Universe Today

Robert W. Bussard was an American physicist who worked on nuclear fusion and nuclear propulsion. While many of his ideas on the subject never came fully to fruition, he is still considered to have been one of the foremost experts in both fields. He is best known for his theoretical nuclear fusion propulsion system, the Bussard Ramjet. He also tried to make fusion a commercially viable source of clean energy.

The Bussard Ramjet is famous because after its proposal in the 1960 it was used as a the propulsion systems in a science fiction novels written by famous science fiction writer Larry Niven. The Bussard Ramjet was ingeniously simple in its design being an interstellar version of ramjet engines developed for supersonic aircraft. The Bussard Ramjet was a potential solution for a major problem for interstellar flight which was limited storage capacity for fuel. The theoretical propulsion system would use the hydrogen that exists naturally in space to power a nuclear fusion engine. It would use a spiraling magnetic field to draw the hydrogen towards the space craft compressing it as it got into the craft creating a nuclear fusion reaction.

While the design seemed plausible it had two fatal flaws. First it was discovered the amount of fusible hydrogen in space was much smaller than first anticipated and not sufficient to fuel a space craft in the method proposed by Bussard. Second the magnetic field would have to be particularly strong and have an area of several kilometers to practically work.

Commercially viable small fusion reactors were another project that Bussard worked on. He tried to various methods to make the project work but as with the Bussard ramjet a practical working prototype proved unsuccessful. This led to the government and other investors withdrawing their funding. On his second attempt Bussard claimed to have finally gotten a working prototype for a fusion reactor that solved previous problems but work was halted due to lack of funds.

Bussard passed away in 2007 but his many contributions to the field of nuclear fusion and propulsion proved invaluable ways. He can be considered to be a modern Tesla who while not getting the full success he wanted for his research was still able to advance our knowledge of nuclear physics and its possible applications to future technology. In this way his many achievement will be sure to live on as new generations of physicists work.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others on Universe Today that you can read. There is a great article about the Bussard Ramjet. There is also a great article about whether interstellar travel is actually plausible.

There are also some great resources on the web. You can check out a Oregon University web page on faster than light travel. There is also the web page for the University of California Santa Cruz. It has a copy of an article on Google possibly supporting Bussard's nuclear fusion research.

You can also check out Astronomycast. Episode 101 Advanced Propulsion systems talks briefly about Bussard Ramjets.

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The first attempt to send a rocket to the Moon via balloon hit a snag on Monday. The first test of the Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association's (ARCA) balloon-launched rocket (or "rockoon") ended in failure when the "inflation arms" used to fill the balloon became entangled in the balloon itself. The arms had to be cut, and the operation – which required the use of a large naval frigate — was curtailed. ARCA hopes to compete in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and intends on using their unusual rocket system to send an equally unique spherical lunar lander to win a $30 million prize.
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(Editor's Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of Atlantis.)
Space Shuttle Atlantis and her six person crew roared into space on Monday precisely as planned at 2:28 PM EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The yellow exhaust flames grew into a nearly blinding intensity as Atlantis ascended off the pad on a trail of crackling fire and smoke. For what felt like an eternity, it seemed like Atlantis would be engulfed in a rapidly expanding inferno emanating from her tail in mid air. The time span was in reality perhaps 5 seconds. Atlantis then dove straight upwards, arced over and finally looked like she would return back to Kennedy on a big circular loop directly through the wake of the exhaust plume. In fact that sight was just an optical illusion but the feeling was shared by other media I conversed with here at the KSC Press site.
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The next space shuttle mission STS-129, slated to launch next Monday Nov. 16, is a "spare parts and stock-up" mission. And the needed extra parts and supplies delivered to the International Space Station by Atlantis will mean spare years on the station’s life once the space shuttle fleet is retired. The mission is a landmark of sorts — not sure if it is a good landmark or bad — but STS-129 is scheduled to be the last space shuttle crew rotation flight. From here on out, crew rotation will be done by the Soyuz and any future commercial vehicle that may come online. Besides the crew, a payload of spiders and butterfly larvae will be on board Atlantis for an experiment that will be monitored by thousands of K-12 students across US. Find out more about the flight with a video preview of the mission, below.
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The X-Prize competition for building a lander vehicle capable of making a simulated landing and liftoff on the Moon has come to a close, with the 1st place, $1 million award going to Masten Space Systems for their vehicle, Xoie (pronounced like the name 'Zoey'). Armadillo Aerospace came in a close second, and received $500,000 for their Scorpius rocket. The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X-Prize challenge was initiated to spur development of lunar landing vehicle by a privately funded institution. The last of the challenge flights occured Friday, October 30th, and the competition came down to the wire, as Masten encountered problems on Wednesday and Thursday challenge windows that delayed their final flight to the last day of the challenge. Read more…

