Spacecraft of the future. Concepts of space stations: fantasy and reality. Hazy prospects for space travel
However, Interstellar is just science fiction, and Dr. White, in turn, works in the very real field of developing advanced technologies for space travel in the NASA laboratory. There is no place for science fiction anymore. There is real science here. And putting aside all the problems associated with the reduced budget of the aerospace agency, the following words of White look quite promising:
"Perhaps the Star Trek experience, within our time frame, is not such a distant possibility."
In other words, what Dr. White is trying to say is that he and his colleagues are not busy making some hypothetical movie, or just 3D sketches and warp drive ideas. They do not just believe that the creation of a warp drive in real life seems theoretically possible. They are actually developing the first warp drive:
“Working in the Eagleworks Lab, deep within NASA's Johnson Space Center, Dr. White and his team of scientists are trying to find loopholes to make the dream a reality. The team has already “created a simulation bench for testing a special interferometer, through which scientists will try to generate and identify microscopic warp bubbles. The device is called the White-Jedy warp field interferometer."
Now this may seem like a minor achievement, but the discoveries behind this invention can be endlessly useful in further research.
“Despite the fact that this is only a small advance in this direction, it may already be proof of the existence of the very possibility of a warp drive, as was the demonstration of the Chicago woodpile (the first artificial nuclear reactor) in its time. In December 1942, the first-ever demonstration of a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was held, which generated as much as half a watt of electrical energy. Shortly after the demonstration, in November 1943, a reactor with a capacity of about four megawatts was launched. Bringing proof of existence is a critical moment for a scientific idea and can be a starting point in the development of technology.”
If the work of scientists is ultimately successful, then, according to Dr. White, an engine will be created that can take us to Alpha Centauri "within two weeks by the standards of Earth time." In this case, the course of time on the ship will be the same as on Earth.
“The tidal forces inside the warp bubble will not cause problems for a person, and the entire journey will be perceived by him as if he were in zero acceleration conditions. When the warp field is turned on, no one will be pulled with great force to the ship's hull, no, in this case, the journey would be very short and tragic.
On July 21, 2011, the American spacecraft Atlantis made its last landing, which put an end to the long and interesting Space Transportation System program. For a variety of technical and economic reasons, it was decided to discontinue the operation of the Space Shuttle system. However, the idea of a reusable spacecraft was not abandoned. Currently, several similar projects are being developed at once, and some of them have already managed to show their potential.
The Space Shuttle project had several main goals. One of the main ones was to reduce the cost of the flight and preparation for it. The possibility of repeated use of the same ship in theory gave certain advantages. In addition, the characteristic technical appearance of the entire complex made it possible to significantly increase the allowable dimensions and payload mass. A unique feature of the STS was the ability to return spacecraft to Earth inside its cargo bay.
However, during the operation it was found that not all of the tasks were completed. So, in practice, preparing the ship for flight turned out to be too long and expensive - according to these parameters, the project did not fit into the original requirements. In a number of cases, a reusable ship could not, in principle, replace "ordinary" launch vehicles. Finally, the gradual moral and physical obsolescence of equipment led to the most serious risks for the crews.
As a result, it was decided to terminate the operation of the Space Transportation System complex. The last 135th flight took place in the summer of 2011. The four available ships were decommissioned and transferred to museums as unnecessary. The most famous consequence of such decisions was the fact that the American space program was left without its own manned spacecraft for several years. Until now, astronauts have to get into orbit with the help of Russian technology.
In addition, for an indefinite period, the entire planet was left without reusable systems in use. However, certain measures are already being taken. To date, American enterprises have developed several projects of reusable spacecraft of one kind or another at once. All new samples have already, at least, been put to the test. In the foreseeable future, they will also be able to enter full operation.
Boeing X-37
The main component of the STS complex was an orbital aircraft. This concept is currently being applied to Boeing's X-37 project. Back in the late nineties, Boeing and NASA began to study the topic of reusable spacecraft capable of orbiting and flying in the atmosphere. At the beginning of the last decade, this work led to the launch of the X-37 project. In 2006, a prototype of a new type reached flight tests with a drop from a carrier aircraft.
The Boeing X-37B in the fairing of the launch vehicle. Photo US Air Force
The program interested the US Air Force, and since 2006 it has been implemented in their interests, albeit with some assistance from NASA. According to official data, the Air Force wants to get a promising orbital aircraft capable of launching various cargoes into space or performing various experiments. According to various estimates, the current X-37B project can also be used in other missions, including those related to reconnaissance or full-fledged combat work.
The first space flight of the X-37B took place in 2010. At the end of April, the Atlas V launch vehicle launched the device into a given orbit, where it stayed for 224 days. Landing "like an airplane" took place in early December of the same year. In March of the following year, the second flight began, which lasted until June 2012. In December, the next launch took place, and the third landing was carried out only in October 2014. From May 2015 to May 2017, the experimental X-37B carried out its fourth flight. On September 7 last year, another test flight began. When it ends is not specified.
According to a few official data, the purpose of the flights is to study the operation of new technology in orbit, as well as to conduct various experiments. Even if the experienced X-37Bs solve military tasks, the customer and contractor do not disclose such information.
In its current form, the Boeing X-37B product is a rocket plane with a characteristic appearance. It is distinguished by a large fuselage and medium-sized planes. A rocket engine is used; control is carried out automatically or by commands from the ground. According to known data, the fuselage provides for a cargo compartment with a length of more than 2 m and a diameter of more than 1 m, which can accommodate up to 900 kg of payload.
Right now, the experienced X-37B is in orbit and is solving assigned tasks. When he will return to Earth is unknown. Information about the further course of the pilot project is also not specified. Apparently, new messages about the most interesting development will appear no earlier than the next landing of a prototype.
SpaceDev / Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser
Another version of the orbital aircraft is the Dream Chaser from SpaceDev. This project has been developed since 2004 to participate in the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, but could not pass the first stage of selection. However, the development company soon agreed to cooperate with United Launch Alliance, which was ready to offer its Atlas V launch vehicle. aircraft. Later, an agreement appeared with Lockheed Martin on the joint construction of experimental equipment.
Experienced orbital aircraft Dream Chaser. Photo by NASA
In October 2013, the flight prototype of the Dream Chaser was dropped from a carrier helicopter, after which it went into a gliding flight and performed a horizontal landing. Despite the breakdown during landing, the prototype confirmed the design characteristics. In the future, some other tests were performed on the stands. According to their results, the project was finalized, and in 2016 the construction of a prototype for space flights began. In the middle of last year, NASA, Sierra Nevada and ULA signed an agreement to conduct two orbital flights in 2020-21.
Not so long ago, the developers of the Dream Chaser received permission to launch at the end of 2020. Unlike a number of other modern developments, the first space mission of this ship will be carried out with a real load. The ship will have to deliver certain cargoes to the International Space Station.
In its current form, the reusable spacecraft Sierra Nevada / SpaceDev Dream Chaser is an aircraft of a characteristic appearance, outwardly resembling some American and foreign developments. The machine has an overall length of 9 m and is equipped with a delta wing span of 7 m. For compatibility with existing launch vehicles, a folding wing will be developed in the future. The takeoff weight is determined at 11.34 tons. The Dream Chaser will be able to deliver 5.5 tons of cargo to the ISS and return up to 2 tons to Earth. Deorbiting “like an airplane” is associated with lower overloads, which, as expected, can be useful for the delivery of some equipment and samples as part of individual experiments.
SpaceX Dragon
For a number of reasons, the idea of an orbital plane is currently not very popular among the developers of new space technology. More convenient and advantageous is now considered a reusable ship of the "traditional" appearance, launched into orbit with the help of a launch vehicle and returning to Earth without the use of wings. The most successful development of this kind is the Dragon product from SpaceX.
SpaceX Dragon cargo ship (CRS-1 mission) near the ISS. Photo by NASA
Work on the Dragon project started in 2006 and was carried out as part of the COTS program. The aim of the project was to create a spacecraft with the possibility of repeated launches and returns. The first version of the project involved the creation of a transport ship, and in the future it was planned to develop a manned modification on its basis. So far, Dragon in the "truck" version has shown some results, while the expected success of the manned version of the ship is constantly shifting in time.
The first demonstration launch of the Dragon transport spacecraft took place at the end of 2010. After all the required improvements, NASA ordered a full-fledged launch of such a device in order to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. On May 25, 2012, Dragon successfully docked with the ISS. Subsequently, several new launches were carried out with the delivery of goods into orbit. The most important stage of the program was the launch on June 3, 2017. For the first time in the program, the re-launch of the repaired ship took place. In December, another spacecraft, already flying to the ISS, went into space. Taking into account all the tests to date, Dragon products have made 15 flights.
In 2014, SpaceX announced the Dragon V2 manned spacecraft. It was claimed that this vehicle, which is an evolution of an existing truck, will be able to deliver up to seven astronauts into orbit or return home. It was also reported that in the future the new ship could be used to fly around the moon, including with tourists on board.
As often happens with SpaceX projects, the Dragon V2 project has been pushed back several times. So, due to delays with the alleged Falcon Heavy carrier, the date of the first tests moved to 2018, and the first manned flight gradually “creeped away” to 2019. Finally, a few weeks ago, the development company announced its intention to abandon the certification of the new "Dragon" for manned flights. In the future, such tasks are supposed to be solved using a reusable BFR system, which has not yet been created.
The Dragon transport vehicle has a total length of 7.2 m with a diameter of 3.66 m. Dry weight is 4.2 tons. It is capable of delivering a payload weighing 3.3 tons to the ISS and returning up to 2.5 tons of cargo. To accommodate certain cargoes, it is proposed to use a sealed compartment with a volume of 11 cubic meters and an unpressurized 14-cubic volume. The unpressurized compartment is dropped during descent and burns up in the atmosphere, while the second cargo volume returns to Earth and parachutes down. To correct the orbit, the device is equipped with 18 Draco engines. The operability of the systems is provided by a pair of solar panels.
When developing a manned version of the "Dragon", certain units of the base transport ship were used. At the same time, the sealed compartment had to be noticeably redesigned to solve new problems. Some other elements of the ship have also changed.
Lockheed Martin Orion
In 2006, NASA and Lockheed Martin agreed to build an advanced reusable spacecraft. The project was named after one of the brightest constellations - Orion. At the turn of the decade, after the completion of part of the work, the leadership of the United States proposed to abandon this project, but after much debate it was saved. The work was continued and to date has led to certain results.
Perspective ship Orion in the representation of the artist. NASA drawing
In accordance with the original concept, the Orion ship was to be used in different missions. With its help, it was supposed to deliver cargo and people to the International Space Station. With the right equipment, he could go to the moon. The possibility of a flight to one of the asteroids or even to Mars was also worked out. Nevertheless, the solution of such problems was attributed to the distant future.
According to the plans of the last decade, the first test launch of the Orion spacecraft was to take place in 2013. In 2014, they planned to launch with astronauts on board. The flight to the Moon could be carried out before the end of the decade. The schedule was subsequently adjusted. The first unmanned flight was postponed to 2014, and the crewed launch to 2017. Lunar missions were postponed to the twenties. By now, crewed flights have also been carried over into the next decade.
