Posted on by Matt Williams

Forget Mars, Now You Can Kickstart an Antimatter Propulsion System to Another Star!

Artist's concept of Antimatter propulsion system. Credit: NASA/MFSC

When it comes to the future of space exploration, one of the biggest questions is, “how and when will we travel to the nearest star?” And while space agencies have been pondering this question and coming up with proposals for decades, none of them have advanced beyond the theory stage. For the most part, their efforts has been focused on possible missions to Mars and the outer Solar System.

But there are some people, like Dr. Gerald Jackson, who are working towards making an interstellar mission possible in the near future. He and his research team, which have been funded by NASA in the past, are looking to create an antimatter engine that will be capable of reaching (or exceeding) 5% the speed of light. Towards this end, they have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their efforts.

As advanced propulsion concepts go, antimatter has quite a lot going for it. As propulsion goes, it has the highest specific energy of any known method, 100 times more than fission/fusion reactions, and 10 billion times more than chemical propellants. It is also the most fuel-efficient, requiring mere milligrams of antimatter to produce the same amount of energy as tons of chemical fuel.

Typically, this theoretical concept relies on the collision between hydrogen and antihydrogen (which have the same mass but opposite charge) to generate thrust. This process unleashes energy and a shower of particles (pions and muons), which can be channeled by a magnetic nozzle to generate thrust.

And while laboratories like CERN have been producing antimatter, and research is being conducted on large-scale storage, no propulsion systems exist that could turn antimatter into thrust. Dr. Jackson, a graduate of Cornell University, is hoping to change that. Before entering the private sector, Jackson worked as an accelerator physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for 14 years.

In 2002, he co-founded a limited-liability company (HBar Technologies) for the sake of developing commercial markets for antimatter. In 2002, NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) awarded Dr. Jackson and his company $75,000 to develop a mission concept that could traverse 250 AUs of space within 10 years time, and with a fuel supply of 10 kg.

These specifications essentially called for the creation of an antimatter rocket that could travel as far as the heliopause within a decade’s time. The result was a propulsion concept that relied on a beam that would fire focused antiprotons onto a sail to generate propulsion. This sail would measure 5 meters in diameter and be composed of a carbon backing on one side and uranium foil on the other (measuring 15 and 296 microns thick, respectively).

The solar system and its nearby galactic neighborhood are illustrated here on a logarithmic scale extending (from < 1 to) 1 million Astornomical Units (AU). Credit: NASA/JPL
Illustration of the solar system and its nearby galactic neighborhood on a logarithmic scale extending (from < 1 to) 1 million AU. Credit: NASA/JPL

When a pulse of antiprotons is annihilated against a small section of the uranium side, the resulting fission causes momentum. As Dr. Jackson explained to Universe Today via email:

“Note that antiprotons have a negative electrical charge, similar to an electron. When the antiprotons enter the sail, they displace an electron orbiting an uranium nucleus. Because antiprotons and electrons do not share any quantum numbers, the antiproton immediately cascades down into the atomic ground state, causing a high probability of interaction between the antiproton and either a proton or neutron within the nucleus.

“On average, a fission event results in the creation of two daughter nuclei of roughly equal mass. These daughters travel in opposite directions with a kinetic energy of 1 MeV per proton or neutron. Because the daughters are charged, the one travelling further into the sail is absorbed and transfers is forward momentum. The other daughter flies into space with an exhaust velocity of 4.6% of lightspeed. This selective transfer of momentum is thrust.”

Unfortunately, due to the budget environment of the time, the NIAC was forced to cancel its funding after a second round had been granted. Because of this, Dr. Jackson and his colleagues are now seeking public support so that they may finish their work on the experimental sail and prepare it for exposure to an antiproton beam.

Diagram showing Hbar's concept for a antimatter-driven propulsion system. Credit: antimatterdrive.org
Diagram showing Hbar’s concept for a antimatter-driven propulsion system. Credit: antimatterdrive.org

Much like Project Starshot (whom they acknowledge on their campaign page), Jackson and his team are looking to produce an interstellar mission proposal that does not involve shortcuts (i.e. warp drive, wormholes, star gates, etc.). Starshot, as you may recall, calls for a wafer craft and a laser-driven lightsail that would be capable of reaching speeds of up to 20% the speed of light, thus making the journey to Alpha Centauri in 20 years.