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It was a busy weekend in the world of space flight — both present and future — and so we'll try to fit it all in one article, and include a couple of videos to help tell the stories. Before that, however, just a reminder that the Ares-I-X is slated to roll out to launchpad 39-B early Tuesday morning at 12:01 am EDT, to begin preparations for the scheduled Oct. 27 first test launch. If you're an early bird, (or a night owl) watch the six-hour trip on NASA TV.

And now on to this weekend's launch story:
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Using traditional chemical rockets, a trip to Mars – at quickest — lasts 6 months. But a new rocket tested successfully last week could potentially cut down travel time to the Red Planet to just 39 days. The Ad Astra Rocket Company tested a plasma rocket called the VASIMR VX-200 engine, which ran at 201 kilowatts in a vacuum chamber, passing the 200-kilowatt mark for the first time. "It's the most powerful plasma rocket in the world right now," says Franklin Chang-Diaz, former NASA astronaut and CEO of Ad Astra. The company has also signed an agreement with NASA to test a 200-kilowatt VASIMR engine on the International Space Station in 2013.
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One challenge that you may not realize astronauts have in space are proper writing tools. This is due to the fact that astronauts often work in zero gravity conditions which can make anything other than a pencil or grease pencil problematic. Mechanical pens are a non starter because the dangers of broken pencil lead floating around in the craft. The pen is even more tricky. The ball point pen you normally use relies on the force of gravity to help deliver the ink. In a weightless environment they would simply not write.

Fortunately, a solution was developed relatively early in US space program with the Fisher Space Pen. It is also known as the astronaut pen. A lot of different urban legends have sprung up about the pen. One story claims that NASA developed the pen spending $11 million. However, the true story of the space pen is even more interesting. The pen was acutally developed at the price of $1 million by industrialist Paul C. Fisher. Mr. Fisher had already established a successful pen but wanted to in essence create the pen to end all pens. It would require fewer refills and be able to write under any condition without blotting. Mr. Fisher succeeded and NASA got involved when he asked the agency to test the pens in space. That is how they came to be know as the Astronaut pen.

The pen's design is simple but effective. First, it use a special type of ink that is like Jell-O that is it becomes a solid when at rest but when a bit of perpendicular pressure is applied it become liquid for easy writing. To aid the delivery of ink to the fitted ball point the ink was also pressurized with nitrogen gas to act in the place of normal gravity. The pen proved to be quite effective and came to be even used by Soviet Cosmonauts.

The pen is a perfect example of how companies have worked with NASA to advance technology. There numerous other stories and it only proves the importance of space exploration not only for the expansion of scientific discovery and knowlege, but also for the advancement business. There are said to be about 2,000 different technologies that have been developed just from the space shuttle alone so you can see how big a role space exploration can play in advancing the innovation and perfection of technology for use in everyday circumstances.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others that you can enjoy on Universe Today. There is a great article about the benefits of space exploration. There is also an interesting article about technologies developed from the Hubble Space station.

There are also great resources on the web. There is a great article about the history of the astronaut pen on NASA.gov. Here is also a link to a site where you purchase one.

You can also check out Astronomy Cast. Episode 121 Spacesuits is quite interesting.