On December 5, 2014, the first test launch of Orion took place. The ship with the payload simulator was launched into orbit by a Delta IV launch vehicle. A few hours after the launch, he returned to Earth and splashed down in a given area. No new launches have been made yet. However, Lockheed Martin and NASA specialists did not sit idle. For a few recent years a number of prototypes were built for carrying out certain tests in terrestrial conditions.
Just a few weeks ago, construction began on the first Orion spacecraft for manned flight. Its launch is scheduled for next year. The task of launching the ship into orbit will be entrusted to the promising Space Launch System launch vehicle. The completion of the current work will show the real prospects of the entire project.
The Orion project provides for the construction of a ship with a length of about 5 m and a diameter of about 3.3 m. A characteristic feature of this apparatus is a large internal volume. Despite the installation of the necessary equipment and instruments, a little less than 9 cubic meters of free space remains inside the sealed compartment, suitable for installing certain devices, including crew seats. The ship will be able to take on board up to six astronauts or a certain cargo. The total mass of the ship is determined at the level of 25.85 tons.
Suborbital systems
Currently, several interesting programs are being implemented that do not provide for the launch of a payload into Earth's orbit. Promising models of equipment from a number of American companies will be able to carry out only suborbital flights. This technique is supposed to be used for some research or during the development of space tourism. New projects of this kind are not considered in the context of the development of a full-fledged space program, but they are still of some interest.
The SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle under the wing of the White Knight Two carrier aircraft. Photo Virgin Galactic / virgingalactic.com
The SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo projects from Scale Composites and Virgin Galactic propose the construction of a complex consisting of a carrier aircraft and an orbital aircraft. Since 2003, the two types of equipment have performed a significant number of test flights, during which various design features and operating methods have been worked out. It is expected that a SpaceShipTwo-type ship will be able to take on board up to six tourist passengers and lift them to a height of at least 100-150 km, i.e. above the lower boundary of outer space. Takeoff and landing must be from a "traditional" airfield.
Blue Origin has been working on a different version of the suborbital space system since the middle of the last decade. She proposes to carry out such flights using a combination of a launch vehicle and a spacecraft of the type used in other programs. At the same time, both the rocket and the ship must be reusable. The complex was named New Shepard. Since 2011, rockets and ships of a new type have been regularly making test flights. It has already been possible to send the spacecraft to an altitude of more than 110 km, as well as to ensure the safe return of both the ship and the launch vehicle. In the future, the New Shepard system should be one of the innovations in the field of space tourism.
Reusable future
For three decades, since the early eighties of the last century, the main means of delivering people and cargo into orbit in NASA's arsenal was the Space Transportation System / Space Shuttle complex. Due to moral and physical obsolescence, as well as due to the impossibility of obtaining all the desired results, the operation of the Shuttles was discontinued. Since 2011, the US has not had operational reusable spacecraft. Moreover, they do not yet have their own manned spacecraft, as a result of which the astronauts have to fly on foreign technology.
Despite the termination of the operation of the Space Transportation System complex, American astronautics does not abandon the very idea of reusable spacecraft. Such a technique is still of great interest and can be used in a wide variety of missions. At the moment, NASA and a number of commercial organizations are developing several promising spacecraft at once, both orbital aircraft and systems with capsules. At the moment, these projects are at different stages and show different successes. As soon as possible, no later than the start twenties, most new developments will reach the stage of test or full-fledged flights, which will allow us to re-examine the situation and draw new conclusions.
According to the websites:
http://nasa.gov/
http://space.com/
http://globalsecurity.org/
https://washingtonpost.com/
http://boeing.com/
http://lockheedmartin.com/
http://spacex.com/
http://virgingalactic.com/
http://spacedev.com/
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What happened? A lot of things, including the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, etc. But if you look at the root and get rid of everything temporary and insignificant, it turns out that there is actually one reason: money.
Sometimes we forget that space travel is very expensive. It costs $10,000 to put just one pound of anything into Earth orbit. Imagine a life size solid gold statue of John Glenn and you'll get some idea of the cost of such projects. A flight to the moon would require about $100,000 per pound of payload. And a flight to Mars would cost $1 million a pound (roughly the weight of diamonds).
Then, in the 1960s, the question of price was practically not considered: everything was covered by a general enthusiasm and growth space race with the Russians. The spectacular achievements of the brave astronauts hid the cost of space flight, especially since both sides were willing to go to great lengths to uphold national honor. But even the superpowers cannot bear such a burden for many decades.
It's all sad! More than 300 years have passed since Sir Isaac Newton first wrote down the laws of motion, and we are still in the thrall of simple calculations. To throw an object into low Earth orbit, it must be accelerated to a speed of 7.9 km / s. To send an object on an interplanetary journey and take it out of the Earth's gravitational field, you need to give it a speed of 11.2 km / s (And to reach this magic number - 11.2 km / s, we must use Newton's third law of dynamics: every action This means that the rocket can accelerate, throwing hot gases in the opposite direction, in much the same way that a balloon flies around the room if you inflate it and release the valve.) So it is not difficult to calculate the cost of space travel according to Newton's laws. There is not a single law of nature (neither physical nor engineering) that would forbid us to explore solar system; it's all about cost.
But this is not enough. The rocket must carry fuel, which significantly increases its load. Planes can partly get around this problem by taking oxygen from the atmosphere and feeding it to the engines. But there is no air in space, and a rocket must carry all its oxygen and hydrogen with it.
In addition to making space travel very expensive, this fact is the main reason why we don't have rocket packs and flying cars. Fiction writers (but non-scientists) like to paint a day when we all put on our jet packs and fly to work - or go on a Sunday picnic in the family's flying car. People often get frustrated with futurists because their predictions never come true. (That's why there are so many articles and books around with cynical titles like "Where's my jetpack?".) But to understand the reason, all it takes is a simple calculation. Rocket packs exist; moreover, the Nazis even tried to use them during World War II. But hydrogen peroxide, the usual fuel in such cases, quickly runs out, so that the average flight on a rocket pack lasts only a few minutes. Likewise, flying cars with helicopter propellers burn an appalling amount of fuel, making them too expensive for the average person.
End of the lunar program
Exorbitant prices for space travel are the reason why the future of manned space travel seems so uncertain at the present time. George W. Bush, as president, presented in 2004 a clear but rather ambitious blueprint for a space program. First, the Space Shuttle was supposed to retire in 2010 and be replaced by a new rocket system called Constellation by 2015. Secondly, by 2020 it was supposed to return to the Moon and eventually establish a permanent habitable base on the satellite of our planet. Thirdly, all this was supposed to pave the way for a manned flight to Mars.
However, even in the time since the Bush plan was put forward, the space economy has changed significantly, largely because the Great Recession has devastated the wallet of future space travel. The Augustine Commission report, presented in 2009 to President Barack Obama, states that with the level of funding available, the original program is not feasible. In 2010, President Obama implemented relevant practical steps, shutting down both the Space Shuttle program and the development of a space shuttle replacement that would pave the way for a return to the Moon. In the near future, NASA, not having its own rockets to send our astronauts into space, will be forced to rely on the Russians. On the other hand, this situation stimulates the efforts of private companies to create the rockets necessary to continue the manned space program. NASA, having abandoned its glorious past, will never again build rockets for a manned program. Supporters of the Obama plan say it marks the beginning of a new era of space exploration where private initiative will prevail. Critics say that the implementation of this plan will turn NASA into an "agency without a purpose."
Landing on an asteroid
The Augustine Commission report proposed a so-called flexible path that included a few fairly modest goals that did not require insane rocket fuel consumption: for example, a trip to a nearby asteroid that happens to fly by the Earth, or a trip to the moons of Mars. The report indicated that the target asteroid may simply not yet be on our maps: it may be an unknown rogue body that will be discovered in the near future.
The problem, the Commission's report pointed out, was that propellant for landing on the Moon, and especially on Mars, as well as takeoff and return, would be prohibitively expensive. But since the gravitational field on the asteroid and the satellites of Mars is very weak, much less fuel will be required. Augustine's report also mentioned the possibility of visiting Lagrange points, i.e., such places in outer space where the gravitational attraction of the Earth and the Moon cancel each other out. (It is quite possible that these points serve as a cosmic dump where all the garbage collected by the solar system and fallen into the vicinity of the Earth has accumulated since ancient times; astronauts could find interesting stones there dating back to the formation of the Earth-Moon system.)
Indeed, landing on an asteroid is an inexpensive task, since asteroids have an extremely weak gravitational field. (This is also the reason why asteroids are usually not round, but irregular. All large objects in the universe - stars, planets and satellites - are round because gravity pulls them evenly towards the center. Any irregularity in the shape of a planet gradually flattens out, but the force of gravity on the asteroid is so weak that it cannot compress the asteroid into a ball.)
One of the possible targets of such a flight is the asteroid Apophis, which in 2029 should pass dangerously close to the Earth. This boulder, about 300 meters across, the size of a large football field, will pass so close to the planet that it will leave some of our artificial satellites. From the interaction with our planet, the asteroid's orbit will change, and if you're not lucky, in 2036 it may return to Earth again; there is even a tiny chance (1 in 100,000) that it will hit Earth on its return. If this really happened, the impact would have been equal to 100,000 Hiroshima bombs; while firestorms, shockwaves and incandescent debris could completely devastate an area the size of France. (For comparison: a much smaller object, probably the size of an apartment building, fell in the area of the Siberian river Podkamennaya Tunguska in 1908 and, having exploded with the force of one thousand Hiroshima bombs, knocked down 2500 km 2 of forest. The shock wave from this explosion was felt at a distance of several thousand kilometers.In addition, the fall created an unusual glow of the sky over Asia and Europe, so that in London at night you could read a newspaper on the street.)
A visit to Apophis wouldn't be too much of a burden on NASA's budget, as the asteroid would have to fly by anyway, but landing on it could be a challenge. Due to the weak gravitational field of the asteroid, the ship will not have to land on it in the traditional sense, but rather dock. In addition, it rotates unevenly, so before landing it will be necessary to make accurate measurements of all parameters. In general, it would be interesting to see how solid an asteroid is. Some scientists believe it may just be a bunch of rocks held together by a weak gravitational field; others consider it solid. One day, knowledge of the density of asteroids may be vital to mankind; it is possible that someday we will have to crush the asteroid into pieces with the help of nuclear weapons. If a stone block flying in outer space, instead of crumbling into powder, breaks into several large pieces, their fall to Earth may turn out to be even more dangerous than the fall of an asteroid as a whole. Maybe it would be better to push the asteroid to slightly change its orbit before it can fly close to Earth.
Landing on a moon of Mars
Although the Augustine Commission has not recommended a manned mission to Mars, we still have another very interesting possibility - to send astronauts to Mars' moons, Phobos and Deimos. These satellites are much smaller than the Earth's Moon and therefore, like asteroids, they have a very weak gravitational field. In addition to the relative cheapness, a visit to the satellite of Mars has several other advantages:
1. First, these satellites could be used as temporary space stations. From them it is possible to analyze the planet at no particular cost without descending to its surface.
2. Secondly, someday they may come in handy as an intermediate step for an expedition to Mars. From Phobos to the center of the Red Planet is less than 10,000 km, so from there you can fly down in just a few hours.
3. There are probably caves in these satellites that could be used to organize a permanent inhabited base and to protect it from meteorites and cosmic radiation. On Phobos, in particular, there is the huge Stickney crater; probably, this is a trace of the impact of a huge meteorite, which almost split the satellite. Gradually, however, gravity pulled the debris back together and rebuilt the satellite. Perhaps, after this long-standing collision, many caves and cracks remained on Phobos.