In the same vein, a antiproton-driven sail that could reach speeds of 5% the speed of light or more would be capable of making it to Alpha Centauri (or Proxima Centauri) in about 90 years time. All the while, the science behind it would remain within the realm of established physics, being consistent with Newton’s Laws of Motion and Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity.

“The revolutionary aspect of the antimatter-driven sail is that the antimatter is not the fuel, but rather the spark plug that initiates fission reactions,” said Jackson. “Because the fission reactions can produce thrust without heavy shielding or other structures, the mass of the propulsion system can be comparable to the mass of the instrument package.”

Project Starshot, an initiative sponsored by the Breakthrough Foundation, is intended to be humanity's first interstellar voyage. Credit: breakthroughinitiatives.org
Project Starshot, an initiative sponsored by the Breakthrough Foundation, is another concept for making humanity’s first interstellar voyage. Credit: breakthroughinitiatives.org

To see their project through, Jackson and his colleagues are hoping to raise $200,000. Should they prove successful, they hope to mount follow-up campaigns to finance a series of validation experiments, storage demonstrations, and mission details. In the end, their goal is nothing less than making antimatter propulsion a reality, which they hope will one day lead interstellar mission.

“We expect that these campaigns will provide the data needed to convince people to fund full scale antimatter production and an actual mission to a nearby solar system,” Jackson added. “The goal of those early interstellar missions is to provide information about these other solar systems, such as whether they are habitable or inhabited.  If the latter, we will want to study or interact with those life forms in follow-on missions.  If habitable and not inhabited, we need sufficient information to assure the success of a manned migratory mission.”

As of the penning of this article, Jackson and his colleagues have raised $672 of their $200,000 goal. However, the campaign launched only a few days ago and will remain open for another 25 days. For those interesting in following their progress, or have an interest in donating to their cause, check out the links below.

Further Reading: Kickstarter, Antima:tterDrive

Posted on by Matt Williams

The Photon Sieve Could Revolutionize Optics

Scientists at NASA"s Goddard Space Flight Center are developing small, inexpensive optics to study the Sun's corona. Credit: NASA's GSFC, SDO AIA Team

Ever since astronomers first began using telescopes to get a better look at the heavens, they have struggled with a basic conundrum. In addition to magnification, telescopes also need to be able to resolve the small details of an object in order to help us get a better understanding of them. Doing this requires building larger and larger light-collecting mirrors, which requires instruments of greater size, cost and complexity.

However, scientists working at NASA Goddard’s Space Flight Center are working on an inexpensive alternative. Instead of relying on big and impractical large-aperture telescopes, they have proposed a device that could resolve tiny details while being a fraction of the size. It’s known as the photon sieve, and it is being specifically developed to study the Sun’s corona in the ultraviolet.

Basically, the photon sieve is a variation on the Fresnel zone plate, a form of optics that consist of tightly spaced sets of rings that alternate between the transparent and the opaque. Unlike telescopes which focus light through refraction or reflection, these plates cause light to diffract through transparent openings. On the other side, the light overlaps and is then focused onto a specific point – creating an image that can be recorded.

This image shows how the photon sieve brings red laser light to a pinpoint focus on its optical axis, but produces exotic diffraction patterns when viewed from the side. Credits: NASA/W. Hrybyk
Image showing the photon sieve bringing red laser light to a pinpoint focus on its optical axis, and producing exotic diffraction patterns. Credits: NASA/W. Hrybyk

The photon sieve operates on the same basic principles, but with a slightly more sophisticated twist. Instead of thin openings (i.e. Fresnel zones), the sieve consists of a circular silicon lens that is dotted with millions of tiny holes. Although such a device would be potentially useful at all wavelengths, the Goddard team is specifically developing the photon sieve to answer a 50-year-old question about the Sun.

Essentially, they hope to study the Sun’s corona to see what mechanism is heating it. For some time, scientists have known that the corona and other layers of the Sun’s atmosphere (the chromosphere, the transition region, and the heliosphere) are significantly hotter than its surface. Why this is has remained a mystery. But perhaps, not for much longer.

As Doug Rabin, the leader of the Goddard team, said in a NASA press release:

“This is already a success… For more than 50 years, the central unanswered question in solar coronal science has been to understand how energy transported from below is able to heat the corona. Current instruments have spatial resolutions about 100 times larger than the features that must be observed to understand this process.”

