NASA: Nuclear Fusion Rockets for Future Space Exploration

A concept image of a spacecraft powered by a fusion-driven rocket. 

In this image, the crew would be in the forward-most chamber. 

Solar panels on the sides would collect energy to initiate the process that creates fusion.

CREDIT: University of Washington, MSNW

Rockets that harness the power of nuclear fusion may provide the next big leap in humanity's quest to explore the final frontier, NASA's science chief says.

Nuclear fusion rockets could slash travel times through deep space dramatically, potentially opening up vast swathes of the solar system to human exploration, said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

John Grunsfeld

"It's transformative," Grunsfeld said last month after his presentation at Maker Faire Bay Area in San Mateo, Calif., a two-day celebration of DIY science, technology and engineering.

"You could get to Saturn in a couple of months. How fantastic would that be?"

For a little perspective: NASA's robotic Cassini spacecraft blasted off in October 1997 and didn't enter Saturn orbit until July 2004.



Traditional chemical propulsion systems can get humans to destinations in deep space, but with a lot of travel time.

For example, a roundtrip manned mission to the vicinity of Mars, which NASA aims to execute by the mid-2030s, would require about 500 days of spaceflight.

Speeding up the trip to Mars, or anywhere else, is desirable for a number of reasons — to minimize the radiation dose astronauts receive during the journey, for example, and to save money on consumables such as food and water.

So NASA and researchers around the world have been investigating advanced propulsion technologies, including space-bending "warp drives," enormous solar sails and matter-antimatter engines.

Nuclear fusion is perhaps the most promising of these possibilities, at least in the relatively near term, proponents say.

Fusion rockets would harness the energy released when the nuclei of two or more atoms combine.

Our sun and other stars are fusion-powered, converting this energy to light; the same principle also gives hydrogen bombs their immense destructive power.

NASA has funded several early-stage fusion ideas recently via a program called NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts).

One of these groups, led by scientists at the University of Washington, recently calculated that a fusion rocket could make it possible to get astronauts to Mars in as little as 30 days.

NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer: UV image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula

Wispy tendrils of hot dust and gas glow in this ultraviolet image of the Cygnus Loop Nebula, taken by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer.

The nebula lies about 1,500 light-years away, and is a supernova remnant, left over from a massive stellar explosion that occurred 5,000-8,000 years ago.

Picture: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/AFP/Getty

NASA This Week @ NASA - YouTube

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson outlined the president's Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal for NASA during a February 13th news conference at NASA Headquarters.

The proposed budget would enable NASA to continue the space exploration program envisioned by President Obama, one that creates jobs and spurs the American economy well into the future while sending us farther into space than ever before.

Also, the year's first test of the J-2X rocket engine, the 30th Russian Spacewalk for The International Space Station, a milestone handshake in space between humanoid and an astronaut, Science Off the Sphere, the 50th Anniversary of John Glenn's historic flight and more.

NASA IBEX Spacecraft Reveals New Observations of Interstellar Matter

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has captured the best and most complete glimpse yet of what lies beyond the solar system.

The new measurements give clues about how and where our solar system formed, the forces that physically shape our solar system, and the history of other stars in the Milky Way.

The Earth-orbiting spacecraft observed four separate types of atoms including hydrogen, oxygen, neon and helium.

These interstellar atoms are the byproducts of older stars, which spread across the galaxy and fill the vast space between stars.

IBEX determined the distribution of these elements outside the solar system, which are flowing charged and neutral particles that blow through the galaxy, or the so-called interstellar wind.

"IBEX is a small Explorer mission and was built with a modest investment," said Barbara Giles, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The science achievements though have been truly remarkable and are a testament to what can be accomplished when we give our nation's scientists the freedom to innovate."

In a series of science papers appearing in the Astrophysics Journal , scientists report finding 74 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms in the interstellar wind.

In our own solar system, there are 111 oxygen atoms for every 20 neon atoms. This translates to more oxygen in any part of the solar system than in nearby interstellar space.

"Our solar system is different than the space right outside it, suggesting two possibilities," says David McComas, IBEX principal investigator, at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

"Either the solar system evolved in a separate, more oxygen-rich part of the galaxy than where we currently reside, or a great deal of critical, life-giving oxygen lies trapped in interstellar dust grains or ices, unable to move freely throughout space."