Return to the Moon
The Augustine report also talks about a new expedition to the moon, but only if funding for space programs is increased and if at least $ 30 billion in additional dollars are allocated for this program over the next ten years. Since this is highly unlikely, the lunar program can essentially be considered closed, at least for the coming years.
The canceled lunar program, called Constellation, included several major components. First, there is the Ares V launch vehicle, the first US super-heavy launch vehicle since the retirement of Saturn in the early 1970s. Secondly, the Ares I heavy rocket and the Orion spacecraft capable of carrying six astronauts to a near-Earth space station or four to the Moon. And, finally, the landing module "Altair", which, in fact, was supposed to descend to the surface of the moon.
The design of the shuttle, where the ship was mounted on its side, had several significant drawbacks, including the tendency of the carrier to lose pieces of insulating foam during the flight. For the Columbia spacecraft, this turned out to be a disaster: it burned down on its return to earth, taking seven brave astronauts with it, all because during launch, a piece of foam insulation that came off the external fuel tank hit the wing edge and punched a hole in it . Upon re-entry, hot gases burst into the Columbia's hull, killing everyone inside, and causing the ship to collapse. In the Constellation project, where the habitable module was supposed to be placed directly on top of the rocket, this problem would not have arisen.
The press dubbed the Constellation project the "Apollo program on steroids" - it was very reminiscent of the lunar program of the 1970s. The length of the Ares I rocket was to be almost 100 m versus 112.5 m for the Saturn V. It was assumed that this rocket would launch the Orion manned spacecraft into space, thus replacing outdated shuttles. To launch the Altair module and supply fuel for a flight to the Moon, NASA intended to use the Ares V rocket, 118 meters high, capable of launching 188 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit. The Ares V rocket was to be the backbone of any mission to the Moon or Mars. (Although development of Ares has been discontinued, it would be nice to save at least something from the program for future use; there is talk of this.)
Permanent lunar base
By shutting down the Constellation program, President Obama left several options open. The Orion ship, which was supposed to once again deliver American astronauts to the moon and back, began to be considered a rescue vehicle for the International Space Station. Perhaps in the future, when the economy recovers from the crisis, some other administration will want to return to the lunar program, including the project to create a lunar base.
Establishing a permanent habitable base on the Moon will inevitably meet many obstacles. The first one is micrometeorites. Since there is no air on the moon, stones from the sky fall onto its surface unhindered. This is easy to verify by simply looking at the surface of our satellite, completely dotted with traces of long-standing collisions with meteorites; some of them are billions of years old.
Many years ago, when I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley, I had a chance to see this danger with my own eyes. Brought by astronauts in the early 1970s. lunar soil made a real sensation in the scientific world. I was invited to the laboratory, where they analyzed the lunar soil under a microscope. At first I saw a stone - it seemed to me, a completely ordinary stone (lunar rocks are very similar to earth ones), but as soon as I looked through a microscope ... I was shocked! The whole rock was covered with tiny meteorite craters, inside of which even smaller craters were visible. Never before had I seen anything like it. I realized that in an atmosphereless world, even the smallest speck of dust, hitting at a speed of more than 60,000 km / h, can easily kill - and if not kill, then pierce the spacesuit. (Scientists imagine the enormous damage caused by micrometeorites because they can simulate impacts with them. Huge cannons are available in laboratories specifically to study the nature of such impacts, capable of firing metal balls at tremendous speeds.)
One possible solution is to build a lunar base below the surface. It is known that in ancient times the Moon was volcanically active, and astronauts may be able to find a lava tube that goes deep underground. (Lava tubes are traces of ancient lava flows that gnawed out cave-like structures and tunnels in the depths.) In 2009, astronomers did indeed discover a skyscraper-sized lava tube on the Moon that could serve as the basis for a permanent lunar base.
Such a natural cave could provide astronauts with cheap protection from cosmic rays and solar flares. Even when flying from one end of a continent to the other (for example, from New York to Los Angeles), we are exposed to radiation at a level of about one millibar per hour (which is equivalent to an X-ray at the dentist). On the Moon, the radiation could be so strong that the living quarters of the base would have to be placed deep below the surface. In conditions where there is no atmosphere, a deadly rain of solar flares and cosmic rays will put astronauts at direct risk of premature aging and even cancer.
Weightlessness is also a problem, especially for long periods. At the NASA training center in Cleveland, Ohio, astronauts are being experimented on. Once I saw a subject suspended in a horizontal position with a special harness running along a vertically installed treadmill. The scientists tried to determine the endurance of the subject in zero gravity.
After talking with doctors from NASA, I realized that weightlessness is much less harmless than it seems at first glance. One doctor explained to me that over several decades, long-term flights of American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts in weightlessness have clearly shown that significant changes occur in the human body in weightlessness, muscle tissues, bones and the cardiovascular system degrade. Our body is the result of millions of years of development in the gravitational field of the Earth. Under conditions of prolonged exposure to a weaker gravitational field, biological processes fail.
Russian cosmonauts, after about a year in weightlessness, return to earth so weak that they can barely crawl. In space, even with daily exercise, muscles atrophy, bones lose calcium, and the cardiovascular system weakens. After the flight, some require several months to recover, and some changes may be irreversible. The journey to Mars could take two years, and the astronauts would arrive so weakened they could not work. (One of the solutions to this problem is to spin the interplanetary ship, creating an artificial gravity in it. The mechanism here is the same as when the bucket rotates on a rope, when water does not pour out of it even in the upside down position. But this is very expensive, because for keeping the rotation going would require heavy and bulky machinery, and every pound of extra weight means a $10,000 increase in project cost.)
water on the moon
One of the recent discoveries could seriously change the conditions of the lunar game: ancient ice has been discovered on the Moon, probably left over from long-standing collisions with comets. In 2009, NASA's LCROSS lunar probe and its Centaurus upper stage crashed into the moon near its south pole. The collision speed was almost 2500 m/s; as a result, the substance from the surface was ejected to a height of more than a kilometer and a crater about 20 m in diameter arose. TV viewers were probably a little disappointed that the promised beautiful explosion did not occur during the collision, but scientists were pleased: the collision turned out to be very informative. So, about 100 liters of water were found in the substance ejected from the surface. And in 2010, a new shocking statement was made: in the lunar material, water makes up more than 5% by mass, so there is probably more moisture on the Moon than in some regions of the Sahara.
This discovery could be of great importance: it is possible that future astronauts could use sublunar ice deposits for rocket fuel (by extracting hydrogen from water), for breathing (by obtaining oxygen), for protection (because water absorbs radiation) and for drinking ( naturally, in a purified form). So this discovery will help reduce the cost of any lunar program by several times.
The results obtained may also mean that during the construction and in the future when supplying the base, the astronauts will be able to use local resources - water and all kinds of minerals.
mid century
(2030–2070)
Flight to Mars
In 2010, President Obama, visiting Florida, not only announced the end of the lunar program, but instead supported a mission to Mars and the funding of an as-yet unspecified heavy launch vehicle that could one day carry astronauts into deep space, beyond lunar orbit. He hinted that he hopes to wait until the day - perhaps sometime in the mid-2030s - when American astronauts set foot on the surface of Mars. Some astronauts, like Buzz Aldrin, vehemently supported Obama's plan, precisely because it was proposed to skip the moon. Aldrin once told me that since the Americans had already been to the moon, now the only real achievement would be to go to Mars.
Of all the planets in the solar system, only Mars seems similar enough to Earth that some form of life could have originated there. (Mercury, scorched by the Sun, is probably too hostile for life as we know it to exist. The gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are too cold to support life. Venus is in many ways Earth's twin, but wildly the greenhouse effect has made the conditions there just hellish: the temperature reaches +500 ° C, the atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide is 100 times denser than the earth, and it rains from the sky sulphuric acid. If you try to walk on the Venusian surface, you will suffocate and be crushed to death, and your remains will be fried and dissolved in sulfuric acid.)
Mars, on the other hand, was once a fairly wet planet. There, as on Earth, there were oceans and rivers that had long since disappeared. Today it is a frozen, lifeless desert. It is possible, however, that at one time - billions of years ago - microlife flourished on Mars; it is even possible that even now bacteria live somewhere in the hot springs.
After the United States firmly decides to carry out a manned expedition to Mars, it will take another 20-30 years to implement it. But it should be noted that it will be much more difficult for a person to get to Mars than to the Moon. Mars compared to the Moon is a quantum leap in difficulty. You can fly to the Moon in three days - you will have to get to Mars from six months to a year.
In July 2009, NASA scientists figured out what a real Martian expedition might look like. Astronauts will fly to Mars for about six months, then spend 18 months on the Red Planet, then another six months will be spent on the return.
In total, about 700 tons of equipment will have to be sent to Mars - this is more than the International Space Station at a cost of 100 billion dollars. To save on food and water, while traveling and working on Mars, astronauts will have to purify their own waste products and use them to fertilize plants. There is no oxygen, no soil, no water, no animals, no plants on Mars, so everything will have to be brought from Earth. You will not be able to use local resources. The atmosphere of Mars is composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide. Atmosphere pressure is only 1% of the earth. Any rip in the suit would mean a rapid drop in pressure and death.
The expedition will be so complex that it will have to be divided into several stages. Since it would be too expensive to carry fuel back from Earth, it is possible that a separate rocket with fuel will have to be sent to Mars to refuel the interplanetary vehicle. (Or, if enough oxygen and hydrogen can be extracted from Martian ice, they could be used as rocket fuel.)
Once they get to Mars, astronauts will likely have weeks to adjust to life on another planet. The cycle of day and night there is about the same as on Earth (the Martian day is a little longer and is 24.6 hours), but the year on Mars is twice as long as on Earth. The temperature almost never rises above freezing. Violent dust storms rage there. The sands on Mars are as fine as talc, and dust storms often cover the entire planet.
Terraform Mars?
Suppose that by the middle of the century astronauts will visit Mars and organize a primitive base there. But this is not enough. Generally speaking, humanity will certainly seriously consider the project of terraforming Mars - turning it into a planet more pleasant for life. Work on this project will begin at best at the very end of the 21st century, or rather even at the beginning of the next.
Already, scientists have considered several ways to make Mars a more hospitable place. Probably the simplest of these is to add methane or another greenhouse gas to the Red Planet's atmosphere. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so a methane atmosphere would trap sunlight and gradually warm the planet's surface. The temperature will rise above freezing. In addition to methane, other greenhouse gases such as ammonia and freon are being considered as options.
As temperatures rise, the permafrost will begin to melt for the first time in billions of years, refilling the riverbeds with water. Over time, as the atmosphere becomes denser, lakes and even oceans may re-form on Mars. As a result, even more carbon dioxide will be released - there will be a positive Feedback.
In 2009, methane was found to be naturally released from the surface of Mars. The source of this gas is still a mystery. On Earth, methane occurs mainly when organic materials rot, but on Mars, it can be a by-product of some kind of geological process. If scientists manage to establish the source of this gas, then perhaps it will be possible to increase its output, which means changing the planet's atmosphere.
