POT announced a round of investments in more than a dozen projects that could speed up space travel. The Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program selected 14 proposals designed to solve a variety of problems, from space exploration to resource extraction on the Moon or Jupiter. The projects come from researchers at several universities and incubators in the US and are in the concept stage.
According to a press release, NASA is investing $175,000 to develop technologies that will enable the space agency’s future missions. These projects include innovative production technologies, power systems, sensors and vehicles. Examples include an inexpensive seaplane to explore the skies of Titan, a pipeline to transport oxygen to the Moon, or a rocket engine powered by nuclear fission fragments.
The space agency believes that many look like something out of a science fiction movie, some will lay the groundwork for developing advances in space exploration. The goal of NIAC is to determine their feasibility, so researchers will study the physics of the concepts and map out the path to create the technology needed to bring them to life.
Interplanetary travel, gas pipeline on the Moon and more
One of the brightest projects of NIAC is pellet beama system that will change deep space travel. spaceships will be pushed by a beam of microparticles that move at speeds of over 120 km/s, speeding up missions to far-flung destinations. The beam is capable of propelling objects weighing up to a ton and will allow reach the outer planets in less than a year. For long distances, its creators guarantee that the ship will overcome 100 AU. (15,000 million km) in about 3 years. For reference: Voyager 1 took 35 years to reach the heliopause (123 AU).
NASA also gave the green light TitanAir, a low-cost seaplane that will fly over Titan’s atmosphere. study it. The spacecraft could collect methane and other organic materials from Jupiter’s moon with its wings. Planet Enterprises scientists propose a porous wing that traps chemical compounds and collects them in capillary elements. TitanAir will take advantage of Titan’s low gravity and have a natural transition system for landing on lakes.
NASA projects are at the concept stage
Another project consists of build a gas pipeline at the south pole of the moon to ensure the supply of oxygen to space missions. A 5 km gas pipeline developed by Lunar Resources. will transport oxygen from the production source to the liquefaction and storage plant. This resource will be used not only in life support systems, but also as an oxidizing agent for launching rockets from the Moon.
For her part, Mary Knapp of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests a space observatory made up of thousands of satellites. By positioning themselves in deep space, the satellites will help identify exoplanets by their magnetic fields. A large long-wavelength observatory uses interferometry to combine satellite signals into a large virtual telescope.
NASA has announced that all projects will receive resources starting next month to begin the testing phase. Although it is too early to rejoice, the idea of implementing one or more will accelerate space exploration for decades to come.
Source: Hiper Textual
