology concepts are astonishing, but not ambitious enough. I believe NASA needs some more "thinking out of the box" concepts such as phase-shift plasma turbine powered by helium-3 fusion reaction to be developed to take us to the Moon, Mars and beyond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSkxPghXTCg
"Entanglement-assisted Communication System for NASA's Deep-Space Missions: Feasibility Test and Conceptual Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Paul Kwiat. This project proposes using quantum entanglement to create more capable communication systems in space."
This one would be HUGE if perfected. Instantaneous communications would make remote probes much more effective. And definitely, new propulsion systems like they one you mention should be at the top of NASA's list of things we need as well.
If they can make it work, the whole world will have instantaneous anywhere communications, no more wires, or frequency allocating, just a huge warehouses full of switches and routers in each country connecting everyone together everywhere. Best of all, no more internet providers or data caps.
A guy can dream can't he?
Here's to that dream MAC!!!! That's one I'd like to see happen for ALL of the above reasons!!
They've demonstrated it's possible in the lab with quarks (i believe) and that the "speed of light", at least on the quantum level, is a false barrier.
How to contain usable data within these molecules, however, is way beyond my comprehension.
The basic idea is that if you take two entangled particles, if you do something to one you see it on the other as well faster than light. So you can transmit data that way. The speed of light is still a real barrier on the quantum level it just doesn't apply to entangled particles because there is no transmission between them. The change occurs due to their nature as particles.
Another advantage is encryption would be a thing of the past. You cannot intercept a message sent this way without altering the message.
Paul - I was thinking the same thing, but unfortunately we cannot control the 'spin' of the entangled particles right now. We can only observe the natural changes to their spin, and those natural changes occur at the same time for each particle. So if we can figure out a way to control the spin, we can use that to transmit data.
Here is a project that is really crazy and ambitious. The project is too land a drilling probe or human team on a Saturian Ice Asteroid. The crew would then drill to the center of the asteroid and then core the asteroids center out. Once cored out solar powered radiators and a 1000 Jerry Lebleu Drought Master Water Creation system would be lowered into the center of the asteroid. The radiators would heat the ice up thus releasing ice vapor into the interior of the asteroid. The Drought Master would then collect the water vapor, seperate the impurities thus creating Saturian Ice Water that would then be transported to the Moon Earth or Mars for a variety of purposes.
Such a unit could deliver 7000 gallons of water on a daily basis.
This is government investing in private enterprise not bailing them out. Maybe when they select the phase 2 contestants they can promote some of these ideas to hopefully inspire Americans to think big and not be so bitter.
These ideas are beyond immediate delivery, I do believe that is the purpose of THIS program. Most will fail. But even those will have value in the process. I do support the concept....AND...I appreciate the wisdom of those who are strong enough to stand up and say they DO NOT....calling them names is only detering from our cause. We cannot advance civilizations knowledge by degrading the opinions of others with malicous names...in other words, knock it off!! Perhaps it IS true that we are not being prudent with our endeavours and resources in these days of financial weakness. One thing should be clear to any intelligent being, one cannot simply SPEND thier way out of an economic depression or recession, prudent application of funds may help alleviate the symptoms, but it is good to review exactly how much MIT recieves, for instance, as opposed to, the university of arkansas (I do not know if that is an actual place). It is good to be aware of one's financial disposition...in a crisis, IT IS CRUCIAL!! Let us not spend to look good, let us spend to advance. Some of this is hokey science, hopefully the process of reaching beyond our grasp will again bear fruit from the tree of serenedipty, but for god's sake, all the bs namecalling is NOT good fertilizer to that end.....hey, I like MIT and LOVE thier open couseware program, I even know some of the profs involved....but I do wonder, and thankfully so. ray smith, n3twu
Sorry Ray, but anyone that blindly comes on here and blames NASA for the country's current economic woes is at best ignorant.
I know brokinarrow, I know. I think some are here as rogues to purposefully evoke a response of emotion...I have often lashed out with out thnking about the audience at large, I wish there was a way we could deny the deniers the total benifit of what they have unwittingly enjoyed for just one day....I could live like henery david thouro (I hate spell checker), and be happy if I could explore the local geology, make my own geiger counters and telescopes and radios.(I do this stuff now)....most would not survive such a life, the life they (as you would infer) so ignorantly exhault.....just one day, one day of none of this worldly tech would turn many, one year would turn all but the heartiest and blind to the fact that our constant reach for knowledge has been a true blessing to THIER lives.....
We need more programs like these instead of useless government spending on pork for needy senators states. When I was growing up in the 60's, I was sure that space travel would be a common thing by now. The promise of the Apollo program was left to rot while we wasted our time on the shuttle. I hope my children's generation will be able to see real space exploration (by humans) before the end of their lifetimes.
That's the point a lot of people are making about the canceling of the Space Shuttle program, that there isn't any impossible goal or dream for our children to strive for anymore. What are they going to look forward to, now that the rest of the universe has just been closed. And out-sourcing our space travel needs to the Russians is just a huge slap in the face.
The private space companies, in my opinion, are offering a lot more exciting possibilities for our future generations.