Another possibility is to send a comet into the Martian atmosphere. If you manage to intercept a comet far enough from the Sun, even a small impact - a push by a special rocket engine, a collision at the right angle with a spacecraft, or even just gravitational attraction this apparatus - may be enough to change the orbit of a space hulk in the right way. Comets are mostly water, and there are plenty of them in the solar system. (For example, the nucleus of Halley's Comet is shaped like a peanut about 30 km across and is mostly ice and rock.) As it approaches Mars, the comet will begin to rub against the atmosphere and slowly break apart, releasing water as steam into the planet's atmosphere. .
If no suitable comet is available, one of Jupiter's icy moons or, say, an icy asteroid such as Ceres (scientists believe it is 20% water) could be used instead. Of course, it will be more difficult to direct the moon or an asteroid in the direction we need, since, as a rule, such celestial bodies are in stable orbits. And then there are two options: it will be possible to leave the given comet, moon or asteroid in the orbit of Mars and allow it to slowly collapse, releasing water vapor into the atmosphere, or bring down this celestial body on one of the polar caps of Mars. The polar regions of the Red Planet are frozen carbon dioxide, which disappears in the summer months, and ice, which forms the basis and never melts. If a comet, moon, or asteroid hits the ice cap, an enormous amount of energy will be released and the dry ice will evaporate. Greenhouse gas will enter the atmosphere and accelerate the process of global warming on Mars. In this variant, positive feedback can also occur. The more carbon dioxide released from the polar regions of the planet, the higher the temperature will rise and, consequently, even more carbon dioxide will be released.
Another suggestion is to detonate several nuclear bombs on the polar ice caps. The disadvantage of this method is obvious: it is possible that the released water will be radioactive. Or you can try to build a thermonuclear reactor there, which will melt the ice of the polar regions.
The main fuel for a fusion reactor is water, and there is enough frozen water on Mars.
When the temperature rises above freezing, shallow pools form on the surface, which can be populated with some forms of algae that thrive on Earth in Antarctica. The atmosphere of Mars, which is 95% carbon dioxide, they will probably like. Algae can also be genetically engineered to grow as quickly as possible. Algae pools will speed up terraforming in several ways. First, algae will convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Secondly, they will change the color of the surface of Mars and, accordingly, its reflectivity. A darker surface will absorb more solar radiation. Thirdly, since the algae will grow on their own, without any outside help, such a way to change the situation on the planet will be relatively cheap. Fourth, algae can be used as food. Over time, such lakes with algae will create a soil layer and nutrients; plants will be able to take advantage of this, which will further accelerate the production of oxygen.
Scientists are also considering the possibility of surrounding Mars with satellites that will collect sunlight and direct it to the surface of the planet. It is possible that such satellites, even by themselves, will be able to raise the temperature on the surface of Mars to the freezing point and above. As soon as this happens and the permafrost begins to melt, the planet will continue to warm up on its own, in a natural way.
Economic benefit?
You should not be under any illusions and think that the colonization of the Moon and Mars will immediately bring countless economic benefits to mankind. When Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492, he opened access to treasures unseen in history. Very soon, the conquistadors began to send huge quantities of gold stolen from the local Indians from the newly discovered places to their homeland, and the settlers - valuable raw materials and agricultural products. Expenses for expeditions to the New World were more than paid off by the innumerable treasures that could be found there.
But colonies on the Moon and Mars are a different matter. There is no air, liquid water or fertile soil, so everything you need will have to be delivered from Earth by rockets, and this is incredibly expensive. Moreover, colonizing the moon, at least in the short term, does not make much military sense. It takes an average of three days to get from the Earth to the Moon or back, and a nuclear war can start and end in just an hour and a half - from the moment the first intercontinental ballistic missiles are launched to the last explosions. The space cavalry from the Moon simply will not have time to take any real part in the events on Earth. As a result, the Pentagon is not funding any major programs to militarize the Moon.
This means that any large-scale operations for the development of other worlds will be directed not to the benefit of the Earth, but to new space colonies. The colonists will have to mine metals and other minerals for their own needs, since it is too expensive to transport them from Earth (and to Earth too). Mining in the asteroid belt will become economically viable only if there are self-sufficient colonies that can use the extracted materials themselves, and this will happen at the very end of this century at best, or more likely later.
space tourism
But when will an ordinary civilian be able to fly into space? Some scientists, such as the late Gerard O'Neill of Princeton University, dreamed of a space colony in the form of a giant wheel that would house living quarters, water treatment plants, air regeneration chambers, and so on. stations - in solving the problem of overpopulation. However, in the 21st century, the idea that space colonies can solve or even alleviate this problem will still remain a fantasy. For most of humanity, Earth will be their only home for at least another 100-200 years.
However, there is still a way in which an ordinary person can actually fly into space: as a tourist. There were entrepreneurs who criticize NASA for its terrible inefficiency and bureaucracy and are ready to invest in space technology themselves, believing that market mechanisms will help private investors reduce the cost of space travel. Burt Rutan and his investors have already won the $10 million Ansari X Prize on October 4, 2004 by launching their SpaceShipOne twice within two weeks to just over 100 km above the earth's surface. SpaceShipOne is the first rocket ship to successfully travel into space with private money. Its development cost about $25 million. Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen acted as guarantor for the loans.
At present, the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft is almost ready. Rutan believes that very soon it will be possible to begin testing, after the completion of which a commercial spacecraft will become a reality. Billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic created Virgin Galactic with a spaceport in New Mexico and a long list of people willing to spend $200,000 to realize a long-held dream of space flight. Virgin Galactic, which will likely become the first major company to offer commercial spaceflight, has already ordered five SpaceShipTwo ships. If everything goes as planned, the cost of space travel will drop by a factor of ten.
SpaceShipTwo uses several ways to save money. Instead of using huge boosters designed to launch payloads into space directly from Earth, Rutan puts his spaceship on a plane and accelerates it using conventional atmospheric jet engines. In this case, oxygen is used within the atmosphere. Then, at an altitude of about 16 km above the ground, the ship separates from the aircraft and turns on its own jet engines. The ship cannot go into low Earth orbit, but the available fuel supply is enough to rise more than 100 kilometers above the earth's surface - where there is almost no atmosphere and where passengers can see how the sky gradually turns black. The engines are capable of accelerating the ship to a speed corresponding to M=3, i.e., up to three times the speed of sound (about 3,500 km/h). This, of course, is not enough to put it into orbit (here, as already mentioned, a speed of at least 28,500 km / h is needed, which corresponds to 7.9 km / s), but to deliver passengers to the edge of the earth's atmosphere and open space enough. It is quite possible that in the very near future a tourist flight into space will cost no more than a safari in Africa.
(However, to fly around the Earth, you have to pay much more and fly aboard a space station. I once asked Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi how much a ticket to the ISS cost him. Press reports flashed the figure of $ 20 million. He replied, that I would not like to give the exact amount, but that the newspaper reports are not very wrong. He liked it so much in space that a little later he flew to the station again. So space tourism, even in the not too distant future, will remain the privilege of very wealthy people.)
In September 2010, space tourism received an additional boost in the form of Boeing Corporation, which announced its entry into this market and planned the first flights for space tourists as early as 2015. This would be in line with President Obama's plans to transfer manned space exploration into private hands. Boeing's plan calls for launches to the International Space Station from the Cape Canaveral launch site of capsules with four crew members and three empty seats for space tourists. Boeing, however, has been quite blunt about financing private space projects A: Most of the money will have to be paid to taxpayers. "It's an unreliable market," says John Elbon, head of the commercial space launch program. “If we had to rely only on Boeing funds, with all the existing risk factors, we would not be able to successfully complete the case.”
dark horses
The extremely high cost of space travel is holding back both commercial and scientific progress, so that humanity is now in need of a completely new, revolutionary technology. By mid-century, scientists and engineers should fine-tune new launch vehicles to bring down the cost of launches.
Physicist Freeman Dyson singled out among the many proposals several technologies that are currently undergoing the experimental stage, but someday, perhaps, will make space accessible even to the average person. None of these proposals guarantee success, but if successful, the cost of shipping cargo into space will plummet. The first of these proposals is laser propulsion systems: a powerful laser beam from an external source (for example, from the Earth) is directed to the base of the rocket, where it causes a mini-explosion, the shock wave of which sets the rocket in motion. A steady stream of laser pulses vaporizes the water, and the resulting vapor propels the rocket into space. The main advantage of a laser jet engine is that the energy for it comes from an external source - from a stationary laser. A laser rocket essentially carries no propellant. (Chemical rockets, by contrast, spend much of their energy lifting and transporting propellant for their own engines.)
The technology of laser jet propulsion has already been demonstrated in the laboratory, where in 1997 the model was successfully tested. Lake Mirabo of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York has created a working prototype of such a rocket and called it a demonstrator of lightship technology. One of his first flying models weighed 50 grams and was a "dish" with a diameter of about 15 cm. A 10 kW laser generated a series of laser explosions at the base of the rocket; air shock waves accelerated it with an acceleration of 2 g (which is twice the acceleration of free fall on Earth and is approximately 19.6 m/s 2) and sounds reminiscent of automatic bursts. Mirabeau's light flares were lifted into the air by more than 30 m (which is approximately the same as Robert Goddard's first liquid rockets in the 1930s).
Dyson dreams of the day when laser propulsion systems will be able to launch heavy payloads into Earth orbit for as little as five dollars a pound, which would certainly be a real revolution in the space industry. He imagines a gigantic 1,000-megawatt (equivalent to the power of a standard nuclear power unit) laser capable of propelling a two-ton rocket into orbit, consisting of a payload and a tank of water at the base. Water seeps slowly through tiny pores in the bottom wall of the tank. Both the payload and the tank weigh a ton. When the laser beam hits the bottom of the rocket, the water instantly evaporates, creating a series of shock waves that push the rocket into space. The rocket achieves an acceleration of 3 g and after six minutes enters Earth orbit.
Since the rocket itself does not carry fuel, there is no danger of a catastrophic explosion of the carrier. For chemical rockets, even today, 50 years after the First Sputnik, the probability of failure is about 1%. And these failures, as a rule, look very impressive - oxygen and hydrogen explode in giant fireballs, and debris rains down on the launch pad. The laser system, on the other hand, is simple, safe, and can be used more than once at very short intervals; only water and a laser are needed for its operation.
Moreover, over time, this system will pay off. If it is used to launch half a million spacecraft a year, the launch fee will easily cover both operating costs and the cost of development and construction. Dyson, however, understands that more than one decade must pass before the realization of this dream. Fundamental research in the field of high-power lasers will require much more money than any university is able to allocate. Unless the government or some large corporation takes over development funding, laser propulsion systems will never be built.
This is where the Prize funds could come in very handy. I once spoke with Peter Diamandis, who founded it in 1996, and found that he is well aware of the limitations of chemical rockets. Even with SpaceShipTwo, he confided to me, we were faced with the fact that chemical rockets are a very expensive way to escape Earth's gravity. As a result, the next X Prize will go to whoever can create a rocket propelled by a beam of energy. (But instead of a laser beam, it is supposed to use another, similar to a laser beam electromagnetic energy- microwave beam.)
The hype around the prize and the multi-million dollar award itself may be enough bait to stir up interest in the problem of non-chemical rockets, such as the microwave rocket, among entrepreneurs and inventors.