With support from Goddard’s Research and Development program, the team has already fabricated three sieves, all of which measure 7.62 cm (3 inches) in diameter. Each device contains a silicon wafer with 16 million holes, the sizes and locations of which were determined using a fabrication technique called photolithography – where light is used to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a surface.

Doug Rabin, Adrian Daw, John O’Neill, Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac, and Kevin Denis are developing an unconventional optic that could give scientists the resolution they need to see finer details of the physics powering the sun’s corona. Other team members include Joe Davila, Tom Widmyer, and Greg Woytko, who are not pictured. Credits: NASA/W. Hrybyk
The Goddard team led by Doug Rabin (left) is working on a new optic device that will drastically reduce the size of telescopes. Credits: NASA/W. Hrybyk

However, in the long-run, they hope to create a sieve that will measure 1 meter (3 feet) in diameter. With an instrument of this size, they believe they will be able to achieve up to 100 times better angular resolution in the ultraviolet than NASA’s high-resolution space telescope – the Solar Dynamics Observatory. This would be just enough to start getting some answers from the Sun’s corona.

In the meantime, the team plans to begin testing to see if the sieve can operate in space, a process which should take less than a year. This will include whether or not it can survive the intense g-forces of a space launch, as well as the extreme environment of space. Other plans include marrying the technology to a series of CubeSats so a two-spacecraft formation-flying mission could be mounted to study the Sun’s corona.

In addition to shedding light on the mysteries of the Sun, a successful photon sieve could revolution optics as we know it. Rather than being forced to send massive and expensive apparatus’ into space (like the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Telescope), astronomers could get all the high-resolution images they need from devices small enough to stick aboard a satellite measuring no more than a few square meters.

This would open up new venues for space research, allowing private companies and research institutions the ability to take detailed photos of distant stars, planets, and other celestial objects. It would also constitute another crucial step towards making space exploration affordable and accessible.

Further Reading: NASA

Posted on by Evan Gough

First 3D Tools Printed Aboard Space Station

This simple wrench was the first tool printed with the Additive Manufacturing Facility on board the ISS. Image: NASA/MadeInSpace/Lowe's
This simple wrench was the first tool printed with the Additive Manufacturing Facility on board the ISS. Image: NASA/MadeInSpace/Lowe's

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have manufactured their first tool using the 3D printer on board the station. This is another step in the ongoing process of testing and using additive manufacturing in space. The ability to build tools and replacement parts at the station is something NASA has been pursuing keenly.

The first tool printed was a simple wrench. This may not sound like ground-breaking stuff, unless you’ve ever been in the middle of a project only to find you’re missing a simple tool. A missing tool can stop any project in its tracks, and change everybody’s plans.

The benefits of manufacturing needed items in space are obvious. Up until now, every single item needed on the ISS had to be sent up via re-supply ship. That’s not a quick turnaround. Now, if a tool is lost or destroyed during normal use, a replacement can be quickly manufactured on-site.

This isn’t the first item to be printed at the station. The first one was printed back in November 2014. That item was a replacement part for the printer itself. This was important because it showed that the machine can be used to keep itself running. This reliability is key if astronauts are going to be able to rely on the printer for manufacturing critical replacements for components and spare parts.

The first item ever manufactured in space was a replacement part for the printer itself, in November 2014. Image: NASA
The first item ever manufactured in space was a replacement part for the printer itself, in November 2014. Image: NASA

Niki Werkheiser, the project manager for the ISS 3D printer, said in a NASA YouTube video, “Since the inception of the human space program, we have been completely dependent on launching every single thing we need from Earth to space … I think we’re making history for the first time ever being able to make what we need when we need it in space.”

The 3D printer, which is more accurately called an Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) was built by a company called Made In Space. The one that was used to make the first tool is actually a different one than was used to make the replacement part for the printer itself. The first one was part of a test in 2014 to see how 3D printing would work in microgravity. It printed several items which were returned to Earth for testing. Those tests went well, which led to the second one being sent to the station.

This second machine, which was used to create the wrench, is a much more fully featured, commercial 3D printer. According to Made In Space, this newer AMF “can be accessed by any Earth-bound customer for job-specific work, like a machine shop in space. Example use cases include a medical device company prototyping space-optimized designs, or a satellite manufacturer testing new deployable geometries, or creating tools for ISS crew members.”