The new results hold clues about the history of material in the universe. While the big bang initially created hydrogen and helium, only the supernovae explosions at the end of a star's life can spread the heavier elements of oxygen and neon through the galaxy. Knowing the amounts of elements in space may help scientists map how our galaxy evolved and changed over time.

Scientists want to understand the composition of the boundary region that separates the nearest reaches of our galaxy, called the local interstellar medium, from our heliosphere.

The heliosphere acts as a protective bubble that shields our solar system from most of the dangerous galactic cosmic radiation that otherwise would enter the solar system from interstellar space.

IBEX measured the interstellar wind traveling at a slower speed than previously measured by the Ulysses spacecraft, and from a different direction. The improved measurements from IBEX show a 20 percent difference in how much pressure the interstellar wind exerts on our heliosphere.

"Measuring the pressure on our heliosphere from the material in the galaxy and from the magnetic fields out there will help determine the size and shape of our solar system as it travels through the galaxy," says Eric Christian, IBEX mission scientist, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The IBEX spacecraft was launched in October 2008. Its science objective is to discover the nature of the interactions between the solar wind and the interstellar medium at the edge of our solar system.

NASA Harness Microbial Fuel to Power Space Robots

A NASA-funded effort hopes to produce a prototype robot, weighing only about 2 pounds and powered by microbes within the next 10 years.

With the first year funding coming from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, scientists plan to harness microbes as a source of almost endless power for the next generation of robotic explorers, offering an alternative to space missions that rely upon solar or nuclear power.

According to researchers, such microbial fuel could power space robots indefinitely, for as long as the bacteria have the small amount of food needed to stay alive and create electricity through their chemical reactions.

"Whether you're looking at satellites or planetary explorers, to have a power system that's not reliant on the sun of the solar system, day or night cycles, and hazardous materials such as nuclear or other harsh chemicals, means you really open a lot of doors for expanding the duration of scientific missions," said Gregory Scott, a space robotics engineer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

While the microbial fuel cells cannot power huge robots, it can slowly charge a battery until enough energy exists to power a scientific instrument or move a tiny robot, and be able to keep a small space mission going for as long as necessary.

"The bacterial colony will live as long as you give it food - in our case, sugar - or one of the other biomass fuels we're looking into. The colony will be able to survive pretty much indefinitely," Scott said.

After the researchers are able to build a working prototype robot, they have to study the challenges of sending microbes on missions headed for deep space, asteroids or distant planets, including the question of protecting extraterrestrial surfaces from contamination.

"There are planetary protection concerns, as well as concerns about protecting the microbes themselves from radiation," Scott said.

"Sometime down the road we also have to consider whether the microbes we're looking at are most effective for radiation environments or extreme temperatures."

NASA CalTech:ExoPlanets Under a Red Dwarf Sun

This artist's concept illustrates a young, red dwarf star surrounded by three planets.

Such stars are dimmer and smaller than yellow stars like our sun, which makes them ideal targets for astronomers wishing to take images of planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets.

NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is helping to identify young, red dwarf stars that are close to us by detecting their ultraviolet light (stars give off a lot of ultraviolet light in their youth).

Full story of NASA/Caltech's Galaxy Evo Explorer and the hunt for Red Dwarf Stars here. Also check out their other stories and galleries at Caltech's GALEX.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

China launches first offensive of space station module

China took its first step towards dominating Space and building a space station, It has launched an experimental module ahead of their China National Day celebrations.

Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace", took off on schedule shortly after 09:15pm (1315 GMT) from the Gobi desert in China's northwest, propelled by a Long March 2F rocket, ahead of China's National Day on October 1.

The unmanned 8.5-tonne module will test various space operations as a preliminary step towards building a space station by 2020.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was at the launch centre for the take-off, while President Hu Jintao watched from a space flight control centre in Beijing, the state Xinhua news agency said.

China sees its ambitious space programme as a symbol of its desire for global domination and increased stature. Chinese state newspapers were compelled to devote several pages to the launch, and hail it as a "milestone" for the country.

Tiangong-1, has an expected two-year duration in space, before becoming part of the ever growing pile of Chinese Space Debris threatening the Earth and future space exploration. The capsule is planned to receive the unmanned Shenzhou VIII spacecraft later this year in what would be the first Chinese attempt to dock spacecraft.

If it is succesful, the module will then dock with two other spacecraft, Shenzhou IX and X in 2012, both of which will have at least one astronaut on board.

The US and other global communities are becoming extremely concerned that China is working topwards building a fortified spy station in space, whereby it can launch weapons and further intimidate the smaller countries of the world.

