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2020 NIAC Symposium showcases cutting edge technology for space development

Illustration of SPEAR (Swarm Probe Enabling ATEG Reactor), an affordable nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft using a custom designed fission reactor. Credits: Troy Howe, Howe Industries LLC

The 2020 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium just rapped up it’s virtual event. The NAIC Program supports early studies of visionary concepts in space and aeronautics that develop and assess revolutionary, yet credible, aerospace architecture, mission, and system concepts. These studies showcase ideas that will enable far-term capabilities, and spawn exciting innovations to radically improve aerospace exploration, science, and operations.

There were a wealth of new ideas presented at this year’s meeting with Phase I, II, and III posters and presentations available as PDFs on the NAIC Symposium website. To give you a taste, above is an illustration of Howe Industries’ Phase II concept for a small, affordable nuclear electric propulsion spacecraft using a custom designed fission reactor with advanced thermoelectric generators (ATEGs). The innovative design would allow private entities, universities, or other interested parties to carry out missions across the solar system at relatively low cost.

Another favorite of ours was Trans Astronautica’s Mini Bee asteroid capture concept in which they will deploy, then chase down and “swallow” a test object in LEO as a precursor to an asteroid mining mission.

Illustration of Trans Astronautica Corporation’s Mini Bee spacecraft chasing down and capturing an artificial asteroid in LEO. Credits: Joel Sercel / Trans Astronautica Corporation

Some of these NIAC grants have already been covered by SSP such as Phil Metzger’s Aqua Factorem lunar water harvesting process, Masten’s instant lunar landing pad and Trans Astronautica Corporation’s Lunar Polar Propellant Mining Outpost.

We leave you with JPL’s Enceladus Vent Explorer

Illustration of Enceladus Vent Explorer concept. Credits: Masahiro (Hiro) Ono / Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Rapid bootstrapping for faster ignition of off-Earth industry development

Artist’s concept of an O’Neill space colony. Credits: Blue Origin

In a thread on Twitter Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida, updates his bootstrapping vision from a few years back in which he and colleagues at NASA published a paper on how robotics, 3D printing and in situ resource utilization could be leveraged to accelerate a solar system civilization. In a series of 9 Tweets, Metzger makes the case for his “Rapid Bootstrapping Scenario” as the preferred course out of three possible alternatives to get us there faster.

Many space enthusiasts, including Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos, advocate for what Metzger calls a solar system “Civilization Fully Revolutionized”. This is a future where most industrial manufacturing is done sustainably in space and Earth is preserved as a beautiful natural environment.

If we continue on the current path, down what Metzger calls “The Slow Growth Scenario”, space agencies like NASA will continue paving the technological highway for private entities to slowly develop their profitable enterprises. But because space exploration and development is difficult, a different approach is needed to prime the pump. Metzger suggests the preferred course of action is intentional pre-economic bootstrapping in which “…visionary individuals with means, citizen-led movements, or governments that see the long-term benefit of getting beyond our planetary limit…create a coalition of likeminded citizen movements and enlightened governments committed to a good future so we reach the ‘ignition’ point first by being fast”.

Source: Philip Metzger/UCF. @DrPhiltill. www.philipmetzger.com
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Design solutions for safe lunar habitats

Artist’s impression of an inflatable habitat on the Moon. Credits / NASA, Gary Kitmacher

Haym Benroya, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers University and author of Turning Dust to Gold, Building a Future on the Moon and Mars gave a presentation recently at a workshop of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. EPSRC is the main funding body for engineering and physical sciences research in the UK. The event kicked of a project sponsored by the EPSRC called Designing for the Future: Optimizing the structural form of regolith-based monolithic vaults in low-gravity conditions. Benroya shared his presentation with me in which he discusses the design challenges and solutions to optimize a reliable and safe lunar habitat.

The design of space settlements on the Moon will have an array of engineering challenges including protection from radiation, meteoroids, temperature extremes and Moonquakes. In addition, human factors such as psychological and physiological aspects associated with isolation and the lower gravity conditions need to be taken into consideration. This presentation summarizes all the key design constraints, especially those surrounding the thermal and seismic conditions, laying the engineering groundwork for safe dwellings that will be erected when we return to the Moon, hopefully this time to stay and thrive.

For the technically inclined who want more information on lunar settlement design methodology be sure and check out Benroya’s excellent book Building Habitats on the Moon: Engineering Approaches to Lunar Settlements.

And don’t miss our appearance along with Dr. David Livingston of The Space Show and Moonwards‘ Kim Holder at the Icarus Interstellar 2017 Starship Congress.

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When will the first human be born off Earth?

Space baby. Credits: scienceabc.com

One of the biggest challenges of space settlement facing humanity is procreation off world. We simply don’t know if its possible for a baby to be carried to term in less then one gravity. There are obvious ethical considerations of simply going there and trying it out. NASA is studying the problem but until we have a variable gravity centrifuge facility in space that will enable us to determine the “gravity prescription”, it will be a while before we have an answer.

In an article in The Space Review, Fred Nadis discusses some of the medical challenges of human reproduction in space and why one company, SpaceLife Origin, who’s mission was to enable human reproduction in space decided to suspend its planned missions for “Serious ethical, safety and medical concerns …”

These medical unknowns about reproduction in any gravitational field less then 1g is the obvious attraction of O’Neill type free space settlements which provide Earth normal gravity. But the huge scale and investment necessary to build such large scale settlements puts this approach far in the future. Al Globus thinks a better way might be to start with smaller spinning habitats in low earth orbit.

