The Space
Age began 50 years ago this week with the launch of Sputnik 1, a small metallic
ball carrying only a couple of simple radio transmitters. Since then,
spaceflight technologies have grown up. High-performance rocket fuels,
miniaturized guidance electronics and ultra-light spacecraft materials, to name
a few, make frequent and complex trips to space possible.
During the
next half century, however, leaders in spaceflight planning think cost-cutting
technological innovations will carry the torch to the moon, Mars and beyond.
"Getting
into space is very expensive. If there's a way to really reduce the cost of
getting into Earth orbit by a factor of 10, that would be something," said
Chris Moore, NASA's program executive for exploration technology at the agency's
headquarters in Washington, D.C. "There's a whole bunch of innovative
ideas ranging from scramjet propulsion to space elevators, but some of those ...
are very far in the future."
Discount
spaceflight
Brett
Alexander, executive director for space prizes at the X Prize Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., said new propulsion systems should help pave the way for more
technologies.
"The
biggest challenge is to make a simpler and safer propulsion system that can be
mass-produced," Alexander told SPACE.com. "It's a tipping point not
only for spaceflight itself, but also for the technologies that would
follow."
While
scientists across the globe plug away at the problem of developing discount
propulsion systems, Moore explained that NASA is advertising its "wish
list" as the Centennial Challenges.
"We
offer cash prizes to industry or universities to do low-cost, highly innovative
missions and technology demonstrations," Moore said of the program. The
proof-of-concept tasks include developing more dexterous and durable astronaut
gloves, extracting breathable oxygen from moon dust and creating incredibly
strong yet lightweight "tethers" that a space elevator might use to
hoist itself into space.
Although
challenge winners through 2005 have been scarce, Moore is confident upcoming
events, such as Google and the X Prize Foundation's "Moon 2.0" lunar lander
challenge, will generate success.
"These
types of competitions have been successful in the past," Moore said,
citing Burt Rutan's privately funded suborbital spacecraft in 2004,
which snatched up $10 million in prize money.
Regolith-ready
technology
As
privately funded teams try getting their cost-effective landers on the moon,
NASA is gearing up for humanity's extended stay there around 2020 — but getting
there will only be half the battle, Moore said.
The lunar
surface is powdered with microscopic shards of glassy dust, known as regolith,
which threatens both man and machine. Moore said creating a functional base on
the lunar surface requires developing "regolith-ready" technology.
"Regolith
can degrade spacesuits and pressure seals and other equipment," Moore said. The health danger during long stays is also an issue, he said, mentioning that
astronauts returning from the moon complained about
breathing problems from dust that was tracked into their tight living
space.
Dust-combating
technologies could be as complex as special dust-removing chambers or as simple
as spacesuit coveralls, Moore said. He noted that lunar habitats able to
recycle air, water and human waste far more efficiently than the International
Space Station's systems will also be key.
"Once
we're there, we need advanced robotics to deploy the habitat modules and
connect them together to form a lunar outpost," he said. "What we'd
like to do is take the lunar regolith and extract oxygen from minerals in the
soil, so we can use it to breathe or make oxidizer for rocket fuel."
Mars and
beyond
The
technologies developed for long-term moon missions will serve as templates for
Mars expeditions some time after 2030, but Moore said further innovative
advances will be necessary to get astronauts there — and back — in one piece.
"The
faster we can get there the better," Moore told SPACE.com. He thinks that
yet-to-be-developed nuclear propulsion systems may prove to be the fastest form
of spaceflight in the future, as well as sending a mission in two trips: A
heavier supply-loaded spacecraft ahead of time, followed by a speedy
lightweight manned spacecraft.
Moore said that faster speeds will cut
exposure time to the health threats to crewmembers during their journey, such
as radiation, bone wasting and immune
deficiencies, but advanced medical technologies will also be crucial to
success.
"When
we go to Mars it's going to be a very long trip," he said. "We need
to make sure the crew is healthy and can perform their job when they get
there."
A
private matter?
Building a
strong, privately involved space economy will be essential to successfully
develop technologies able to send representatives of the human race to Mars,
Alexander said.
"We
can't sustain programs like Apollo in the future, just like we couldn't 40
years ago," Alexander said. "My dream is to have sustainable and
accessible access to space, and I firmly believe that you have to get the
private sector involved to achieve that."
Moore agreed, noting that NASA intends to
use their
lunar outposts to provide infrastructure for private industry. Yet the
prowess of a single country's space-based industries may not be enough.
In addition
to private involvement, Moore explained that ever-better international
collaboration will be essential for putting new technologies to use in the next
era of spaceflight.
"The
first few years of the Space Age were characterized by a lot of international
competition, but we're in a much more collaborative environment now," Moore said. "(Spaceflight) is a very expensive and challenging endeavor, and we'll
have to depend on other nations ... in the next 50 years."
advertisement