The technology for docking in space is hard to master because the two vessels, placed in the same orbit and revolving around Earth at some 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,360 mph), must come together progressively to avoid destroying each other.

It is commonly known that the Chinese have a blatant disregard for human and animal life on and off the Earth. This will lead it to take greater and greater unnecessary risks to achieve it's goals and to reach a dominant position over the Earth, without a conscience.

French researcher Isabelle Sourbes-Verger said that a correctly functioning docking system would put China "in a potentially strong position to one day threaten the International Space Station (ISS)."

Baikonur Turns 55

Baikonur Turns 55

The disappearance of the Soviet Union put Baikonur on Kazakh territory and in 1994 Russia and Kazakhstan signed a lease agreement under which Russia is to pay Kazakhstan 115 million dollars per year for the use of Baikonur. The initial agreement was for a period of 20 years, but in 2004, it was extended to 2050.

Baikonur, the world famous launch pad from where the first Soviet and world cosmonaut Yury Gagarin was sent to space has turned 55 years. It was here that the voice of the Soviet Union's Chief Designer, Sergei Korolev boomed out loud and clear "I am Zarya. Can you hear me?"

The decision to establish a testing range for inter-continental ballistic missile and the launching of earth satellites was taken on February 12th 1955. A month earlier, the first construction brigade had arrived in Tura-Tam, accompanied by a strong wind and a minus 35 degree Celsius freezing temperature.

The building of the cosmodrome was started under this harsh climatic condition and work was done at a furious pace. The range welcomed the first starting complex in May two years later. But June 2nd 1955, when the original structure of the pad's staff was endorsed, is the official birthday of the cosmodrome.

NASA: Ready to co-operate with China in space exploration

NASA is ready to cooperate with China in space exploration, the head of the US agency said Tuesday, as Beijing aims to send a manned mission to the moon by around 2020.

"I am perfectly willing, if that's the direction that comes to me, to engage the Chinese in trying to make them a partner in any space endeavour. I think they're a very capable nation," NASA chief Charles Bolden said.

"They have demonstrated their capability to do something that only two other nations that have done -- that is, to put humans in space. And I think that is an achievement you cannot ignore," he told reporters on a visit to Tokyo.

"They are a nation that is trying to really lead. If we could cooperate we would probably be better off than if we would not," the former astronaut said.

China has been pouring billions of dollars into its space activities in an effort to close the gap with Western nations. It has carried out three manned space missions, including a spacewalk, and put a lunar orbiter in space.

NASA also has ambitious plans to put US astronauts back on the moon by 2020 to establish manned lunar bases for further exploration to Mars.

But a review panel appointed by President Barack Obama said last month existing budgets were not large enough to fund a return mission before 2020. The existing US space shuttle fleet is due to be retired next year.

ESA Space exploration: European Ministers in Prague prepare a roadmap for a common vision

Ministers from the 29 European Space Agency and European Union Member States will meet in Prague on 23 October for the 1st EU-ESA International Conference on Human Space Exploration, to prepare a roadmap leading to the definition of a common vision and strategic planning for space exploration.

This first step in a process that will lead to the definition of a European vision in this field stems from a Resolution adopted by the 5th Space Council (*) in September 2008. Besides Ministers and delegates from the EU, ESA and third countries, the conference will also be attended by Members of Parliament and representatives of industry and academia.

Europe has gained notable expertise in human spaceflight, starting in the 1980’s with the development of the Spacelab laboratory flown by the US Space Shuttle, and now mainly with the International Space Station (ISS) to which Europe is an essential contributor.

So far, more than 30 men and women from European countries have flown into space on either US or Russian space transportation systems. Europe contributes to the ISS through the Columbus laboratory attached to its central core, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (the largest-ever automatic cargo-carrier space tug) and other elements. For the very first time, an ESA astronaut – Frank De Winne of Belgium – is in command of the ISS.

ESA has carried out the farthest landing in the solar system so far with the successful Huygens mission on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. It has expanded its robotic presence in the solar system with probes visiting several planets such as Mars (Mars Express) and Venus (Venus Express) and the Moon (Smart-1). More recently, the combined launch of Herschel and Planck marked a new step forward in our understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe.

The Prague Conference will be a brainstorming session at a high political level where Ministers will have an opportunity to provide initial political guidelines to ESA and the EU on the development of a policy in the field of exploration of our solar system, going back to the Moon or reaching beyond to Mars.