I just finished reading an interview with Paul A. Czysz professor emeritus of Aeronautical Engineering at St. Louis University. In the article, which is going to take me a while to verify, Czysz talks about Russian research into nuclear propulsion for spacecraft which by 2050 will allow for manned spaceflights to Pluto or Neptune with flight times measured in weeks instead of years.
By using some sort of MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) propulsion system with almost no “fuel” accelerating/decelerating at 1g a manned mission to Pluto could have a roundtrip time of slightly less than 1 month.
Professor Czysz also claims that Russian expertise in this field of research is 35 years ahead of American research. Then again Vladimir Putin claims Russian nanotechnology is a multi-billion dollar industry. I was able to find a soviet designed space plane based on the super-extra-top-secret Aurora space plane which uses what must be an early design of what Czysz mentions.
Importantly, the propulsion system relies on the Lorentz force like an ion engine does but does not shoot out ionized atoms. Instead it appears that the Russians are wrangling the alpha particle radiation of the reactor to provide thrust for the craft.
Thinking and visualizing this sort of system brings me back to military radar equipment, traditional UFO designs and the like. How do you direct alpha particles? Can you send them out from a flat or slightly curved surface? What does this mean as far as good old radiation poisoning goes? What “waste” particles would be best for propulsion?
In any event, this interview doubles my desire to learn more about MHD and nuclear physics.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
NASA SELECTS MATERIAL FOR ORION SPACECRAFT HEAT SHIELD
NASA SELECTS MATERIAL FOR ORION SPACECRAFT HEAT SHIELD
HOUSTON -- NASA has chosen the material for a heat shield that will
protect a new generation of space explorers when they return from the
moon. After extensive study, NASA has selected the Avcoat ablator
system for the Orion crew module.
Orion is part of the Constellation Program that is developing the
country's next-generation spacecraft system for human exploration of
the moon and further destinations in the solar system. The Orion crew
module, which will launch atop an Ares I rocket, is targeted to begin
carrying astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015 and to
the moon in 2020.
Orion will face extreme conditions during its voyage to the moon and
on the journey home. On the blistering return through Earth's
atmosphere, the module will encounter temperatures as high as 5,000
degrees Fahrenheit. Heating rates may be up to five times more
extreme than rates for missions returning from the International
Space Station. Orion's heat shield, the dish-shaped thermal
protection system at the base of the spacecraft, will endure the most
heat and will erode, or "ablate," in a controlled fashion,
transporting heat away from the crew module during its descent
through the atmosphere.
To protect the spacecraft and its crew from such severe conditions,
the Orion Project Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
identified a team to develop the thermal protection system, or TPS,
heat shield. For more than three years, NASA's Orion Thermal
Protection System Advanced Development Project considered eight
different candidate materials, including the two final candidates,
Avcoat and Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator, or PICA, both of
which have proven successful in previous space missions.
Avcoat was used for the Apollo capsule heat shield and on select
regions of the space shuttle orbiter in its earliest flights. It was
put back into production for the study. It is made of silica fibers
with an epoxy-novalic resin filled in a fiberglass-phenolic honeycomb
and is manufactured directly onto the heat shield substructure and
attached as a unit to the crew module during spacecraft assembly.
PICA, which is manufactured in blocks and attached to the vehicle
after fabrication, was used on Stardust, NASA's first robotic space
mission dedicated solely to exploring a comet, and the first sample
return mission since Apollo.
"NASA made a significant technology development effort, conducted
thousands of tests, and tapped into the facilities, talents and
resources across the agency to understand how these materials would
perform on Orion's five-meter wide heat shield," said James Reuther,
the project manager of the study at NASA's Ames Research Center at
Moffett Field, Calif. "We manufactured full-scale demonstrations to
prove they could be efficiently and reliably produced for Orion."
Ames led the study in cooperation with experts from across the agency.
Engineers performed rigorous thermal, structural and environmental
testing on both candidate materials. The team then compared the
materials based on mass, thermal and structural performance, life
cycle costs, manufacturability, reliability and certification
challenges. NASA, working with Orion prime contractor Lockheed
Martin, recommended Avcoat as the more robust, reliable and mature
system.
"The biggest challenge with Avcoat has been reviving the technology to
manufacture the material such that its performance is similar to what
was demonstrated during the Apollo missions," said John Kowal,
Orion's thermal protection system manager at Johnson. "Once that had
been accomplished, the system evaluations clearly indicated that
Avcoat was the preferred system."