Yeah, Falcon Heavy is going to open up a lot of possibilities for beyond earth orbit exploration with their proposed 53mt launcher... perhaps the same can be said about a potential evolved Atlas V Heavy? Starting to lose the faith in SLS though. I'm afraid it will not see regular service in the foreseeable future... maybe just a couple demo launches. However, if the US economy turns around in the next decade or two, and Russia and China make strides putting us in "space race" mode, we might make greater progress than expected.
Honestly, I think I'd rather see a more robust unmanned program, but I know that doesn't always get the general public's attention as much.
cjsks - Well, if SpaceX has it's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy up and runny reliably, why would any company use a more expensive government option? In my opinion, NASA should just help ensure SpaceX and other private companies have what they need to take over the launching responsibilities and use them to send anything the government might need into orbit. Unless NASA magically streamlines their processes and gets just as cheap as the private companies will be (doubtful), then these companies will always be a cheaper option.
PASADENA, Calif. – The Herschel Space Observatory's large telescope and state-of-the-art infrared detectors have provided the first confirmed finding of oxygen molecules in space. The molecules were discovered in the Orion star-forming complex.
More investment on watching the Orion Nebula is a must. Either NASA will find another Earth like planet or NASA will find a space craft lurking nearby in the nebula wonder what that shining thing is millions of light years away really is.
Right now I believe the most distant project we need to be concentrating on is mining He3 on our Earth's Moon. To this end we need to develop solar powered propulsion systems to get us from Earth orbit to lunar orbit and back again. There is a fairly easy way to do this, and it involves using black body solar panels and cold sink radiation panels for the heating and cooling of steam, to generate electrical energy for use in electrostatic linear accelerator propulsion units, which in turn would use solar vaporized trash and waste for their throw mass.
There was a method of generating electrical energy which was developed back in the 1960s, which emulates the way that Mother Nature generates lightning in thunderclouds. It was already 70% efficient at the time because it uses no moving parts to generate this electricity. It is low pressure condensation generation technology which relies upon the pressure differential between a hot steam source and an electrically isolated cold condensation chamber to pump electrons uphill for the generation of electrical energy, using electrically charged particles of steam. Black solar heated panels on one side of the spacecraft would be used to generate the steam, and cold black radiation panels on the dark side of the spacecraft would be used to provide the cold sink for condensation of this charged steam and electrical charge. This translunar shuttle would be constructed in Earth orbit using the ISS as a construction platform, and inflatable spacecraft construction could dramatically simplify the task. I think this should be our next international project in Earth orbit, which would directly build upon our previous successes. - RC
(The black body solar panels could actually be plastic "air" mattresses inflated instead with steam, with one clear layer and one black layer of plastic for trapping the solar energy and converting it to steam.) - RC
Great stuff! Every one of these projects is interesting, and most of them are downright exciting. Yes, many of them won't work out, but they're worth exploring anyway. $100k isn't very much -- less than one researcher for a year -- but hey, it's a start. Can't wait to see what gets selected for Phase II work next year.
This crap is all going to amount to nil! Whoo! we are hoping industry takes a bigger intrest in space! Tell that to the people who AT One Time worked in all the other industries in America, what a future they had. Made the world a better place and then the owners exported it all to third world nations because they were so profit oriented they forgot about the people who actually made their products.
The people who are saying that $3 million is a vast amount to be spent on this research are ignoring the relative scale of things. $3 million is about enough to keep fifty median-income Americans employed for one year when you add in the cost of office space and equipment. Fifty out of a national workforce of over a hundred and fifty MILLION? Most major Hollywood films each cost several times as much as this to produce, and I dare say that the majority of said films will hardly even be remembered twenty years from now--quick, can you remember the titles of 50% of the films released in 1991 off the top of your head without looking it up?
Even fifty is probably too many - overhead and employee benefits like insurance make each employee cost way more than double the salary they actually receive. Then again, depends what number you meant by median-income. I would say these are about the price of a researcher per grant, which makes sense - they're paying someone for a year to research just this.
If it's less then fifty, then it makes the comparison even more extreme. My point was that while $3 million sounds like a lot to an individual who is unlikely ever to have even $1 million in net worth including their own house (like 80% of us), it is actually a very small amount on the corporate scale, much less the national scale--$3 million barely pays for the employment of a few dozen middle-class Americans for a single year.
great articles
creativity and innovation are essential in a work of art.
There's no where to go, were stuck here. There will never be any tech. never, that will assist in leaving this place. Orbiting environments are beneficial but going to another planet is waste. Lets offer grants to fix this place first.
Wow, I'm glad the majority of humanity over history hasn't had such a pessimistic attitude as yours. You actually think we're at the peak of our technological achievements right now? I pity you, for you truly are ignorant.
Let me point out what is obvious to all of us space nuts: Developing the tech necessary to travel to new planets and settle them will provide spin off tech that will enable us to better Earth. Prime example: It will take a light-weight but powerful power source to power a ship that will be capable of traveling to a new planet. Such a power source would be hugely beneficial here on Earth, enabling us to replace all the nasty coal plants around the glove with a cleaner, more efficient, and therefore cheaper source of power. And that's just ONE example.
Good post Brokinarrow (referring to #2.9)