A character in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Fountains of Paradise remarked that the first space elevator would be built about 50 years after everybody stopped laughing at the idea. Twenty years after writing those words, the British author and scientist has revised his forecast to account for advances in technology. Speaking via satellite to an audience of scientists on the first day of the second annual Space Elevator Conference in Santa Fe on Saturday, Clarke said the elevator might be built just 10 years after people stop laughing. “I’m 86 now, so in 20 years I’ll be only 106,” he said. “So I may live to see it.”
September 11th, 2003
Detecting air leaks in space station University at Buffalo
A new software system designed by a UB aerospace engineer will help NASA detect and find air leaks in the International Space Station. The software will be installed in NASA’s mission control when the manned space station is expanded from its current eight-module configuration to its final 15-module configuration, according to John L. Crassidis, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
September 7th, 2003
Bacteria-powered battery runs on a sweet tooth
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst have developed a battery that uses iron-breathing bacteria to eat the sugars in carbohydrates and turn them into electricity.
September 3rd, 2003
From Bombers to Mars: Rover Batteries Based on Air Force Research
In space, there is no place for a spacecraft to plug in its power cord. Not even with an adapter. Instead, space probes have to take their power with them and NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) are no exception. The rovers, dubbed Spirit and Opportunity, are dependent on solar panels for power, as well as new rechargeable batteries that were developed using technology created at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The rechargeable batteries are based on lithium-ion technology, instead of the more traditional nickel-cadmium or nickel-hydrogen varieties in use today, and resulted from a collaborative effort by researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Glenn Research Center and the AFRL.
August 20th, 2003
Offering NASA a hand The Buffalo News
John L. Crassidis once was a research fellow at NASA Goddard. Now he is a University at Buffalo professor trying to help prevent future catastrophes in space. The research that Crassidis, and his Ph.D. student Jong-Woo Kim are now wrapping up is headed to the NASA Johnson Space Center by the end of August.
August 20th, 2003
Harvesting Mars
A NASA-supported scientist is learning how to use carbon dioxide–the main gas in Mars’ atmosphere–to harvest rocket fuel and water from the red planet. When astronauts first go to Mars, it’ll be difficult for them to bring everything they need to survive. Even the first tentative explorations could last as long as two years–but spaceships can only carry a limited amount. “We might have to do what explorers have done for ages: live off the land,” says chemical engineer Ken Debelak of Vanderbilt University.
August 6th, 2003
Riding the Sun: Maiden Flight Looms for Solar Sail Satellite
Before the year’s end, a team of civilians united by a passion for space travel will launch a spacecraft into orbit to test a new space-traveling technology. The mission, which will use a solar sail to carry a spacecraft ever farther from Earth, is the first use of a propulsion technology that may pave the way for interstellar flights. “Our job is just to prove this technology,” project director Louis Friedman told SPACE.com. “If our craft goes just 10 kilometers on the solar sail, then it’s a success.” Friedman is also executive director of the Pasadena-based Planetary Society.
July 29th, 2003
Boeing-Led Team to Study Nuclear-Powered Space Systems Boeing
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has awarded a contract to a Boeing-led [NYSE: BA] team to study deep space propulsion systems for the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than 2011. JIMO would be the first space science mission in NASA’s Project Prometheus, a part of the space agency
July 7th, 2003
Research on `quasicrystals’ may help fuel cars, baseball bats, Mars ships St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The king’s blacksmith used goat’s urine. These days Washington University’s Ken Kelton uses an electrostatic levitator. In both cases, the two were trying to control a process called crystallization, to make a better product. The smithies wanted to make better swords. Kelton’s research could have an impact on matters as diverse as energy consumption and the manufacture of artificial joints. It’s featured on the cover of the July issue of Physics Today and was highlighted in a recent issue of Science magazine.
July 2nd, 2003
Prometheus: The Paradigm Buster
NASA has embarked on a challenging quest to build a powerful nuclear reactor for long-duration deep space excursions. As part of the multi-pronged Prometheus Project, engineers and scientists are now tackling plans for the nuclear-powered Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). This flagship mission using electric propulsion powered by a nuclear fission reactor would showcase a slate of key technologies. It also promises to usher in a new era of solar system exploration. The amount of power available to JIMO from a nuclear reactor would be hundreds of times greater than on current interplanetary spacecraft.