There are other experimental rocket designs, but their development comes with different risks. One of the options is a gas gun that shoots some projectiles from a huge barrel - something like a projectile in Jules Verne's novel "From the Earth to the Moon." Verne's projectile, however, would not have made it to the Moon, because the gunpowder would not be able to accelerate it to the speed of 11 km/s needed to escape the Earth's gravitational field. In a gas gun, instead of gunpowder, the projectiles will be pushed out at great speed by gas compressed under high pressure in a long tube. The late Abraham Hertzberg of the University of Washington in Seattle built a prototype of such a gun about 10 cm in diameter and about 10 m long. The gas inside the gun is a mixture of methane and air compressed to 25 atmospheres. The gas is ignited and the projectile accelerates in the barrel with an acceleration of 30,000 g, at which most metal objects are flattened.
Herzberg proved that a gas gun could work. But in order to throw a projectile into space, its barrel must be much longer, about 230 m; in addition, different gases must work along the acceleration trajectory in the gun barrel. In order for the payload to gain the first space velocity, it is necessary to organize five sections with different working gases in the barrel.
The cost of launching from a gas gun can be even lower than using a laser system. However, it is too dangerous to launch manned vehicles into space in this way: only a solid load can withstand intense acceleration in the barrel.
The third experimental design is the "slingatron", which, like a sling, should spin the load and then throw it into the air.
The prototype of this device was built by Derek Tidman; its desktop model is capable of spinning an object in a few seconds and throwing it at speeds up to 100 m/s. The prototype of the slingatron is a donut-shaped tube about a meter in diameter. The tube itself is about 2.5 cm in diameter and contains a small steel ball. The ball rolls along the annular tube, and small motors push it and make it accelerate.
A real slingatron, whose task will be to throw cargo into near-Earth orbit, should be much larger in size - about a hundred kilometers in diameter; in addition, he must pump energy into the ball until it accelerates to 11.2 km / s. The ball will fly out of the slingatron with an acceleration of 1000 g, which is also a lot. Not every cargo can withstand such an acceleration. Before a real slingatron can be built, many technical problems must be solved, the most important of which is to minimize the friction between the ball and the tube.
To finalize each of the three named projects, even in the best case, it will take more than a dozen years, and then only if the government or private business takes over the financing. Otherwise, these prototypes will forever remain on the tables of their inventors.
Far future
(2070–2100)
space elevator
It is possible that by the end of this century, the development of nanotechnology will make even the famous space elevator possible. Man, like Jack on the beanstalk, will be able to climb it to the clouds and beyond. We will enter the elevator, press the "up" button and go up the fiber, which is a carbon nanotube thousands of kilometers long. It is clear that such a novelty could turn the economy of space travel and turn everything upside down.
In 1895, the Russian physicist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, inspired by the construction of the Eiffel Tower - the tallest building in the world at that time, asked himself a simple question: why can't such a tower be built as high as space? If it was high enough, he calculated, it would never fall, according to the laws of physics. He called such a construction "heavenly palace".
Imagine a ball. If you start spinning it on a string, then the centrifugal force will be enough to keep the ball from falling. Similarly, if the rope is long enough, then the centrifugal force will keep the load attached to its end from falling to the ground. The rotation of the Earth will be enough to keep the tether in the sky. Once the space elevator cable is stretched into the sky, any vehicle capable of moving along it will be able to safely go into space.
On paper, this trick seems to work. But, unfortunately, if you try to apply the Newtonian laws of motion and calculate the cable tension from them, you will find that this tension exceeds the strength of steel: any cable will simply break, which makes the space elevator impossible.
For many years and even decades, the idea of a space elevator was either forgotten or discussed again, only to be rejected once again for the same reason. In 1957, the Russian scientist Yuri Artsutanov proposed his own version of the project, according to which it was supposed to build an elevator not from the bottom up, but, on the contrary, from the top down. It was proposed to send a spacecraft into orbit, which would then lower a cable from there; on the ground it remains only to fix it. Fantasts also had a hand in popularizing this project. Arthur C. Clarke deduced the space elevator in his 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise, and Robert Heinlein in his 1982 novel Frida.
Carbon nanotubes have resurrected this idea. As we have seen, they have the greatest strength of all known materials. They are stronger than steel, and potentially the strength of nanotubes could withstand the loads that arise in the design of a space elevator.
The challenge, however, is to create a tether of pure carbon nanotubes 80,000 km long. This is an incredibly difficult task, because so far scientists have managed to obtain in the laboratory only a few centimeters of a pure carbon nanotube. You can, of course, twist together billions of nanofibers, but these fibers will not be solid. The task is to create a long nanotube in which each carbon atom will be exactly in its place.
In 2009, scientists from Rice University announced an important discovery: the resulting fibers are not pure, but composite, but they have developed a fairly flexible technology that allows you to create carbon nanotubes of any length. Through trial and error, the researchers found that carbon nanotubes could be dissolved in chlorosulfonic acid and then squeezed out of a spout like a syringe. This method can be used to make carbon nanotube fibers of any length, and its thickness is 50 microns.
One of the commercial applications of carbon nanotube fiber is power lines, because nanotubes conduct electricity better than copper, they are lighter and stronger. Rice University engineering professor Matteo Pasquali says: “Power lines require tons of this type of fiber, and there is no way to make it yet. There is only one miracle to come up with.”
Although the resulting fibers are not pure enough to be used in a space elevator, these studies give hope that someday we will be able to grow pure carbon nanotubes strong enough to take us to the skies.
But even if we assume that the problem of producing long nanotubes will be solved, scientists will face other practical problems. For example, a space elevator cable would have to rise well above the orbits of most satellites. This means that the orbit of some satellite will someday intersect with the path of the space elevator and cause an accident. Since low satellites fly at a speed of 7-8 km / s, a collision can be catastrophic. It follows from this that the elevator will have to be equipped with special rocket engines that will move the elevator cable out of the way of flying satellites and space debris.
Another problem is the weather, i.e. hurricanes, thunderstorms and strong winds. The space elevator needs to be fixed on the ground, maybe on an aircraft carrier or oil platform v pacific ocean, but in order not to suffer from the revelry of the elements, it must be flexible.
In addition, the cockpit must have a panic button and a rescue capsule in case of cable breakage. If anything happens to the tether, the elevator car must glide or parachute to the ground to rescue the passengers.
To speed up the start of research in the field of space elevators, NASA has announced several competitions. NASA's Space Elevator Race is raffling off prizes totaling $2 million. According to the rules, in order to win the competition of elevators operating due to the energy transmitted along the beam, it is necessary to build a device weighing no more than 50 kg, capable of climbing along a cable to a height of 1 km at a speed of 2 m / s. The difficulty is that this device should not have fuel, batteries or electrical cable. The energy for its movement must be transmitted from the Earth along the beam.
I have seen with my own eyes the enthusiasm and energy of engineers who are working on a space elevator and dreaming of winning a prize. I even flew to Seattle to meet young, enterprising engineers from a group called LaserMotive. Hearing the "siren song" - the call of NASA, they set about developing prototypes of a device that, quite possibly, will become the heart of a space elevator.
I entered a large hangar rented by young people for testing purposes. At one end of the hangar, I saw a large laser capable of emitting a powerful energy beam. The other housed the actual space elevator. It was a box about a meter wide with a large mirror. The mirror reflected the laser beam that fell on it onto a whole array of solar cells that turned its energy into electricity. Electricity was supplied to the engine, and the elevator car slowly crawled up the short cable. With such a device, a cabin with an electric motor does not need to drag an electric cable along with it. It is enough to direct a laser beam at it from the ground, and the elevator will crawl along the cable by itself.
The laser in the hangar was so powerful that people had to protect their eyes with special goggles during its operation. After many attempts, the young people finally managed to get their car to crawl up. One aspect of the space elevator problem has been solved, at least in theory.
Initially, the task was so difficult that none of the participants was able to complete it and win the promised prize. However, in 2009 LaserMotive received the same prize. The competition was held at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. A helicopter with a long cable hung over the desert, and the devices of the participants tried to climb along this cable. The LaserMotive team's elevator managed to do it four times in two days; his best time was 228 seconds. So the work of young engineers, which I observed in that hangar, has borne fruit.
Starships
By the end of this century, there will most likely be scientific stations on Mars and perhaps somewhere in the asteroid belt, even despite the current funding crisis for manned space exploration. The next in line will be a real star. Today, an interstellar probe would be a completely hopeless undertaking, but in a hundred years the situation may change.
For the idea of interstellar travel to become a reality, several fundamental problems must be solved. The first of them is the search for a new principle of motion. A traditional chemical rocket would take about 70,000 years to reach the nearest star. For example, two Voyagers, launched in 1977, set a record for the distance to the maximum distance from the Earth. At present (May 2011), the first of them has moved away from the Sun by 17.5 billion km, but the distance it has traveled is only a tiny fraction of the way to the stars.
Several designs and principles of motion for interstellar vehicles have been proposed. This:
solar sail;
Nuclear rocket;
Rocket with ramjet fusion engine;
Nanoships.
While visiting NASA's Plum Brook Station in Cleveland, Ohio, I met one of the dreamers and ardent proponents of the solar sail idea. The world's largest vacuum chamber for testing satellites was built at this test site. The dimensions of this chamber are amazing; this is a real cave about 30 m in diameter and 38 m in height, which could easily accommodate several multi-storey residential buildings. It is also large enough to test satellites and rocket parts in the vacuum of space. The scale of the project is amazing. I felt that I was given a special honor: I was in the very place where many of the most important American satellites, interplanetary probes and rockets were tested.
So, I met with one of the leading proponents of the solar sail, NASA scientist Les Johnson. He told me that since childhood, reading science fiction, he dreamed of building rockets that could fly to the stars. Johnson even wrote a basic course on how to build solar sails. He believes that this principle can be implemented in the next few decades, but he is ready for the fact that a real starship will be built, most likely many years after his death. Like the masons who built the great medieval cathedrals, Johnson understands that building an apparatus to fly to the stars can take several human lives.
The principle of operation of the solar sail is based on the fact that light, although it has no rest mass, has momentum, which means it can exert pressure. The pressure that sunlight exerts on all objects encountered is extremely small, we simply do not feel it, but if the solar sail is large enough and we are willing to wait long enough, then this pressure can accelerate an interstellar ship (in space, the intensity of sunlight on average eight times higher than on Earth).
Johnson told me that his goal was to create a giant solar sail out of very thin but flexible and resilient plastic. This sail should be several kilometers across, and it is supposed to be built in outer space. Once assembled, it will slowly revolve around the Sun, gradually gaining more and more speed. In a few years of acceleration, the sail will spiral out of the solar system and rush to the stars. In general, a solar sail, Johnson told me, is capable of accelerating an interstellar probe to 0.1% of the speed of light; accordingly, under such conditions, it will reach the nearest star in 400 years.
Johnson is trying to come up with something that would give the solar sail additional acceleration and reduce the flight time. One possible way is to place a battery of powerful lasers on the Moon. Laser beams, falling on the sail, will transfer it additional energy and, accordingly, additional speed when flying to the stars.
One of the problems of a starship under a solar sail is that it is extremely difficult to control, and it is almost impossible to stop and steer in the opposite direction, because sunlight travels only in one direction - from the Sun. One solution to this problem is to deploy the sail and use light from the target star to slow it down. Another possibility is to make a gravitational maneuver around this distant star and, using the sling effect, accelerate for the return trip. The third option is to land on some moon of that star system, build a battery of lasers on it and set off on the return journey, using the light of the star and laser beams.