This is exciting news for we space enthusiasts, but even more exciting for a certain engineering student from the University of Alabama. The student, Robert Hillan, submitted a tool design to a NASA competition called the Future Engineers Space Tool design competition. The challenge was to design a tool that could be used successfully by astronauts in space. The catch was that the tool design had to upload to the ISS electronically and be printed by the AMF on the station.

In January, Hillan was announced as the winner. His design? The Multipurpose Precision Maintenance Tool, a kind of multi-tool that handy people are familiar with. The tool allows astronauts to tighten and loosen different sizes of nuts and bolts, and to strip wires.

The Multi-Purpose Precision Maintenance Tool designed by student Robert Hillan and printed with the AMF on the ISS. Image: NASA
The Multi-Purpose Precision Maintenance Tool designed by student Robert Hillan and printed with the AMF on the ISS. Image: NASA

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, who is currently aboard the ISS, praised both Hillan and the 3D printing technology itself. “When you have a problem, it will drive specific requirements and solutions. 3-D printing allows you to do a quick design to meet those requirements. That’s the beauty of this tool and this technology. You can produce something you hadn’t anticipated and do it on short notice.”

The immediate and practical benefits of AMF in space are obvious and concrete. But like a lot of space technologies, it is part of a larger picture, too.

Werkheiser, NASA’s project manager for the ISS 3D printer, said “If a printer is critical for explorers, it must be capable of replicating its own parts, so that it can keep working during longer journeys to places like Mars or an asteroid. Ultimately, one day, a printer may even be able to print another printer.”

So there we have it. A journey to Mars and printers replicating themselves. Bring it on.

Posted on by Evan Gough

Work Efficiency Declines 75% On ISS As Facebook Arrives On Station

The International Space Station. As if you didn't recognize it. Image: NASA
The International Space Station. As if you didn't recognize it. Image: NASA

Have you heard of Facebook? And it’s young billionaire leader? It’s a groovy computer thing where people share pictures of what they had for breakfast, their cats, and where they argue with strangers.

Today, Facebook will actually serve some purpose other than stranger-arguing and whatnot. Today, at 12:55 PM ET (9:55 AM PT), Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s fearless leader, will conduct a live video call with astronauts aboard the ISS. The entire 20 minute event will be streamed live at NASA’s Facebook page, here.

The best part about it, is that Zuckerberg will be asking the astronauts questions submitted by people who post them on NASA’s Facebook page. So check out NASA on Facebook and submit an interesting question.

Don't read this caption, read his sign. Image: NASA
Don’t read this caption, read his sign. Image: NASA

The three astronauts involved are Tim Kopra and Jeff Williams, of NASA, and the ESA’s Tim Peake. I’m sure they’re hoping for some interesting questions, so don’t disappoint them, Universe Today readers.

As a publicity stunt, this one’s a doozy. I wonder who courted who for this one? I suppose it doesn’t really matter; it’s a fun idea for everyone involved, and who knows what will come of it.

So go ahead and visit https://www.facebook.com/NASA/?fref=nf and check out other people’s questions and ask one of your own. Get their quick before the loonies and the conspiracy theorists clog it up. Seriously.

This is an example of the kind of thing being asked so far:

“The ISS is fake. NASA is fake and this Zionist puppet Zuckerberg is fake. My question: Why does NASA keep lying to the public about EVERYTHiNG since they were formed in 1958?”

So please, we’re begging you. Ask something intelligent. Just please don’t ask them to post pictures of their breakfast.

Posted on by Matt Williams

Super Secret X-37B Nears One Year In Orbit Doing ???

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle taxiing on the flightline on March 30th, 2010, at the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: USAF

For years now, the program to develop the X-37B spacecraft has been shrouded in secrecy. Originally intended as part of a NASA project to develop a reusable unmanned spacecraft, this Boeing-designed spaceplane was taken over by the Department of Defense in 2004. And while it has been successfully tested on multiple occasions, there remain some unanswered questions as to its intended purpose and what has been taking place during these flights.

This, predictably, has lead to all kinds of rumors and speculation, with some suggesting that it could be a spy plane while others think that it is intended to deliver space-based weapons. It’s latest mission – which was dubbed OTV-4 (Orbital Test Vehicle-4) – has been especially clandestine. And after nearly a year in orbit, it remains unclear what the X37B has been doing up there all this time.

