NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS) team has commenced testing communication scenarios for near-Earth asteroids.
The RATS team also is evaluates technology, human-robotic systems and extravehicular equipment in the high desert near Flagstaff, Arizona.
Field testing provides a knowledge base that helps scientists and engineers design, build and operate better equipment, and establish requirements for operations and procedures. The Arizona desert has a rough, dusty terrain and extreme temperature swings that simulate conditions that may be encountered on other surfaces in space.
August 30th, 2011
NASA Tests Communication Scenarios For Near-Earth Asteroids Irish Weather Online
August 29th, 2011
Miniature Nuclear Reactor to Power Mars and Moon Colonies InnovationNewsDaily
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory have designed a suitcase-sized nuclear plant that can power up to eight normal-sized homes. Thanks to its size and durability, the plant can provide fission power not only on Earth, but on the moon, on Mars, or any other place NASA requires a power generator.
While most nuclear power plants generate hundreds or thousands of megawatts of electricity, this portable generator would create only 40 kilowatts. This smaller size is ideal for the type of conditions seen in space, said James Werner, lead researcher on the project.
“Just taking it down to that size has a lot of significant differences,” Werner told InnovationNewsDaily.
The generator is more flexible and can be placed in craters or caves on uninhabited planets, for example. It is also exponentially less heavy than standard nuclear power plants, which Werner said is essential for a generator to work properly in space.
August 16th, 2011
Power pack: nuclear power in space The Engineer
With plutonium-238 supplies running low, the race is on to find new power sources for spacecraft
Most of us have a clear image of what a real-world spacecraft looks like. Whether it’s a communications satellite, an Earth observation platform or even the International Space Station, the picture that would generally spring to mind is of a relatively small, probably irregular-shaped body dwarfed by the spreading oblongs of solar panels, providing the power for whatever systems are on board.
That’s fine for Earth orbit or the inner Solar System. But what happens if you need to send a spacecraft further away, where the sun is too weak to provide enough power, or to a place where there is no constant access to sunshine, such as the dark side of the Moon or to Mars?
July 16th, 2011
Mars mission blasts off in Pilbara The West Australian
One giant leap was taken for mankind in the Pilbara this week when NASA scientists tested spacesuits and technology designed to be used on Mars.
US space buffs from NASA’s California research centre joined their WA counterparts from Mars Society Australia to study the Mars-esque environment in the North West.
Volunteers were put through their paces in a prototype spacesuit designed to help simulate tasks, such as bending to pick up rocks, which astronauts would have to undertake on the red planet.
June 27th, 2011
How to keep a clean spacesuit on Mars Mother Nature Network
The spacesuits astronauts will wear on Mars could accidentally contaminate samples and the Martian surface in the search for life on Mars.
June 2nd, 2011
The Real Space Saver: NC State Students Look To Support Manned Mission To Mars North Carolina State University
What would it take to make a manned mission to Mars a reality? A team of aerospace and textile engineering students from North Carolina State University believe part of the solution may lie in advanced textile materials. The students joined forces to tackle life-support challenges that the aerospace industry has been grappling with for decades.
“One of the big issues, in terms of a manned mission to Mars, is creating living quarters that would protect astronauts from the elements – from radiation to meteorites,” says textile engineering student Brent Carter. “Currently, NASA uses solid materials like aluminum, fiberglass and carbon fibers, which while effective, are large, bulky and difficult to pack within a spacecraft.”
Using advanced textile materials, which are flexible and can be treated with various coatings, students designed a 1,900-square-foot inflatable living space that could comfortably house four to six astronauts. This living space is made by layering radiation-shielding materials like Demron™ (used in the safety suits for nuclear workers cleaning up Japan’s Fukushima plant) with a gas-tight material made from a polyurethane substrate to hold in air, as well as gold-metalicized film that reflects UV rays – among others. The space is dome-shaped, which will allow those pesky meteors, prone to showering down on the red planet, to bounce off the astronauts’ home away from home without causing significant damage.
May 22nd, 2011
Mars Space Gear Tested Out The International Business Times
Mars is in reach and NASA and the European Space Agency are preparing themselves for the day man walks on the Red Planet.
One space ship manufacturer executive predicted the event would come in 10-15 years. NASA, and other space agencies, have given it a little more time, saying it will happen by 2030. Regardless of the date, NASA and the other space agencies will be prepared.
Recently, NASA and the European Space Agency tested out space suits for missions to Mars. The ESA tested out the Aouda.X suit, which was developed by the Austrian Space Forum, in the semi-desert of Rio Tinto, Spain. It took three years to make, and Austrian Space Forum says it’s the best of its kind.
Meanwhile, NASA tested the NDX-1 space suit, designed by De Leon, in Antarctica. The space suit endured frigid temperatures and winds of more than 47 mph (75 kph) as researchers tried out techniques for collecting soil samples on Mars. The prototyp suit cost $100,000 and was created with NASA funds. It is made out of more than 350 materials, including tough honeycomb Kevlar and carbon fibers to reduce its weight without losing resistance.
Here is a look at these possible Mars space suits.
May 12th, 2011
NASA plans test of advanced nuclear power generator Spaceflight Now
Two of the robotic missions NASA selected for further study last week would be powered by experimental nuclear generators, a new technology under development to boost the efficiency of electricity production in deep space. NASA picked robotic missions to Mars, a comet and Saturn’s moon Titan as finalists last week for a launch opportunity in 2016, and two of the probes would employ a cutting edge nuclear power source never tested in space.
The space agency plans to settle on a single mission in June 2012, fully funding the winner for development and launch later this decade. Although NASA requires the missions to launch by the end of 2017, scientists in charge of all three probes target blastoff in 2015 or 2016.
April 28th, 2011
Device on Shuttle to Investigate Radiation Shield Discovery
A particle detector being prepared for launch Friday aboard space shuttle Endeavour is intended to answer some fundamental questions about physics, but it has a practical side as well — testing a way to shield future astronauts from potentially harmful cosmic rays.
At the heart of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, is a 2-ton magnet that will bend high-energy particles into five detectors for analysis. Scientists hope to learn about dark matter, antimatter and other exotic phenomenon, but engineers at NASA who are developing next-generation spaceships are keen to learn how similar magnets could be used not to attract particles, but to repel them.
A magnetic shield would replicate the protective cocoon of Earth”s naturally occurring magnetic field, which helps protect the planet from harmful radiation.
January 20th, 2011
United Launch Alliance Launches First West Coast Delta IV Heavy Mission United Launch Alliance
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a payload for the National
Reconnaissance omce (NRO) successfully lifted off today from Space
Launch Complex-6 here at 1:10 p.m. PST. The Delta IV Heavy, at 235 feet
or approximately 23 stories tall, is the largest rocket ever to launch from
the West Coast of the United States. The mission is in support of national
defense. The ULA Delta IV Heavy vehicle featured a center common booster core
with two strap-on common booster cores. Each common booster core was
powered by the RS-68 cryogenic engine producing 660,000 pounds of
thrust. An RL 108-2 cryogenic engine powered the second stage. Both
engines are built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketclyne. The payload was
encased by a five-meter diameter (16. 7-foot diameter), 63-foot composite
bi-sector payload fairing. ULA constructed the Delta IV Heavy launch
vehicle in Decatur, Alabama.