In partnership with the material subcontractor, Textron Defense
Systems of Wilmington, Mass., Lockheed Martin will continue
development of the material for Orion. While Avcoat was selected as
the better of the two candidates, more research is needed to
integrate it completely into Orion's design.
HOUSTON -- NASA has chosen the material for a heat shield that will
protect a new generation of space explorers when they return from the
moon. After extensive study, NASA has selected the Avcoat ablator
system for the Orion crew module.
Orion is part of the Constellation Program that is developing the
country's next-generation spacecraft system for human exploration of
the moon and further destinations in the solar system. The Orion crew
module, which will launch atop an Ares I rocket, is targeted to begin
carrying astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015 and to
the moon in 2020.
Orion will face extreme conditions during its voyage to the moon and
on the journey home. On the blistering return through Earth's
atmosphere, the module will encounter temperatures as high as 5,000
degrees Fahrenheit. Heating rates may be up to five times more
extreme than rates for missions returning from the International
Space Station. Orion's heat shield, the dish-shaped thermal
protection system at the base of the spacecraft, will endure the most
heat and will erode, or "ablate," in a controlled fashion,
transporting heat away from the crew module during its descent
through the atmosphere.
To protect the spacecraft and its crew from such severe conditions,
the Orion Project Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston
identified a team to develop the thermal protection system, or TPS,
heat shield. For more than three years, NASA's Orion Thermal
Protection System Advanced Development Project considered eight
different candidate materials, including the two final candidates,
Avcoat and Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator, or PICA, both of
which have proven successful in previous space missions.
Avcoat was used for the Apollo capsule heat shield and on select
regions of the space shuttle orbiter in its earliest flights. It was
put back into production for the study. It is made of silica fibers
with an epoxy-novalic resin filled in a fiberglass-phenolic honeycomb
and is manufactured directly onto the heat shield substructure and
attached as a unit to the crew module during spacecraft assembly.
PICA, which is manufactured in blocks and attached to the vehicle
after fabrication, was used on Stardust, NASA's first robotic space
mission dedicated solely to exploring a comet, and the first sample
return mission since Apollo.
"NASA made a significant technology development effort, conducted
thousands of tests, and tapped into the facilities, talents and
resources across the agency to understand how these materials would
perform on Orion's five-meter wide heat shield," said James Reuther,
the project manager of the study at NASA's Ames Research Center at
Moffett Field, Calif. "We manufactured full-scale demonstrations to
prove they could be efficiently and reliably produced for Orion."
Ames led the study in cooperation with experts from across the agency.
Engineers performed rigorous thermal, structural and environmental
testing on both candidate materials. The team then compared the
materials based on mass, thermal and structural performance, life
cycle costs, manufacturability, reliability and certification
challenges. NASA, working with Orion prime contractor Lockheed
Martin, recommended Avcoat as the more robust, reliable and mature
system.
"The biggest challenge with Avcoat has been reviving the technology to
manufacture the material such that its performance is similar to what
was demonstrated during the Apollo missions," said John Kowal,
Orion's thermal protection system manager at Johnson. "Once that had
been accomplished, the system evaluations clearly indicated that
Avcoat was the preferred system."
In partnership with the material subcontractor, Textron Defense
Systems of Wilmington, Mass., Lockheed Martin will continue
development of the material for Orion. While Avcoat was selected as
the better of the two candidates, more research is needed to
integrate it completely into Orion's design.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Howdy Stranger
I just realized how long its been since I last put some thing on this site. I've been busy learning. In addition to the Shuttle engineering course I mentioned in the previous post I've also been watching Stanford CS 106A Programming Methodology and CS 223 Introduction to Robotics. Oh, and Solidworks, Dreamweaver and Microsoft Office tutorials. Today I'm going to be working on my computer upgrading to Vista and installing the other software that I've been studying. Which I'm guessing will take a few days just to get everything working properly again.
YouTube is becoming my University. In addtion to the college courses I've been watching TEDtalksdirector alot, its great mind expanding material.
Lately I've been thinking of a new smaller ship for earth orbiting, possibly moon trips. Fission rocket, using superheated water for propulsion. I have a cut-away drawing of a B-17 by my desk and visualize a modernized cockpit and nose section adapted for space flight.
YouTube is becoming my University. In addtion to the college courses I've been watching TEDtalksdirector alot, its great mind expanding material.
Lately I've been thinking of a new smaller ship for earth orbiting, possibly moon trips. Fission rocket, using superheated water for propulsion. I have a cut-away drawing of a B-17 by my desk and visualize a modernized cockpit and nose section adapted for space flight.
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