Continue reading “Super Secret X-37B Nears One Year In Orbit Doing ???”

Posted on by Matt Williams

First Hyperloop Technology Demo A Success

After a successful demonstration on their test track, Hyperloop One is one step closer to making Musk's "fifth mode of transportation" a reality. Credit: cbc.ca

Back in 2012, Tesla Motors, Paypal and SpaceX founder Elon Musk made headlines when he announced his idea for a “fifth form of transportation“. Known as the Hyperloop, the concept called for the creation of a high-speed train that would use a low-pressure steel tube and a series of aluminum pod cars to whisk passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 35 minutes. At the time, Musk claimed he was simply too busy with other projects to build such a system, but that others were free to take a crack at it.

Since then, two startups have emerged that are attempting to do just that. And just yesterday, the startup known as Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies) conducted a test on their full-scale test track located in the Nevada Desert. In what they referred to as a “Propulsion Open Air Test” (POAT), this startup passed a major developmental milestone, bringing them one step closer to making the dream of the Hyperloop a reality.

Using the same linear-accelerator motor that will one day propel podcars through a series of semi-pressurized tubes, the Hyperloop One’s engineers managed to accelerate their test vehicle down a rail track at speeds of up to 483 km/h (300 mph) before plowing it into a sand berm. While this is not quite the 1125 km/h (700 mph) that Hyperloop One hopes to get their pods up to (and there are still matter to work out, such as passenger safety) it is a major step forward.

For one, the test provided some valuable returns that showed that the startup’s eventual goal is realizable. Before it slammed into a pile of sand (on a count of the fact that they have yet to design a braking system) the engineers were able to confirm that the test car had managed to accelerate from 0 to 160 km/h (100 mph) in one second. Within a second and a half, the pod had reached 193 km/h (120 mph), reportedly pulling 2.5 Gs in the process.

Hyperloop's One future test track, which will consist of aluminum tubes under low air pressure. Credit: Hyperloop One
Hyperloop One prototype tube, which is currently under construction in the Nevada Desert. Credit: Hyperloop One

As Josh Giegel, Hyperloop One’s chief engineer, explained in a recent interview with Mashable, the test addressed their system’s linear electric motor-based propulsion. Their design is distinguished from other motors in that it has no moving parts, relying instead on a series of “blades” that measure roughly 60 centimeters long and 15 wide (24 by 6 inches). When powered, these blades create electromagnetic energy that reacts with the pod to propel it along.

Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd was on hand to comment. By 2020, he hopes to sees three lines in operation, with one likely running between San Fransisco and LA and another potentially in Russia. “This was a major technology milestone,” he said. “Hyperloop is faster, greener, safer, and cheaper than any other mode of transportation… We’re building this thing.”

Lloyd also took the occasion to announce new partnerships that the company is entering into – which include architecture, engineering, finance,  freight and tunneling firms – as well as the $80 million in Series B funding they have received. But perhaps the most interesting development to coincide with the test was the decision to change their name. While the reason for this was not explained, the smart money is on it being intended to clear up confusion surrounding the company’s immediate competition.

At present, there are two major companies competing to bring Musk’s vision to life. On the one hand, there is Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies), while the other is Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (or HTT). This little naming scheme has caused quite a bit of confusion in the past, and it is clear at this point that Hyperloop One wants to distinguish itself as being the preeminent leader in the field.

A sled speeds down a track during the test of a Hyperloop One propulsion system Wednesday in North Las Vegas, Nev. Credit: John Locher/The Associated Press)
The test car speeds down the track during the open-air test of the Hyperloop One propulsion system in the Nevada Desert. Credit: John Locher/The Associated Press

But of course, the competition is far from over. In the past few years, HTT has announced some lucrative partnerships as well, which included signing with international engineering giant Aecom and Oerlikon, the world’s oldest vacuum technology company. Earlier this year, HTT also announced an agreement with the Slovakian government to build two Hyperloops that will connect major cities in Central Europe.

One of these lines will run between Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia, while the other will connect Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary. The project is expected to cost $200 – $300 million, and is expected to reach an annual capacity of 10 million passengers.

