Spacecraft Propulsion Developments

[AnimeFan188]

NASA Principal Technologist lays out strategy to develop
advanced space propulsion over the next 25 years:

"For optimal outcome, it is recommended that the future development
of advanced propulsion capability proceed along parallel technology
development pathways, one near-term path for proven but immature
technologies (TRL ≥ 3) based on proven processes and a second
far-term path for unproven but high capability concepts (TRL < 3) that
could completely revolutionize mission possibilities.

The near-term pathway would ideally have a four-prong emphasis:

(1) advanced chemical propulsion,
(2) electric/plasma propulsion,
(3) nuclear thermal propulsion, and
(4) hybrid nuclear thermal/electric propulsion."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/03/nas...-lays-out.html

[AnimeFan188]

NASA funds Direct Drive Fusion Propulsion:

"The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) concept provides game-changing
propulsion and power capabilities that would revolutionize interplanetary
travel. DFD is based on the Princeton Field-Reversed Configuration
(PFRC) fusion reactor under development at the Princeton Plasma
Physics Laboratory."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/04/nas...ve-fusion.html


=============================


NASA testing electric solar sail for near term
propulsion 3-7 times faster than Pluto Express:

"Testing has started at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Alabama, on revolutionary propulsion system called the
electric sail. Relatively conservative designs could send spacecraft at
100-200 km/second by utilizing solar wind traveling at 400 to 750
kilometers per second.

The test results will provide modeling data for the Heliopause
Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS). The proposed HERTS
E-Sail concept, a propellant-less propulsion system, would harness
solar wind to travel into interstellar space."

See:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/04/nas...-sail-for.html


=============================


Stephen Hawking and a Russian Billionaire Want to
Build an Interstellar Starship:

"In a joint announcement at the One World Observatory in New York
City today, Milner and Stephen Hawking unveiled Breakthrough
Starshot, a $100 million research and engineering program seeking to
lay the foundations for an eventual interstellar voyage. The first step
of the program involves building light-propelled “nanocrafts” that can
travel at relativistic speeds—up to 20 percent the speed of light. At
such high velocities, the robotic spacecraft would pass Pluto in three
days and reach our nearest neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri,
just over 20 years after launch."

See:

http://gizmodo.com/a-russian-billion...ild-1770467186

[Ithekro]

High speeds even within the Solar System would be a huge benefit, even if it takes decades to reach the next nearest star system.

[AnimeFan188]

'Impossible' EmDrive flying saucer thruster may
herald new theory of inertia:

"The EmDrive's thrust can be predicted (and tested), says McCulloch, by
accounting for radiation pressure from Unruh waves. These cause the
momentum to increase as the thruster moves. McCulloch suggests the
same effect accounts for the anomalies observed when spacecraft
accelerate around a planet: they jump."

See:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04...ve_theory_why/

[AnimeFan188]

EmDrive: Finnish physicist says controversial space
propulsion device does have an exhaust:

"A new peer-reviewed paper on the EmDrive from Finland states that
the controversial electromagnetic space propulsion technology does
work due to microwaves fed into the device converting into photons
that leak out of the closed cavity, producing an exhaust.

The research, entitled "On the exhaust of electromagnetic drive", is
published in the journal AIP Advances 6 and is the brainchild of Dr Arto
Annila, a physics professor at the University of Helsinki; Dr Erkki
Kolehmainen, an organic chemistry professor at the University of
Jyväskylä; and Patrick Grahn, a multiphysicist at engineering software
firm Comsol."

See:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/emdrive-fin...ews&yptr=yahoo

[AnimeFan188]

NASA's EmDrive thruster just took an important
leap forward:

"The dream of the EmDrive, a futuristic space propulsion engine
capable of getting us to Mars in a matter of weeks, may sound like
science-fiction — but it’s just taken one big leap toward being science-
fact.

That’s because a paper describing how it can achieve thrust has
reportedly passed the peer review process and is all set to be
published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’
AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power.

Written by scientists at the NASA Eagleworks Laboratories, the paper’s
successful passing of rigorous academic scrutiny was confirmed by
independent scientist Dr. José Rodal on NASA’s Spaceflight forum —
only for the comment to be quickly deleted."

See:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-te...is-on-its-way/

[Ithekro]

Waiting foe implementation.

Followed by Warp Drives.

[DerGilga]

I don't get it....
why are people so fascinated with a glorified flashlight?
also why do peope say that thing doesn't need fuel? Where does the power come to enable that drive?
and why should it even be remotely replace rockets, when the theoretical achievable thrust is abysmal?
I don't get it....

[TheForsaken]

Originally Posted by DerGilga

I don't get it....
why are people so fascinated with a glorified flashlight?
also why do peope say that thing doesn't need fuel? Where does the power come to enable that drive?
and why should it even be remotely replace rockets, when the theoretical achievable thrust is abysmal?
I don't get it....

I think you misunderstood something here.
It is never meant to replace rockets. If you want to launch something to space, you must use a rocket. There is no other way with our current technology.
It's a new type of thruster that doesn't use fuel. As for where the energy comes from, solar panels and batteries.