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South Korea successfully launched its first rocket on Tuesday, but the satellite payload failed to reach its designated orbit, officials said. The rocket, a two-stage rocket, called the Naro lifted off on schedule at 5:00 pm local time, (0800 GMT). The first stage separated successfully less than five minutes after lift-off and the South Korean-built 100-kilogram (220-pound) scientific research satellite was placed into Earth orbit. But science and technology minister Ahn Byong-Man said it was not following the designated orbit, hampering communications with mission control. "All aspects of the launch were normal, but the satellite exceeded its planned orbit and reached an altitude of 360 kilometres (225 miles)," Ahn said.
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Generally, a flyby in spaceflight is a maneuver in which a spacecraft, normally a space probe, passes by in orbit of a celestial object such a planet or sun to gather data on it. This method is further helped by high powered sensor installed by the probe to help it gather its target data. The procedure is quite simple. One of the big challenges is that a spacecraft is already traveling at high speeds as it approaches its target. Since friction is almost non existent in space, inertia is very difficult to over come so the only way to slow down the craft is to use either a lot of precious fuel or a more efficient method called aerobraking. Aerobraking is a method by which the space probe uses the friction of a planet's atmosphere to slow down to an acceptable orbit speed. This solves the fuel dilemma. The craft then has to enter an orbit close enough to the surface to gather data.

For a star like the Sun, a craft has to be careful how close it will get or else it will pulled and burnt up. In the case of planets, the ball park range is somewhere around 120 km from the surface. The craft then does a number of passes to gather data.

Flybys are crucial to proper data gathering in space exploration. Thanks to this flight maneuver we have been able to learn more about the planets in our solar system, our sun, and the asteroid belt. The vast information we have gathered has helped to hypothesize what are the special conditions of life and is laying the foundations of future manned space exploration.

In all, over 20 space probes have been sent into space and have performed flybys to gather data. The very first would be said to be Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. It took sample data of the outer limits of the Earth's atmosphere. The Russian space program eventually launched a lunar orbiter that used the same process. NASA has sent the most planetary probes. The most famous are the Voyager probes and the Mars probes. The information gathered by the Voyager program helped us learn to more about the outer solar in particular, especially the gas giants until the 1970s we had very little data on.

Space probes and their exploratory maneuvers, like flybys are an important to the future of space exploration gathering the information that will make future missions possible.

If you enjoyed this article there are others on Universe today that you will enjoy. There is a very interesting article about a flyby that the Cassini probe did last year over one of Saturn's moons. There is also another great article about the flyby of the Messenger probe over Mercury.

There are also other great resources on the internet. NASA has an article that goes into detail about the Mercury Messenger mission. There is also an interesting NASA article about Mars probes and their history.

You can also listen to Astronomy Cast. Episode 115 The Moon Part 3 talks about how lunar probes are laying the foundation for mankind's return to the moon.

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NASA conducted a successful test Monday morning of a new type of heat shield that could make it possible to land larger payloads on Mars. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) demonstrated an inflatable heat shield which could slow and protect spacecraft entering atmospheres at hypersonic speeds. "This was a small-scale demonstrator," said Mary Beth Wusk, IRVE project manager, based at Langley Research Center. "Now that we've proven the concept, we'd like to build more advanced aeroshells capable of handling higher heat rates."
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What is a spaceplane? It's any aircraft designed to enter space. Research into spaceplanes emerged as the cost of launching spacecraft into outer space remain high. To date, it costs about $10,000 per lb of payload to get into space via traditional methods like rockets and the space shuttle. This has limited the amount of research and experimentation that can be done to improve space exploration and even using it commercially. Scientists at NASA and other venues have researched different solutions to this costly problem. Spaceplanes represent an amalgamation of these various ideas to reduce the cost of getting into space.

The most famous set of research projects on spaceplanes are the X-series by NASA. This series of experimental planes designed by joint efforts between NASA and commercial aerospace companies have been successful so far in producing jet aircraft and the current space shuttle. NASA is now working on experimental spaceplane concepts that incorporate the different elements of space technology that NASA seeks to improve on.