Last, but not least, it is important to note that Hyperloop One’s test comes not long after the Hyperloop Pod Competition, a design competition sponsored by SpaceX that saw 100 university teams compete to create a design for a Hyperloop podcar. The winning team, which hails from MIT, will be testing their final prototype podcar on the one-mile Hyperloop Test Track at SpaceX’s headquarters in California next month.

Much is happening on the Hyperloop front! Who knows where it will all lead? One thing is clear though. Since Musk released the white paper for his concept in 2013 and companies began picking it up, this project has had no shortage of enthusiasts, skeptics and detractors. With every passing milestone, partnership and test, more and more people are beginning to seriously ask, “can it be done?”

Posted on by Evan Gough

SpaceX Taps Superhero Designer For Its Spacesuits

Designer Jose Fernandez has been hired by SpaceX to design spacesuits. Fernandez has designed many superhero costumes, including the Bat Armor, pictured here in a collectible from Hot Toys. Image: Sideshow Collectibles
Designer Jose Fernandez has been hired by SpaceX to design spacesuits. Fernandez has designed many superhero costumes, including the Bat Armor, pictured here in a collectible from Hot Toys. Image: Sideshow Collectibles

Everything about SpaceX seems exciting right now. In April, SpaceX successfully landed their reusable rocket, the Falcon 9, on a droneship at sea. Also in April, SpaceX announced that they intend to send a Dragon capsule to Mars by 2018. Now, Elon Musk’s private space company has hired Jose Fernandez, superhero movie costume designer, to design spacesuits for his astronauts.

Fernandez, with his company Ironhead Studio, has quite a resume when it comes to costume design. He’s designed superhero costumes for movies like Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War. He’s also designed costumes for X-Men movies, for Wonder Woman, Tron, and for The Penguin in Batman Returns.

Spacesuits have been slaves to function for a long time. The extreme environments in space have constrained their design to utilitarian forms, out of necessity. But now that Elon Musk has hired Fernandez, things could change. Considerably.

Jose Fernanzed heads Ironhead Studios, where he and his team create stunning super-hero costumes. Image: Jose Fernandez/Ironhead Studios
Jose Fernanzed heads Ironhead Studios, where he and his team create stunning super-hero costumes. Image: Jose Fernandez/Ironhead Studios

Whatever designs Fernandez comes up with, they will still have to have functionality as their primary concern. There’s no escaping that. But having someone with excellent visual design skills will certainly spice things up.

SpaceX had four other companies working on bids for this design work, but in the end it was Fernandez that won. This is no surprise given Fernandez’ long track record of making great costumes for superheroes. Over a twenty year span, he has also created costumes for Wolverine, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, and Thor. That is an enviable collection of designs.

It will be super interesting to see what Fernandez comes up with, and how design will meld with engineering requirements to create a safe, effective spacesuit. After all, the people wearing them won’t be actors, and they will require the absolute best performance possible.

Purists may scoff at having someone from Hollywood involved in spacesuit design. After all, this is serious business. The surface of Mars is not a movie set, it’s a dangerous, alien world. But there’s no telling what Fernandez will come up with. If his success in movie costumes is any indication, he might convert any nay-sayers into supporters.

The ESA and NASA are also working on new spacesuit designs. The video below is a good discussion of spacesuit design. Compare the blocky, clunky look of the first spacesuits to what astronauts now use.

Posted on by Evan Gough

Virtual Reality and Space: From NASA to Smartphones

With the ever-increasing affordability of technology, Virtual Reality is making its way into people’s homes. Systems like the Oculus Rift, and Sony’s PlayStation VR when it’s released next Fall, are becoming increasingly common. These systems, and others to come, will allow people to not only watch VR movies and play VR games, but also to explore space from the comfort of their own homes. This won’t be the only intersection of Virtual Reality and space, though.

NASA, as is often the case, has already blazed a trail when it comes to VR and space. They’ve been using VR to train astronauts for quite a while now. They have a whole lab dedicated to it, called the Virtual Reality Lab, located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. At this facility, astronauts use VR to prepare them for working aboard the ISS.

NASA has flirted with other VR solutions as well. They used an Oculus Rift and a VR Treadmill combined with Mars footage from the Curiosity rover to create a virtual walk on the surface of Mars.

NASA’s use of VR is the most advanced around, naturally, but it’s not something most of us will ever encounter. For the rest of us, VR is making it’s way into our space-loving lives in other ways.