[DerGilga]

Originally Posted by TheForsaken

I think you misunderstood something here.
It is never meant to replace rockets. If you want to launch something to space, you must use a rocket. There is no other way with our current technology.

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/emdrive-fin...ews&yptr=yahoo

British scientist Roger Shawyer devised the EmDrive concept and first presented it in 1999, but spent years having his technology ridiculed by the international space science research community. According to Shawyer, if the technology is ever commercially realised, EmDrive could transform the aerospace industry and potentially solve the energy crisis, end climate change and speed up space travel by making it much cheaper to launch satellites and spacecraft into orbit.

It's a new type of thruster that doesn't use fuel. As for where the energy comes from, solar panels and batteries.

so it's a glorified, solar-powered flashlight?

[Ithekro]

If I understand the concept of the drive, it means they won't need to put fuel on the satelites, as their new drives won't need fuel, so they can correct their own orbits without expensive to carry fuel, sending a mission to correct its orbit (not longer viable without the space shuttles), or destroying it in some fashion.

Fuel is weight, and the less weight you put on an object, the more you can lift. The less fuel on satelites and other spacecraft, means they can but on more equipment, or just launch them for less money as they will be lighter, requiring less rocket fuel to get into orbit, or in the case of exploration vehicles, or mining drones, escape Earth's orbit.

Such a drive might make things like asteroid prospecting viable.

[blakstealth]

How about that SpaceX Rocket explosion situation? lol

[TheForsaken]

@DerGilga: EmDrive makes spacecrafts weigh less, and therefore cheaper to be launched.

[DerGilga]

$ E = \sum_i \hbar \omega_i = \hbar \sum_i \omega_i = \hbar \Omega $
$ p = \sum_i \hbar k_i = \hbar \sum_i k_i = \hbar K $
$ k_i c = \omeha_i \rightarrow K c = \Omega $

$\rightarrow p = \hbar \frac{\Omega}{c} = \hbar \frac{E}{\hbar c} $
$ p = \frac{1}{c} E $

$ T = \partial_t p = \frac{1}{c} \partial_t E $

$\rightarrow T = \frac{1}{c} P(ower) $

so $ P = 1 GW $, the power output of a nuclear power plant
$ T = \frac{1}{3*10^8 \frac{m}{s}} 10^9 kg \frac{m}{s^2} $
$ T = 3.33.... N $

yeah, I only need the power output of a nuclear power plant to generate a thrust of whole 3.33... N with an emdrive

but to put things into perspective ion drive
so the Ion drive BHT8000 can produce 449mN of thrust with a power of 8kW

and em-drive would produce
$ T = \frac{1}{3*10^8 \frac{m}{s}} 8*10^3 kg \frac{m}{s^2} $
$ T = 0.026 mN $

So with the same power input an emdrive can produce 0.0059% thrust of an ion drive. Also why I can't just use a bunch of flash lights to get the same result as this emdrive nobody seems to anwser...

p.s.:
this board needs tex-support

[AnimeFan188]

The Impossible Propulsion Drive Is Heading to Space:

"The EmDrive, a hypothetical miracle propulsion system for outer space,
has been sparking heated arguments for years. Now, Guido Fetta plans
to settle the argument about reactionless space drives for once and for
all by sending one into space to prove that it really generates thrust
without exhaust."

See:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/scie...-reactionless/

[AnimeFan188]

Positron Dynamics near term work to proving out antimatter
catalyzed deuterium fusion propulsion with over 100,000 ISP:

"Positron Dynamics is developing antimatter catalyzed fusion propulsion which they will
first demonstrate in a cubesat launch. They are getting around the still mostly unsolved
difficulties of storing antimatter. They are doing this by using Sodium 22 isotopes."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10...m-work-to.html

[AnimeFan188]

New NASA Emdrive paper shows force of 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt in a
Vacuum and a low thrust pendulum and tests were at 40, 60 and 80 watts:

"The newest NASA emdrive paper concludes a force generation of 1.2mn/kw after errors measurement
is accounted for.

A low thrust pendulum at the NASA Johnson space center was used."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11...-force-of.html

[AnimeFan188]

Controversial Propellentless EmDrive is said to be undergoing tests in
space on the Tiangong-2 station and US Air Force X-37B plane:

"IBTimes UK has been informed that the US Air Force is currently testing out a version of
the EmDrive electromagnetic microwave thruster on the X-37B unmanned military space
plane, while the Chinese government has made sure to include the EmDrive on its orbital
space laboratory Tiangong-2."

See:

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11...mdrive-is.html


Well, that was quick.

[Ithekro]

Which suggests this is either something serious, or a curiosity that needs money and time thrown at it because it defies old logic.

[AnimeFan188]

NASA's Physics-Defying EM Drive Passes Peer Review:

"The reactionless thruster known as the EM Drive has stirred heated debate over the past
few years. If successful it could provide a new and powerful method to take our
spacecraft to the stars, but it has faced harsh criticism because the drive seems to violate
the most fundamental laws of physics. One of the biggest criticisms has been that the
work wasn’t submitted for peer review, and until that happens it shouldn’t be taken
seriously. Well, this week that milestone was reached with a peer-reviewed paper. The EM
Drive has officially passed peer review."

See:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briankob.../#191c156f76e2