As of now, there are two main tracks now being researched for space planes. One is to have an air-breathing space craft. This type of spaceplane would use the air surrounding it to launch it into space. The main barrier is speed. Conventional aircraft can at the moment only achieve speeds up to five times that of the speed of sound. If a "hypersonic" aircraft could be developed, this would be a viable alternative as a spaceplane. The X-43 is an aircraft NASA is using to test this. The craft uses a special type of air breathing engine called a scramjet which can operate at speeds faster than Mach 6. Three versions have already been tested but there are still downsides with it still needing to be launched by rockets to get to operating speeds.

The other track is to build a spaceplane that has its propellant on board rather than rely on external boosters. This would greatly reduce the cost of launches. The craft used to test this was the X-33. The test craft was to test the viability of on board fuel and a revolutionary new nozzle called an air spike. The air spike would work differently from the traditional bell curve nozzle by directing the heated exhaust along to ramps to create even greater thrust. Unfortunately malfunctions and an expensive budget forced the project to be scrapped.

In the end, the spaceplane is still on the drawing board. But new successes such as the SpaceShipOne point to new possibilities that may eventually solve the cost issues of going to space.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others on Universe Today that you will like. There is an interesting article that goes into more detail about scramjets. There is also an article about SpaceShipTwo.

There are also great resources on the web. There is a great article called "How Spaceplanes will work" that has great info. There is also a NASA article that goes into detail about the X-43.

If you want to learn more about advance propulsion systems check episode 101 of Astronomy Cast.

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Think of being able to go to the nearest travel agency or going online to an online traveling website and booking a trip not just to Jamaica or Europe but to Space. This idea is quickly becoming more possible today than at any other time since space exploration began and it has actually begun. But why is space tourism suddenly being seen as a possibility? One of the reasons is that it is being seen as the new source of revenue for space exploration.

One of the biggest challenges to space exploration is money. It cost a lot to do research and apply it into working models. This challenge can be daunting as often the biggest sources of funding right now are governments. This has the downside of politics. For example it took the threat of a seemingly technologically superior Soviet Union to get the United States started in earnest with its own space program. Now, especially as the United States goes through an economic recession, this poses a unique challenge to the future of space exploration. One of the interesting developments has been the idea of commercializing space exploration by using space tourism.

The beginning of space tourism could be found within established government space programs. Russia, in early days of its space program, aggressively recruited and trained cosmonauts for its mission even going to partner nations of the Soviet Union’s for candidates. The United States did something by creating a position called "payload specialist" which allowed for representatives of companies sponsoring the payloads carried to space to take part in mission. Later towards the end of the 1990s the Russian space program was strapped for cash and actually started offering trips to space for tourist who could pay the fare of around $12 to $20 million. Many of these first tourists were multimillionaires, famous entrepreneurs who could easily pay the fare. You might remember that Lance Bass a member of the pop group Nsync was supposed to be a passenger before he dropped out.

The first tourist was an American engineer and entrepreneur, Dennis Tito. While he was a former NASA scientist, Mr. Tito made his fortune in investments with brokerage company Wilshire Company. Another famous tourist was Anouseh Ansari, whose family founded the Ansari X prize the commercial space competition that spawned SpaceShipOne. This along with the success of privately built spacecraft is starting a whole new industry in tourism. Major entrepreneurs like Richard Branson are already investing in companies specializing in private spacecraft. This bodes well for the future of space tourism.

If you enjoyed this article there are many others you can read on Universe Today. There is an excellent article on space hotels and another article about plans to built the world's first spaceport.

There are also some great articles and resources on the web. There is an article about Virgin Galactic getting new investors from Abu Dhabi. There is also a great article on the How Stuff Works website.

You can also check out an episode of Astronomy Cast. Episode 84 "Getting Around the Solar System" is particularly interesting.

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The space suit is probably one of the greatest marvels of spaceflight. So why is there all this concentration on making a space suit work? They are, to put it simply, personal space craft. The current model certainly has the sort of price tag you would expect for a spacecraft. It is actually around $12 million for each one that NASA produces. The reason why is that they have to be made to do the job of a spacecraft, protection suit, and personal biosphere all at the same time.