Johnson dreams of the stars, but realizes that reality at the moment looks much more modest than his dreams. In 1993, the Russians deployed a 25 Lavsan reflector on a ship undocked from the Mir station, but the purpose of the experiment was merely to demonstrate the deployment system. The second attempt ended in failure. In 2004, the Japanese successfully launched two solar sail prototypes, but again, the goal was to test the deployment system, not propulsion. In 2005, an ambitious attempt was made to deploy a real solar sail called Cosmos 1, organized by the Planetary Society, the public organization Cosmos Studios and the Russian Academy of Sciences. The sail was launched from a Russian submarine, but the launch of the Volna rocket was unsuccessful, and the solar sail did not reach orbit.
And in 2008, when a NASA team tried to launch a NanoSail-D solar sail, the same story happened with the Falcon 1 rocket.
Finally, in May 2010, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launched IKAROS, the first spacecraft to use solar sail technology in interplanetary space. The device was put on a flight path to Venus, successfully deployed a square sail with a diagonal of 20 m and demonstrated the ability to control its orientation and change the flight speed. In the future, the Japanese plan to launch another interplanetary probe with a solar sail to Jupiter.
Nuclear rocket
Scientists are also considering the possibility of using nuclear energy for interstellar travel. Back in 1953, the US Atomic Energy Commission began serious development of rockets with nuclear reactors, which were initiated by the Rover project. In the 1950s and 1960s experiments with nuclear missiles ended mostly unsuccessfully. Nuclear engines behaved unstable and generally turned out to be too complicated for the then control systems. In addition, it is easy to show that the energy output of a conventional nuclear fission reactor is completely insufficient for an interstellar spacecraft. The average industrial nuclear reactor produces about 1000 MW of energy, which is not enough to reach the stars.
However, back in the 1950s. scientists proposed using atomic and hydrogen bombs for interstellar vehicles, rather than reactors. In the Orion project, for example, it was supposed to disperse the rocket with blast waves from atomic bombs. The starship was supposed to drop a series of atomic bombs behind it, the explosions of which would generate powerful flashes of X-rays. The shock wave from these explosions was supposed to accelerate the starship.
In 1959, physicists at General Atomics estimated that an advanced version of Orion, 400 meters in diameter, would weigh 8 million tons and be powered by 1,000 hydrogen bombs.
The physicist Freeman Dyson was an ardent supporter of the Orion project. “For me, Orion meant the availability of the entire solar system for the spread of life. He could have changed the course of history,” says Dyson. Besides, it would be a convenient way to get rid of the atomic bombs. “In one flight, we would get rid of 2,000 bombs.”
The end of Project Orion, however, was the 1963 Nuclear Test Limitation Treaty, which banned ground-based explosions. Without testing, it was impossible to bring the Orion design to mind and the project was closed.
Direct-flow thermonuclear engine
Another nuclear missile project was put forward in 1960 by Robert W. Bussard; he proposed to equip the rocket with a thermonuclear engine, similar to a conventional aircraft jet engine. In general, a ramjet engine captures air during flight and mixes it with fuel inside. The air/fuel mixture is then ignited and a chemical explosion occurs which creates propulsion. Bussard suggested applying the same principle to a fusion engine. Instead of taking air from the atmosphere, as an aircraft engine does, a ramjet would collect hydrogen from interstellar space. The collected gas is supposed to be compressed and heated using electric and magnetic fields until the start of a thermonuclear helium fusion reaction, in which a huge amount of energy is released. There will be an explosion, and the rocket will get a push. And since the supply of hydrogen in interstellar space is inexhaustible, a ramjet could conceivably last forever.
The design of the ship with a ramjet fusion engine resembles an ice cream cone. The funnel captures hydrogen gas, which then enters the engine, heats up and fuses with other hydrogen atoms. Bussard calculated that a ramjet with a weight of about 1000 tons is capable of maintaining a constant acceleration of about 10 m/s 2 (that is, approximately equal to the acceleration of free fall on Earth); in this case, in a year, the spaceship will accelerate to approximately 77% of the speed of light. Since a ramjet is not limited by fuel reserves, a starship with such an engine could theoretically go beyond our Galaxy and reach the Andromeda Nebula, located at a distance of 2 million light-years from us, in just 23 years according to ship clocks. (According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time slows down in an accelerating spaceship, so astronauts in a starship will only age 23 years, even if millions of years have passed on Earth.)
However, there are serious problems here as well. First, the interstellar medium is mostly single protons, so a fusion engine would have to burn pure hydrogen, although this reaction does not provide much energy. (Hydrogen fusion can go in different ways. Currently, on Earth, scientists prefer the variant of the influence of deuterium and tritium, which releases much more energy. However, in the interstellar medium, hydrogen is in the form of individual protons, so only proton-proton fusion reaction, in which energy is released much less than in the deuterium-tritium reaction.) However, Bussard showed that if the fuel mixture is modified by adding a certain amount of carbon, then carbon, working as a catalyst, will provide an enormous amount of energy, quite sufficient for a starship .
Secondly, the funnel in front of the starship, in order to collect enough hydrogen, must be huge - about 160 km in diameter, so it will have to be collected in space.
There is another unresolved problem. In 1985, engineers Robert Zubrin and Dana Andrews showed that environmental resistance would prevent a fusion-powered starship from reaching near-light speeds. This resistance is due to the movement of the ship and the funnel in the field of hydrogen atoms. However, their calculations are based on some assumptions that may not be applicable to ships with ramjet engines in the future.
At present, while we do not have clear ideas about the process of proton-proton fusion (as well as about the resistance of hydrogen ions in the interstellar medium), the prospects for a ramjet nuclear engine remain uncertain. But if these engineering problems are solvable, such a design will surely turn out to be one of the best.
Antimatter rockets
Another option is to use antimatter, the greatest source of energy in the universe, for the starship. Antimatter is opposite to matter in the sense that all the constituent parts of an atom there have opposite charges. For example, an electron has a negative charge, but an antielectron (positron) has a positive charge. When it comes into contact with matter, antimatter annihilates. So much energy is released at the same time that a teaspoon of antimatter would be enough to destroy the whole of New York.
Antimatter is such a powerful thing that the villains in Dan Brown's Angels & Demons build a bomb out of it and are about to blow up the Vatican; According to the plot, they steal antimatter from the largest European nuclear research center CERN, located in Switzerland near Geneva. Unlike a hydrogen bomb, which is only 1% effective, an antimatter bomb would be 100% effective. During the annihilation of matter and antimatter, energy is released in full accordance with the Einstein equation: E=mc 2 .
In principle, antimatter is an ideal rocket fuel. Gerald Smith of Pennsylvania State University estimated that 4 milligrams of antimatter would be enough to fly to Mars, and a hundred grams would carry the ship to the nearest stars. Annihilation of antimatter releases a billion times more energy than can be obtained from the same amount of modern rocket fuel. An antimatter engine would look pretty simple. One can simply inject antimatter particles, one by one, into a special chamber of the rocket. There they annihilate with ordinary matter, causing a titanic explosion. The heated gases are then expelled from one end of the chamber, creating jet thrust.
We are still very far from realizing this dream. Scientists have managed to obtain antielectrons and antiprotons, as well as antihydrogen atoms, in which an antielectron circulates around an antiproton. This has been done both at CERN and at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (more commonly referred to as Fermilab) near Chicago at the Tevatron, the second largest particle accelerator in the world (only CERN's Large Hadron Collider is larger). In both laboratories, physicists sent a stream of high-energy particles to the target and received a stream of fragments, among which were antiprotons. With the help of powerful magnets, antimatter was separated from ordinary matter. The resulting antiprotons were then slowed down and allowed to mix with antielectrons, resulting in antihydrogen atoms.
Dave McGinnis, one of the Fermilab physicists, has thought long and hard about the practical use of antimatter. He and I stood next to the Tevatron, and Dave explained to me the daunting economics of antimatter. The only known way to get any significant amount of antimatter, he said, was to use a powerful collider like the Tevatron; but these machines are extremely expensive and can produce antimatter only in very small quantities. For example, in 2004, a collider at CERN gave scientists a few trillionths of a gram of antimatter, and this pleasure cost scientists $ 20 million. At this price, the world economy will go bankrupt before enough antimatter can be obtained for one stellar mission. By themselves, antimatter engines, McGinnis stressed, are nothing particularly complicated and certainly do not contradict the laws of nature. But the cost of such an engine will not allow to actually build it in the near future.
One of the reasons for such a crazy high cost of antimatter is the huge sums that have to be spent on the construction of accelerators and colliders. However, accelerators themselves are universal machines and are mainly used not for the production of antimatter, but for the production of all sorts of exotic elementary particles. This is a tool for physical research, not an industrial apparatus.
It can be assumed that the development of a new type of collider, designed specifically for the production of antimatter, could greatly reduce its cost. Then the mass production of such machines would make it possible to obtain a significant amount of antimatter. Harold Gerrish of NASA is confident that the price of antimatter could eventually drop to $5,000 per microgram.
Another possibility to use antimatter as rocket fuel is to find an antimatter meteorite in outer space. If such an object were found, its energy would most likely be enough for more than one starship. It must be said that in 2006, as part of the Russian Resurs-DK satellite, the European PAMELA instrument was launched, the purpose of which is to search for natural antimatter in outer space.
If antimatter can be found in space, then humanity will have to come up with something like an electromagnetic network to collect it.
So, although interstellar spacecraft on antimatter is a very real idea and does not contradict the laws of nature, they most likely will not appear in the 21st century, unless at the very end of the century scientists will be able to reduce the cost of antimatter to any reasonable value. But if this can be done, the antimatter starship project will certainly be one of the first to be considered.
Nanoships
We have long been accustomed to special effects in films like Star Wars and Star Trek; the thought of starships brings up images of huge futuristic machines, bristling on all sides with the latest inventions in the field of high-tech devices. Meanwhile, there is another possibility: using nanotechnology to create tiny starships, no larger than a thimble or a needle, or even smaller. We are sure in advance that starships must be huge, like the Enterprise, and carry a whole crew of astronauts. But with the help of nanotechnologies, the main functions of a starship can be put into a minimal volume, and then not one huge ship will go to the stars, in which the crew will have to live for many years, but millions of tiny nanoships. Perhaps only a small part of them will reach their destination, but the main thing will be done: having reached one of the satellites of the destination system, these ships will build a factory and ensure the production of an unlimited number of their own copies.
Vint Cerf believes that nanoships can be used both to study the solar system and - eventually - to fly to the stars. He says: “If we design small but powerful nanodevices that can be easily transported and delivered to the surface, under the surface and into the atmosphere of our neighboring planets and satellites, the study of the solar system will become much more effective ... The same possibilities can be extended to interstellar research ".
It is known that in nature, mammals produce only a few offspring and take care that all of them survive. Insects, on the contrary, give birth to a huge number of young, but only a small part of them survive. Both strategies are successful enough to allow species to exist on the planet for many millions of years. In the same way, we can send one very expensive starship into space - or millions of tiny starships, each of which will cost a penny and consume very little fuel.
