last blog

well this has been quite a journey learning about all of these different aspects of intergelactic travel and space in general. it would appear that the world is seeing many more countries are pursuing space programs so the amount of breakthroughs will increse for sure. thanks everyone for the comments, and keep shooting for the stars.

another current progect

Japanese engineers intend to build an elevator to deliver cargo into space. Japanese authorities are prepared to allocate $10 billion for the project.

The space elevator is expected to cut the cost of delivering cargo into space and is considered one of the most ambitious projects of the 21st century. The Japanese plan to unveil a schedule for the elevator's assembly and commissioning this November. (yuri zaitsev)

current progect for space travel

Currently there are a few project being worked on for space travel worth mentioning. one is taking place in Russia. The Russians are currently looking at a space craft called the Clipper which replace its Soyuz. The Clipper will cary 6 men opposed to the Soyuz's 3 and will be capable of making regular flights to the moon and mars providing a reliable nuclear propulsion system is designed. It will also be more beneficial for bringing cargo to the international space station since it can carry up to 12 metric tones opposed to the 3 in the other.

where would we go?

so what if we actually do overcome the challenge of interstellar space travel, where would we go? would go to our nearest galaxy Andromeda, or set out for new solar systems. It seems like a second earth may not be so far off, there is talk of other water/dirt planets on the outer reaches of our solar system. they are roughly the same size as our earth and are near the Oort cloud. the problem is that they are frozen, so i guess all we need to is defrost one... yet another challenge. but what about other planetary systems, isn't there anywhere else in the universe that is as favorable as earth? one potential find was Gliese 581 about 120 trillion miles away. the star there is a lot smaller (artistic view of gilese 581)
and dimmer then ours but it could possibly be habitable according to NASA astrobiology expert Chris McKay. Its temperature and contents are similar to that of earth, but no life is expected to be on it. But still, this planet has the possibility to be habitable, its situation is still no where near as favorable as earth. from my research, no planet like Earth has ever been discovered, making me feel a bit smaller in this universe.

harvesting positrons

in the last blog, i mentioned briefly the idea of using anti matter as fuel. Positrons are an antimatter form of an electron. the only difference is that it is positively charged opposed to negatively charged. there are conventional methods to containing these, which include combining them with anti neutrons and anti protons making anti atoms and molecules. since these have a charge, containment is made possible with electromagnetic fields which keep them all together. Harvesting positrons is harder to do. since there are far fewer of these in the universe then electrons, harvesting is a lot like drilling for oil or separating the H3O compounds from H2O. One man by the name of James Bickford of Draper Laboratory (Cambridge, MA), believes that if we use a wire net like device with positively charged outer layers will deflect protons and attract anti-protons and positrons. It is estimated that at any given time there is 10 mg of positrons in the earths atmosphere but much more then that exist in the jovian planets. It would seem that in order to pursue the idea of anti-matter for interstellar travel we still have to make it to the other planets. I guess anti-matter will have to wait and we will have to depend on fusion and space sails to get us to the other planets first.

Anti-matter engines

As i mentioned before Star Trek is the closest thing i have to knowledge about the solar system. It really caught my interests when i learned of ideas and theories regarding Anti-matter for engines. A scientest by the name of Iddo Genuth, working for positronic research LLC, is researching with NASA the idea of a positronic engine using positrons as a propulsion system. positrons are the anti-particle of an electron. 10 mg of this has the energe of 428 tons of TNT. There are currently 3 ideas for a positronic engine system.

1. Solid core - Energy is transferred to a propellant in tungsten metal matrix heated by annihilation gamma rays.

Advantages - Well understood technology.
Disadvantages - Performance limited by melting temperature of tungsten.

2. Gas core - Energy is transferred to liquid/gas propellant directly heated by annihilation gamma rays.

Advantages - Improvement over solid core, not limited by melting temperature.
Disadvantages - Flowing multi-fluid is unstable at boundaries, may ionize and create plasma.

3. Solid Ablation - Energy is transferred to a material that ablates off surface of a pusher plate.

Advantages - Simplicity in design, no obvious technology limits.
Disadvantages - Half of the gamma rays do not strike the pusher plate, maximum efficiency 50%. ( found in an article [33] by the future of things)

These ideas seem very ambitious but look to be a great oppurtunity for Intergalatic travel. Positrons are created by a colider and currently to get 10 mg ( estimated amount for mars mission) it would take 5 years after builiding a $1.5 billion acceleration plant. no matter how you swing it, intergalactic travel isn't going to be cheap. holding this anti-matter is another problem that has already been solved by the research team. to hold the anti-matter, they have proposed a neutrel charged positronium after being stabelized in magnetic fields. IN other words a big tank using a magnetic field and other stablized antimatter to sustain the energy of the positrons.

Fusion Rockets.

Our current space program uses Liquid Rocket fuel to propel us into outer space. When dealing with interstellar travel, this form of transportation is impossible and hugely inefficient. one of the options i have talked about before was space sails using lasers and the sun to propel it. Another option is Fusion. We all know of the devastating effects of the Hydrogen bomb and the atom bomb, but recently scientist's are researching a way to turn this into a feasible way of transportation. Hydrogen is the preferred method of transportation since a ship could refuel in space since hydrogen is plentiful. this could reduce the amount of time to reach mars by 50%! fusion generated propulsion could generate up to 300 times the impulse of that of a current chemical rocket. The VASIMAR engine currently gives us a look at how the fusion engine creating plasma could work.
Forward cell - The propellant gas, typically hydrogen, is injected into this cell and ionized to create plasma.

Central cell - This cell acts as an amplifier to further heat the plasma with electromagnetic energy. Radio waves are used to add energy to the plasma, similar to how a microwave oven works.

Aft cell - A magnetic nozzle converts the energy of the plasma into velocity of the jet exhaust. The magnetic field that is used to expel the plasma also protects the spacecraft because it keeps the plasma from touching the shell of the spacecraft. Plasma would likely destroy any material it came in contact with. The temperature of the plasma exiting the nozzle is as hot as 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius). That's 25,000 times hotter than gases expelled from the space shuttle ( Article from Kevin Bosnor).
Going to mars would be great a great challenge for the earth to undertake, but a challenge i'm afraid that would take take great co-operation on all nations. An undertaking like this could do more then get to us to mars and advance our science, it could unite the nations under one common goal.