First it took a herculean effort to make it possible for advanced life to survive in the environment of space. Space is not a friendly place for living things. There are whizzing meteoroids and other space objects moving faster than a conventional bullet. We know that any object when accelerated fast enough can go through pretty solid objects. Then there are the extreme temperature changes. Since there is no atmosphere in space there is no natural thermostat to keep temperatures within the range needed for sustainable life. Finally there is radiation, lots and lots of gamma rays and cosmic ray that can bombard with no natural protection like a magnetosphere or ozone layer. There's no air pressure. This list of space dangers goes on and on. So, designing a suit that can survive this is more amazing than anything Q could whip up for James Bond.

A space suit meets these demands in several ways. First off, the suit is pressurized. Second, it deflects harmful objects and radiation with several layers of Mylar and Kevlar. However it the radiation protection is limited so space mission are scheduled around the appearance of major sources of radiation like solar flares. It has both a heater and coolant system to deal with the temperature changes in space. It provides the air, food and water that astronauts need to survive in space. And some space suits are even equipped with a propulsion system to allow astronauts to move around in space.

As for personal needs, space suits also come with diapers. However, they are not needed as much since current spacecraft come with facilities. Another important factor is mobility. The suits are made to as easy to move in as possible. However, Astronauts still have to practice moving in them as part of their training. In the end the space suit is a marvel of design. It allows astronauts to do manned mission and as research into textiles and space exploration continue they will only become more effective.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others on Universe Today that you can read. There is an article about the latest in space fashion. There is also an article about NASA terminating its contract with the designers of the suits for the Constellation project.

There are also great resources on the net. The NASA website has a great document that talks about the history of the space suit. There is also a great article on the How Stuff Works site about the space suitl

There is also a great episode of Astronomy Cast you can listen to. Episode 121 Space suits.

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The most important part of any manned space mission is not the launch but the landing or as it is officially called the Re-entry. This is the process by which the craft returns to Earth. There are several factors that need to be taken into account so that the process occurs smoothly and safely.

First, there is attitude control. The Earth's atmosphere acts as a natural barrier reflecting the majority of meteorites, dangerous radiation and other threat that would otherwise harm the Earth's surface. So naturally it makes it difficult to enter back into the atmosphere for manned space craft. Attitude control is a combination of angle of entry and speed. If this angle is not closely adhered to, a space craft will literally bounce of the outer shell of the atmosphere. The other factor is the speed. This is often a negligible concern as the craft is already traveling at orbital speeds and will only become faster as it returns under the full influence of the earth's gravity.

The next obstacle is air resistance. Whatever does not get bounced off the outer limits of the atmosphere will get burned up by the friction created by rubbing against air particles during descent. The Apollo 11 and the other capsule missions dealt with this problem by putting ablative material on the bottom of the capsule. This works by focusing the friction on easily burning material to draw heat away from the rest of the craft. Another general solution that all space craft have in common is a blunt design. This causes a shock wave to form before the craft shielding it from the worst of the heat and friction. As the space program at NASA progressed, they abandoned ablative material as they built spacecraft that could be used more than once. The space shuttle now uses special insulation. However this has created problems in its self as aging insulation can break and at re-entry speeds pose a grave threat to the space craft.

After surviving the gruel heat of re-entry there is the final landing. In the early Apollo, Saturn, and Mercury missions, the method for safe landings was to land in the ocean, a type of landing called splash down. The capsule's descent was slowed down with aid of an parachute and when it landed it was then picked up by a helicopter to the nearest Navy ship. This method is no longer used by NASA but the Russian space program does something similar on land having their capsules land in the desert. The current method of space landing is the brilliance of the space shuttle. Upon re-entry the shuttle glides down and lads like conventional air craft the only difference is that a parachute is deployed upon landing to help it decrease its speed.

If you enjoyed this article there are several others on Universe Today you can enjoy. There is a great article about the Russian Space Program ideas to improve landings. There is also an intere3sting article about the discussion of what type of landing will be practical for the Orion spacecraft.

There are also several resources on the web. The How Stuff Works website has a great article on the Re-entry and landing process. There is also another great article on Europe planning to build a re-entry spacecraft.

You can also listen to Astronomy Cast. Episode 127 the U.S. Space shuttle has some information on space landings

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