The very concept of nanoships is based on a very successful strategy that is widely used in nature: the flock strategy. Birds, bees, and others like them often fly in flocks or swarms. It's not just that a large number of Kindred guarantees safety; in addition, the flock works as an early warning system. If something dangerous happens at one end of the pack - for example, an attack by a predator, the whole pack instantly receives information about it. The flock is very efficient and energetic. Birds, flying in a characteristic V-shaped figure - a wedge, use turbulent flows from the neighbor's wing in front and thereby facilitate their flight.
Scientists speak of a swarm, flock or ant family as a "superorganism", which in some cases has its own mind, independent of the abilities of its individual constituents. The nervous system of an ant, for example, is very simple, and the brain is very small, but together the ant family is able to build the most complex structure - an anthill. Scientists hope to use the lessons of nature in the development of "flock" robots, which one day may have to go on a long journey to other planets and stars.
In some ways, all this is reminiscent of the concept of “intelligent dust”, which is being developed by the Pentagon: billions of particles equipped with tiny sensors are dispersed in the air and carry out reconnaissance. Each sensor itself has no mind and provides only a tiny grain of information, but together they can provide their owners with mountains of all kinds of data. DARPA has sponsored research in this area with an eye to future military applications, such as using sentient dust to track enemy positions on the battlefield. In 2007 and 2009 The US Air Force has released detailed weapon plans for the next few decades; it's got everything from advanced versions of the Predator drone (it costs $4.5 million today) to huge swarms of tiny cheap sensors the size of a pinhead.
Scientists are also interested in this concept. The swarms of sentient dust would be useful for real-time observation of the hurricane from a thousand different vantage points; in the same way one could observe thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, forest fires and other natural phenomena. In the movie Tornado, for example, we watch a team of brave hurricane hunters risk life and limb by placing sensors around a tornado. Not only is it very risky, but it is also not very effective. Instead of placing several sensors at the risk of life around a volcanic crater during an eruption or around a tornado column walking through the steppe and receiving information from them about temperature, humidity and wind speed, it would be much more efficient to scatter intelligent dust in the air and receive data simultaneously with thousands of different points scattered over an area of hundreds of square kilometers. In a computer, this data will be combined into a three-dimensional picture, which will show you in real time the development of a hurricane or the various phases of an eruption. Commercial enterprises are already working on samples of these tiny sensors, and some of them are really no bigger than a pinhead.
Another advantage of nanoships is that they require very little propellant to reach outer space. While huge launch vehicles can only accelerate to 11 km/s, tiny objects like nanoships are relatively easy to launch into space at incredibly high speeds. For example, elementary particles can be accelerated to sub-light speeds using an ordinary electric field. If we give nanoparticles a small electric charge, they can also be easily accelerated by an electric field.
Instead of spending huge sums to send out interplanetary probes, each nanoship could be given the ability to replicate itself; thus, even a single nanobot could build a nanobot factory or even a moon base. After that, new self-replicating probes will go to explore other worlds. (The problem is to create the first nanobot capable of copying itself, and this is still a matter of the very distant future.)
In the 1980s, NASA took the idea of a self-replicating robot seriously enough to commission a special study from Santa Clara University called "Advanced Automation for Space Tasks" to examine several possible options in detail. One of the scenarios NASA scientists considered involved sending small, self-replicating robots to the Moon. There, the robots were supposed to establish the production of their own kind from improvised materials.
The report on this program was devoted mainly to the creation of a chemical plant for the processing of lunar soil (regolith). It was supposed, for example, that the robot would land on the moon, split into its component parts, and then reassemble them into a new configuration, just like a toy transformer robot. So, the robot could assemble large parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight and start melting the regolith. Then, with the help of hydrofluoric acid, he would extract usable metals and other substances from the regolith melt. From metals it would be possible to build a lunar base. Over time, the robot would also build a small lunar factory to produce its own copies.
Based on this report, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts has launched a series of projects based on the use of self-replicating robots. Mason Peck of Cornell University was one of those who took the idea of tiny starships seriously.
I went to Peck's lab and saw with my own eyes a workbench littered with all sorts of components that might one day be destined to go into space. Next to the workbench was a small clean room with plastic walls, where the delicate components of future satellites were assembled.
Peck's vision of space exploration is very different from anything we see in Hollywood movies. It suggests the possibility of creating a microcircuit measuring one centimeter by a centimeter and weighing one gram, which can be accelerated to 1% of the speed of light. For example, he can take advantage of the sling effect, with which NASA accelerates its interplanetary stations to tremendous speeds. This gravitational maneuver involves a flyby of the planet; in much the same way, a stone in a sling, held by a gravity belt, accelerates, flying in a circle, and shoots in the right direction. Here, the gravity of the planet helps to give the spacecraft extra speed.
But Peck wants to use magnetic forces instead of gravity. He expects to make the microspaceship describe a loop in Jupiter's magnetic field, which is 20,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field and is quite comparable to the fields in terrestrial accelerators capable of accelerating elementary particles to energies of trillions of electron volts.
He showed me a sample, a microchip that he thought could one day go on a long trip around Jupiter. It was a tiny square less than a fingertip, literally stuffed with all sorts of scientific stuff. In general, Peck's interstellar apparatus will be very simple. On the one hand, the chip has a solar battery, which should provide it with energy for communication, on the other - a radio transmitter, a video camera and other sensors. This device does not have an engine, and Jupiter's magnetic field will have to disperse it. (Unfortunately, in 2007, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, which had funded this and other innovative projects for the space program since 1998, closed due to budgetary cuts.)
We can see that Peck's vision of starships is very different from science fiction, where huge starships roam the universe under the control of a team of brave astronauts. For example, if a scientific base appeared on one of the moons of Jupiter, dozens of such small ships could be launched into orbit around the gas giant. If, among other things, there were a battery of laser guns on this moon, tiny ships could be accelerated to a noticeable fraction of the speed of light by accelerating them with a laser beam.
A little later, I asked Peck a simple question: could he shrink his chip down to the size of a molecule using nanotechnology? Then even the magnetic field of Jupiter will not be required - they can be accelerated to subluminal speeds in a conventional accelerator built on the Moon. He said it was possible, but he hadn't worked out the details yet.
So we took a sheet of paper and together we started to write equations on it and figure out what would come of it. (That's how we scientists communicate with each other—walking to a blackboard with chalk, or taking a piece of paper and trying to solve a problem with various formulas.) We've written an equation for the Lorentz force, which Peck intends to use to propel his ships around Jupiter. Then we mentally reduced the ships to the size of molecules and mentally placed them in a hypothetical accelerator like the Large Hadron Collider. We quickly realized that with a conventional accelerator placed on the moon, our nano-starships could be accelerated to speeds close to the speed of light without any problems. By reducing the size of a starship from a centimeter plate to a molecule, we were able to reduce the accelerator needed to accelerate them; now, instead of Jupiter, we could use a traditional particle accelerator. The idea seemed to us quite realistic.
However, after analyzing the equations again, we came to a general conclusion: the only problem here is the stability and strength of nanostarships. Won't the accelerator tear our molecules apart? Like a ball on a string, these nanoships, when accelerating to near-light speeds, will experience the action of centrifugal forces. In addition, they will be electrically charged, so that even electrical forces will threaten their integrity. The general conclusion: yes, nanoships are a real possibility, but it will take decades of research before Peck's chip can be reduced to the size of a molecule and amplified so that acceleration to near-light speed cannot damage it in any way.
In the meantime, Mason Peck dreams of sending a swarm of nanospaceships to the nearest star in the hope that at least some of them will overcome the interstellar space separating us. But what will they do when they arrive at their destination?
This is where Pei Zhang's project from Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley comes into play. He created a whole flotilla of mini-helicopters, which someday, perhaps, are destined to rise into the atmosphere of an alien planet. He proudly showed me his swarm of minibots, reminiscent of toy helicopters. However, the outward simplicity is deceptive. I saw very well that in each of them there is a chip stuffed with the most complex electronics. With one press of a button, Zhang lifted four minibots into the air, which immediately scattered in different directions and began to transmit information to us. Very soon I was surrounded by minibots from all sides.
Such helicopters, Zhang told me, are supposed to provide assistance in critical circumstances such as a fire or an explosion; their task is to collect information and reconnaissance. Over time, minibots can be equipped with TV cameras and sensors for temperature, pressure, wind direction, etc.; in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, such information can be vital. Thousands of minibots can be launched over a battlefield, a forest fire, or (why not?) over an unexplored alien landscape. All of them constantly keep in touch with each other. If one minibot encounters an obstacle, the rest will immediately know about it.
So, one of the scenarios for interstellar travel is to fire thousands of cheap, single-use chips, similar to Mason Peck's chip, flying at near-light speed in the direction of the nearest star. If even a small part of them reach their destination, the mini-starships will release wings or propellers and, like Pei Zhang's mechanical swarm, will fly over an unprecedented alien landscape. They will send information by radio directly to the Earth. As soon as promising planets are discovered, the second generation of mini-starships will set off; their task will already be to build factories for the production of all the same mini-starships near a distant star, which will then go to the next star. The process will develop indefinitely.
Exodus from Earth?
By 2100, we will most likely send astronauts to Mars and the asteroid belt, explore Jupiter's moons, and get serious about sending a probe to the stars.
But what about humanity? Will we have space colonies and will they be able to solve the problem of overpopulation? Will we find a new home in space? Will the human race start leaving Earth by 2100?
No. Considering the cost of space travel, most people will not board a spacecraft and see distant planets in 2100 or even much later. Perhaps a handful of astronauts will have time to create a few tiny outposts of humanity on other planets and satellites by this time, but humanity as a whole will remain chained to the Earth.
Since the Earth will be the home of mankind for more than one century, let's ask ourselves: how will human civilization develop? What impact will science have on lifestyle, work and society? Science is the engine of prosperity, so it is worth thinking about how it will change human civilization and our well-being in the future.
Notes:
The basis for determining the user's coordinates is not the measurement of frequency shifts, but only the transit time of signals from several satellites located at different (but known at each moment) distances from it. To determine the three spatial coordinates, in principle, it is enough to process the signals from four satellites, although usually the receiver "takes into account" all the serviceable satellites that it hears at the moment. There is also a more accurate (but also more difficult to implement) method based on measuring the phase of the received signal. - Approx. per.
Or in another earthly language, depending on where the film was made. - Approx. per.
The TPF project has indeed featured in NASA's long-term plans for a long time, but has always remained a "paper project", far from the stage of practical implementation. Neither it nor the second project from the same thematic area - Photographer of Earth-Like Planets (TPI) is included in the FY2012 budget proposal. Perhaps their successor will be the New Worlds mission for imaging and spectroscopy of Earth-like planets, but nothing can be said about the timing of its launch. - Approx. per.
In fact, it was not about sensitivity, but about the quality of the mirror surface. - Approx. per.
This project was selected in February 2009 for joint implementation by NASA and the European Space Agency. In early 2011, the Americans withdrew from the project due to lack of funds, and Europe postponed its decision to participate in it until February 2012. The Ice Clipper project mentioned below was proposed for the NASA competition back in 1997 and was not accepted. - Approx. per.
Alas, this text is outdated. Like EJSM, this joint project lost US support in early 2011 and is under review, claiming the same funds in the EKA budget as EJSM and the International X-ray Observatory IXO. Only one of these three projects in a truncated form can be approved for implementation in 2012, and the launch may take place after 2020 - Note. per.