A company called Immersive Education has created a VR simulation of the Apollo 11 mission. It allows users to re-live the mission. You can look around the inside of the spacecraft, look out the window toward Earth, even watch and listen as astronauts walk on the surface of the Moon. The company promises “Historically accurate spacecraft interiors and exteriors.”

Here, Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke checks out the Apollo 11 VR on Oculus Rift.

Companies DEEP Inc. and Freedom 360 collaborated with the Canadian Space Agency to create a VR film called “The Edge of Space.” They used 360 degree cameras to record the view from a balloon that reached an altitude of 40km above Earth. Check out their video here. To get the real interactive effect, visit their page to download their app and view it.

Then there’s what I call virtual VR. Or you could call it “headsetless” VR, I guess. Though it lacks the immersion of full VR, it’s still cool. It’s a virtual planetarium from Escapist Games Limited, called Star Chart. Star Chart allows users to cruise through the Solar System and the Universe, checking out stars, nebulae, planets and other objects along the way.

This is just the beginning of VR’s entertainment and educational capabilities. With the growing affordability of VR, and the technological advancements to come, there’s going to some great implementations of VR technology for we space enthusiasts. I expect that in the next few years, we wannabe space explorers will be able to explore the surface of other worlds with VR, right in our own living rooms.

Posted on by Evan Gough

NASA Thinks There’s a Way to Get to Mars in 3 Days

Interstellar travel will require near-light-speed to be feasible. Image: NASA
Interstellar travel will require near-light-speed to be feasible. Image: NASA

We’ve achieved amazing things by using chemical rockets to place satellites in orbit, land people on the Moon, and place rovers on the surface of Mars. We’ve even used ion drives to reach destinations further afield in our Solar System. But reaching other stars, or reducing our travel time to Mars or other planets, will require another method of travel. One that can approach relativistic speeds.

Your aim has to be really really good.
Your aim has to be really really good. Credit: UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group
We can execute missions to Mars, but it takes several months for a vehicle to reach the Red Planet. Even then, those missions have to be launched during the most optimal launch windows, which only occur every 2 years. But the minds at NASA never stop thinking about this problem, and now Dr. Philip Lubin, Physics Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, may have come up with something: photonic propulsion, which he thinks could reduce the travel time from Earth to Mars to just 3 days, for a 100 kg craft.

The system is called DEEP IN, or Directed Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration. The general idea is that we have achieved relativistic speeds in the laboratory, but haven’t taken that technology—which is electromagnetic in nature, rather than chemical—and used it outside of the laboratory. In short, we can propel individual particles to near light speed inside particle accelerators, but haven’t expanded that technology to the macro level.

Directed Energy Propulsion differs from rocket technology in a fundamental way: the propulsion system stays at home, and the craft doesn’t carry any fuel or propellant. Instead, the craft would carry a system of reflectors, which would be struck with an aimed stream of photons, propelling the craft forward. And the whole system is modular and scalable.

Photonic propulsion explained.
Photonic propulsion explained.

If that’s not tantalizing enough, the system can also be used to deflect hazardous space debris, and to detect other technological civilizations. As talked about in this paper, detecting these types of systems in use by other civilizations may be our best hope for discovering those civilizations.

There’s a roadmap for using this system, and it starts small. At first, DEEP IN would be used to launch small cube satellites. The feedback from this phase would then inform the next step, which would be to test a unit for defending the ISS from space debris. From then, the systems would meet goals of increasing complexity, from launching satellites to LEO (Low-Earth Orbit) and GEO (Geostationary Orbit), all the way up to asteroid deflection and planetary defense. After that, relativistic drives capable of interstellar travel is the goal.

There are lots of questions still to be answered of course, like what happens when a vehicle at near light-speed hits a tiny meteorite. But those questions will be asked and answered as the system is developed and its capabilities grow.

Obviously, DEEP IN has the potential to bring other stars into reach. This system could deliver probes to some of the more promising exo-planets, and give humanity its first detailed look at other solar systems. If DEEP IN can be successfully scaled up, as Lubin says, then it will be a transformational technology.

Here’s a longer video of Dr. Lubin explaining DEEP IN in greater depth and detail: http://livestream.com/viewnow/niac2015seattle

Here’s the website for the University of California Santa Barbara Experimental Cosmology Group: http://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu/

Posted on by Matt Williams

Musk Says Hyperloop Could Work On Mars… Maybe Even Better!