Asgardia’s has a key scientific goal of facilitating the first human childbirth in space which they believe is a crucial step on humanity’s “path to immortality as a species”. In preparation for that goal, the organization is creating the first sovereign nation in space. A good introduction to their plans can be found in an interview with Dr. Lena De Winne, the Head of Administration to the Head of Nation of Asgardia, who appeared on the Space Show recently.

Artist’s impression of the first human born in space. Credits: Asgardia
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A map of the future of space enterprise

The Pathfinders’ Guide to the Space Enterprise. Credits: The Aerospace Corporation.

The Aerospace Corporation has created a visually stunning chart called “Pathfinders’ Guide to the Space Enterprise” in which they provide a glimpse into the nascent space economy based on hundreds of ideas from over 70 world-class space experts condensed into seven core themes about how the future could unfold. The analysis, which is both deep and thought provoking, identified two critical uncertainties shaping the the future of space development:

1. The degree in which space will be “commercialized.”
How much will space exploration and exploitation be designed to seed the commercial ecosystem?

2. The evolution and potential transformation of global power states.
What space-based leverage points could change the terrestrial power balance?

Their hope is to “…inspire your internal adventurer to think about how space can and will play a role in the future and how we get there.”

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A simple inflatable Mars Habitat

Called “Space Nomad” the concept, conceived by Gábor Bihari at the University of Debrecen, Hungary and Thomas Herzig, CEO of Pneumocell Co., Vienna, Austria is described in paper available on Academia.edu. The elegant design takes into account the payload capacity of spacecraft of the near future and in situ resources available on Mars to arrive at a safe and feasible solution.

Artist’s rendering of a cross section of the Space Nomad habitat. This option of the settlement is made of several longitudinal inflatable tubes. The regolith ceiling protrudes to provide the proper shielding. The mirrors reflect sunlight into the structure all day. Credits: Gábor Bihari, Thomas Herzig

The main side wall is a tri-layer membrane with two gaps to provide insulation. The outer wall gap contains a vacuum and the inner one is gas-filled. The protruding ceiling provides shielding from radiation and protection from micrometeorites that impinge at high angles to the structure. The habitat is not completely closed as the design has a system for processing the Martian CO2 atmosphere, conditioning it for use by the greenhouses while producing breathable air and replenishing losses.

Artist’s illustration of the wall and roof structure of Space Nomad. Credits: Gábor Bihari, Thomas Herzig

A modified version of the habitat could be deployed at the Moon’s polar region as a preliminary step toward validation of the design before a Mars mission. Unlike the Mars settlement, this structure would have to be airtight and changes would be required to the mirror system.

Illustration of a modified circular version of Space Nomad as a proving ground for technology at the Moon’s polar region. Credits: Gábor Bihari, Thomas Herzig
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Modular habitation system for human space exploration

Diagram of modular exploration system: pressure vessel, tertiary structures, power systems, EVA, and mobility. Credits: A. Scott Howe, Phd

At the 45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, A. Scott Howe, PhD presented a paper on a novel modular system for human habitation to support planetary and space exploration. The paper addresses the design requirements including mass and volume constraints to enable a variety of missions and environments. The concept was developed as recommended by NASA’s Evolvable Mars Campaign for a compact modular system and was assumed to be launched using the Space Launch System currently in the final stages of development. Howe settled on a horizontal module as the most appropriate with a single small diameter solution for fixed-sized habitats, expandable habitats, small rover cabins and a variety of other applications for both in-space and planetary surface operations.

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Tired of messy lunar dust? Take an electron beam shower

Lunar dust caked on an astronaut’s space suit. Credits: NASA

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Bolder have discovered a promising method for cleaning lunar dust off of space suits and other surfaces likely to be contaminated on the Moon. The solution could be zapping the nasty grit with an electron beam.

Lunar dust sticks to just about everything because it acquires an electrostatic charge from the solar wind. By directing an electron beam at the surface contaminated with dust particles, an excess negative charge will build up resulting in the grains repelling each other and leaping off the surface where the beam is applied. Taking an electron beam shower may be how lunar settlers clean off before coming inside after walks on the Moon.

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Lunar Cruiser: JAXA and Toyota name their rover

JAXA/Toyota Lunar Cruiser. Credits: Toyota

In a recent press release, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota announced that they will name their crewed pressurized rover “Lunar Cruiser”. There have been some updates since we initially covered this topic. For instance, work this year progressed on simulations modeling power and heat dissipation while driving and the use of virtual reality to determine the layout of equipment in the vehicles’ cabin. In addition there have been discussions among over 100 partners in various industries of a “future lunar surface-based society” in an effort to “…gather the knowledge, experience and technological capabilities of enterprises from across a variety of industries in their attempt to realize their dream of sustaining continuous activities on the surface of the moon…”

Hopefully “Team Japan”, as the consortium is called, will take into consideration mitigation of the risks caused by lunar dust in the design and use studies of the Lunar Cruiser, as discussed in my presentation at the Moon Society’s Lunar Development Conference. At some point we hope to see the Lunar Cruiser navigating the network of roads that will hopefully be constructed as proposed by the Space Development Network. It may look like this:

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EBIOS: toward closed-loop life support for space settlement

Artist rendering of EBIOS Experimental BIOregenerative Station. Credits: Interstellar Lab

Interstellar Lab has a mission to help build a future full of life on earth and beyond. To get started, the company plans modular villages on Earth designed as sealed facilities with environmental control and life support systems. EBIOS space-inspired communities will combine architecture, engineering, product design along with international collaboration in environmental science, agriculture, biochemistry, psychology and other disciplines. Each EBIOS will be a hospitality science center open to the public as well as scientists to facilitate awareness and needed research for self-sustaining space settlements. The company is developing methods and simulation software for integrated food production, water and waste systems to support human life in any environment.