At the recent ceremony for the Hyperloop Pod Competition, Musk announced that his concept for a high-speed train might work better on Mars. Credit: HTT

Elon Musk has always been up-front about his desire to see humans settle on the Red Planet. In the past few years, he has said that one of his main reasons for establishing SpaceX was to see humanity colonize Mars. He has also stated that he believes that using Mars as a “backup location” for humanity might be necessary for our survival, and even suggested we use nukes to terraform it.

And in his latest speech extolling the virtues of colonizing Mars, Musk listed another reason. The Hyperloop – his concept for a high-speed train that relies steel tubes, aluminum cars and maglev technology to go really fast – might actually work better in a Martian environment. The announcement came as part of the award ceremony for the Hyperloop Pod Competition, which saw 100 university teams compete to create a design for a Hyperloop podcar.

It was the first time that Musk has addressed the issue of transportation on Mars. In the past, he has spoken about establishing a colony with 80,000 people, and has also discussed his plans to build a Mars Colonial Transporter to transport 100 metric tons (220,462 lbs) of cargo or 100 people to the surface of Mars at a time (for a fee of $50,000 apiece). He has also discussed communications, saying that he would like to bring the internet to Mars once a colony was established.

Artist's concept of what a Hyperloop pod car might look like. Credit: Tesla
Artist’s concept of what a Hyperloop pod car’s interior might look like. Credit: Tesla

But in addressing transportation, Musk was able to incorporate another important concept that he has come up with, and which is also currently in development. Here on Earth, the Hyperloop would rely on low-pressure steel tubes and a series of aluminum pod cars to whisk passengers between major cities at speeds of up to 1280 km/h (800 mph). But on Mars, according to Musk, you wouldn’t even need tubes.

As Musk said during the course of the ceremony: “On Mars you basically just need a track. You might be able to just have a road, honestly. [It would] go pretty fast… It would obviously have to be electric because there’s no oxygen. You have to have really fast electric cars or trains or things.”

Essentially, Musk was referring to the fact that since Mars has only 1% the air pressure of Earth, air resistance would not be a factor. Whereas his high-speed train concept requires tubes with very low air pressure to reach the speed of sound here on Earth, on Mars they could reach those speeds out in the open. One might say, it actually makes more sense to build this train on Mars rather than on Earth!

The Hyperloop Pod Competition, which was hosted by SpaceX, took place between Jan 27th and 29th. The winning entry came from MIT, who’s design was selected from 100 different entries. Their pod car, which is roughly 2.5 meters long and 1 meter wide (8.2 by 3.2 feet), would weight 250 kg (551 lbs) and be able to achieve an estimated cruise speed of 110 m/s (396 km/h; 246 mph). While this is slightly less than a third of the speed called for in Musk’s original proposal, this figure representing cruising speed (not maximum speed), and is certainly a step in that direction.

Team MIT's Hyperloop pod car design. Credit: MIT/Twitter
Team MIT’s Hyperloop pod car design. Credit: MIT/Twitter

And while Musk’s original idea proposed that the pod be lifted off the ground using air bearings, the MIT team’s design called for the use of electrodynamic suspension to keep itself off the ground. The reason for this, they claimed, is because it is “massively simpler and more scalable.” In addition, compared to the other designs’ levitation systems, theirs had one of the lowest drag coefficients.

The team – which consists of 25 students with backgrounds in aeronautics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and business management – will spend the next five months building and testing their pod. The final prototype will participate in a trial run this June, where it will run on the one-mile Hyperloop Test Track at SpaceX’s headquarters in California.

Since he first unveiled it back in 2013, Musk’s Hyperloop concept has been the subject of considerable interest and skepticism. However, in the past few years, two companies – Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and Hyperloop Technologies – have emerged with the intention of seeing the concept through to fruition. Both of these companies have secured lucrative partnerships since their inception, and are even breaking ground on their own test tracks in California and Nevada.

And with a design for a podcar now secured, and tests schedules to take place this summer, the dream of a “fifth mode of transportation” is one step closer to becoming a reality! The only question is, which will come first – Hyperloops connecting major cities here on Earth, or running passengers and freight between domed settlements on Mars?

Only time will tell! And be sure to check out Team MIT’s video:

Further Reading: SpaceX, hyperloop.it.edu