And some of them are questionable. - Approx. per.
Strictly speaking, this was the name of the NASA program designed to fulfill the requirements of Bush, the main provisions of which are described by the author below. - Approx. per.
The United States just has missiles and they don’t need to be invented from scratch: the Orion ship can be launched with a heavy version - the Delta IV carrier, and lighter private ships - on Atlas V or Falcon-9 rockets. But there is not a single ready-made manned spacecraft, and there will not be in the next three or four years. - Approx. per.
The point, of course, is not in the distance, but in the set and decrease in the speed required for flights. It is also desirable to limit the duration of the expedition in order to minimize the radiation exposure to the crew. In sum, these restrictions can result in a flight pattern with a very high fuel consumption and, accordingly, a high mass of the expedition complex and its cost. - Approx. per.
This is not true. Hot gases penetrated the left wing of the Columbia and, after prolonged heating, deprived it of strength. The wing was deformed, the ship lost the only correct orientation when braking in the upper atmosphere and was destroyed by aerodynamic forces. The astronauts were killed by depressurization and unbearable shock overloads. - Approx. per.
In February 2010, the Obama administration announced the complete closure of the Constellation program, including the Orion spacecraft, but already in April agreed to keep it as a rescue ship for the ISS. In 2011, a consensus was reached regarding the immediate start of funding for the SLS super-heavy carrier based on elements of the shuttle and the continuation of work on the Orion without formally announcing the goals of a promising manned program. - Approx. per.
Nothing like this! Firstly, the Russians and Americans who now fly together for half a year land in good health and are already able to walk, albeit with caution, on the day of landing. Secondly, the state of the Soviet and Russian cosmonauts was the same after the record flights of 366 and 438 days, since the means developed by us to combat the effects of space flight factors are sufficient even for such periods. Thirdly, Andriyan Nikolaev and Vitaly Sevastyanov could barely crawl after the record-breaking 18-day flight on Soyuz-9 in 1970, when practically no preventive measures had yet been applied. - Approx. per.
The spinning of the ship or its part around the axis is quite simple and requires almost no additional fuel consumption. Another thing is that it may not be very convenient for the crew to work in such conditions. However, there is virtually no experimental data in this regard. - Approx. per.
This popular estimate of the cost of the ISS is incorrect, as it artificially includes the cost of all shuttle flights over the period of its construction and operation. The design and manufacture of station components, scientific instrumentation, and flight control are now valued at about $58 billion over nearly 30 years (1984–2011). - Approx. per.
The space elevator cannot end at the height of the geostationary orbit - in order for it to hang motionless and be able to serve as a support for the movement of transport cabins, the system must be equipped with a counterweight at an altitude of up to 100,000 km. - Approx. per.
The second instance of this spacecraft, NanoSail-D2, was launched on November 20, 2010 together with the Fastsat satellite, separated from it on January 17, 2011, and successfully deployed a 10 m2 space sail. - Approx. per.
In May 2011, three experimental "chip satellites" of Peck's team were delivered to the ISS for endurance tests in open space conditions. - Approx. per.
Such a transfer in itself is a formidable task. - Approx. per.
In 2011, the United States ceased operation of the Space Transportation System complex with the reusable Space Shuttle, as a result of which the Russian ships of the Soyuz family became the only means of delivering astronauts to the International Space Station. Over the next few years, this situation will continue, and after that, new ships are expected to appear that can compete with the Soyuz. New developments in the field of manned cosmonautics are being created both in our country and abroad.
The Russian Federation"
Over the past decades, the Russian space industry has made several attempts to create a promising manned spacecraft suitable for replacing the Soyuz. However, these projects have not yet produced the expected results. The newest and most promising attempt to replace the Soyuz is the Federation project, which proposes the construction of a reusable system in manned and cargo versions.
Models of the ship "Federation". Photo by Wikimedia Commons
In 2009, the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation received an order for the design of a spacecraft, designated as the "Promising Manned Transport System". The name "Federation" appeared only a few years later. Until recently, RSC Energia was engaged in the development of the required documentation. The construction of the first ship of the new type began in March last year. Soon, the finished sample will begin testing on benches and test sites.
In accordance with the latest announced plans, the first space flight of the Federation will take place in 2022, and the ship will send cargo into orbit. The first crewed flight is scheduled for 2024. After carrying out the required checks, the ship will be able to perform more daring missions. So, in the second half of the next decade, unmanned and manned flybys of the Moon may take place.
The ship, consisting of a reusable returnable cargo-passenger cabin and a disposable aggregate-engine compartment, will be able to have a mass of up to 17-19 tons. Depending on the goals and payload, it will be able to take on board up to six astronauts or 2 tons of cargo. When returning, the descent vehicle can contain up to 500 kg of cargo. It is known about the study of several versions of the ship to solve different problems. With the appropriate configuration, the Federation will be able to send people or cargo to the ISS, or operate independently in orbit. The ship is also expected to be used in future flights to the Moon.
The American space industry, which was left without the Shuttles a few years ago, has high hopes for the promising Orion project, which is a development of the ideas of the closed Constellation program. Several leading organizations, both American and foreign, are involved in the development of this project. So, the European Space Agency is responsible for the creation of the aggregate compartment, and Airbus will build such products. American science and industry are represented by NASA and Lockheed Martin.
Model of the ship Orion. Photo by NASA
Project Orion in its current form was launched in 2011. By this time, NASA managed to complete part of the work on the Constellation program, but it had to be abandoned. Certain developments were transferred from this project to the new one. Already on December 5, 2014, American specialists managed to conduct the first test launch of a promising ship in an unmanned configuration. No new launches have been made yet. In accordance with the established plans, the authors of the project must complete the necessary work, and only after that it will be possible to begin a new stage of testing.
According to current plans, a new flight of the Orion spacecraft in the space truck configuration will take place only in 2019, after the appearance of the Space Launch System launch vehicle. The unmanned version of the ship will have to work with the ISS, as well as fly around the moon. Astronauts will be on board the Orions from 2023. Long-duration manned flights are planned for the second half of the next decade, including those with a flyby of the Moon. In the future, the possibility of using the Orion system in the Martian program is not ruled out.
A ship with a maximum launch weight of 25.85 tons will receive a sealed compartment with a volume of slightly less than 9 cubic meters, which will allow it to carry large enough cargo or people. It will be possible to deliver up to six people to the Earth's orbit. The "lunar" crew will be limited to four astronauts. The cargo modification of the ship will lift up to 2-2.5 tons with the possibility of safe return of a smaller mass.
CST-100 Starliner
As an alternative for the Orion, the CST-100 Starliner, developed by Boeing under the NASA Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program, can be considered. The project provides for the creation of a manned spacecraft capable of delivering several people into orbit and returning to earth. Due to a number of design features, including those associated with the one-time use of technology, it is planned to equip the ship with seven seats for astronauts at once.
CST-100 in orbit, so far only in the mind of the artist. NASA drawing
The Starliner has been created since 2010 by Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace. The design took several years, and in the middle of the current decade it was supposed to carry out the first launch of a new ship. However, due to some difficulties, the test launch was postponed several times. According to a recent NASA decision, the first launch of the CST-100 spacecraft with cargo on board should take place in August this year. In addition, Boeing received permission to carry out a manned flight in November. Apparently, the promising ship will be ready for testing in the very near future, and new schedule changes will no longer be needed.
The Starliner differs from other projects of promising manned spacecraft of American and foreign development by more modest goals. As planned by the creators, this ship will have to deliver people to the ISS or other promising stations currently being developed. Flights outside the earth's orbit are not planned. All this reduces the requirements for the ship and, as a result, makes it possible to achieve significant savings. The lower cost of the project and the reduced cost of transporting astronauts can be a good competitive advantage.
A characteristic feature of the CST-100 ship is its rather large size. The habitable capsule will have a diameter of just over 4.5 m, and the total length of the ship will exceed 5 m. The total mass is 13 tons. It should be noted that large dimensions will be used to obtain maximum internal volume. To accommodate equipment and people, a sealed compartment with a volume of 11 cubic meters has been developed. It will be possible to install seven chairs for astronauts. In this regard, the Starliner ship - if it manages to reach operation - can become one of the leaders.
Dragon V2
A few days ago, NASA also determined the timing of new spacecraft test flights from SpaceX. So, the first test launch of a Dragon V2 manned spacecraft is scheduled for December 2018. This product is a redesigned version of the Dragon “truck” already in use, capable of transporting people. The development of the project began a long time ago, but only now it is approaching testing.
Dragon V2 ship layout dj presentation time. Photo by NASA
The Dragon V2 project involves the use of a redesigned cargo compartment adapted to transport people. Depending on the requirements of the customer, as stated, such a ship will be able to lift up to seven people into orbit. Like its predecessor, the new "Dragon" will be reusable, and will be able to make new flights after minor repairs. The development of the project has been underway for the past few years, but the tests have not yet begun. It won't be until August 2018 that SpaceX will launch the Dragon V2 into space for the first time; this flight will take place without astronauts on board. A full-fledged manned flight, in accordance with NASA guidelines, is scheduled for December.
SpaceX is known for its bold plans for any future project, and the manned spacecraft is no exception. At first, Dragon V2 is supposed to be used only to send people to the ISS. It is also possible to use such a ship in independent orbital missions lasting up to several days. In the distant future, it is planned to send a ship to the moon. Moreover, with its help, they want to organize a new "route" of space tourism: vehicles with passengers on a commercial basis will fly around the moon. However, all this is still a matter of the distant future, and the ship itself has not even had time to pass all the necessary tests.
With a medium size, the Dragon V2 has a 10 cubic meter pressurized compartment and a 14 cubic meter non-pressurized compartment. According to the developer company, it will be able to deliver a little more than 3.3 tons of cargo to the ISS and return 2.5 tons to Earth. In a manned configuration, it is proposed to install seven chairs in the cabin. Thus, the new "Dragon" will be able, at least, not to be inferior to competitors in terms of carrying capacity. Economic benefits are proposed to be obtained through reusable use.
India spaceship
Together with the leading countries in the space industry, other states are also trying to create their own versions of manned spacecraft. So, in the near future, the first flight of a promising Indian ship with astronauts on board may take place. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been working on its own ship project since 2006, and has already completed part of the required work. For some reason, this project has not yet received a full designation and is still known as the "ISRO spacecraft".
A promising Indian ship and its carrier. Figure Timesofindia.indiatimes.com
According to known data, the new ISRO project provides for the construction of a relatively simple, compact and light manned vehicle, similar to the first ships foreign countries. In particular, there is a certain similarity with the American equipment of the Mercury family. Part of the design work was completed a few years ago, and on December 18, 2014, the first launch of the ship with ballast cargo took place. When the new ship will deliver the first astronauts into orbit is unknown. The timing of this event was shifted several times, and so far there is no data on this matter.
The ISRO project proposes the construction of a capsule weighing no more than 3.7 tons with an internal volume of several cubic meters. With its help, it is planned to deliver three astronauts into orbit. Declared autonomy at the level of the week. The first missions of the ship will be related to being in orbit, maneuvering, etc. In the future, Indian scientists are planning pair launches with a meeting and docking of ships. However, this is still a long way off.
After the development of flights to near-Earth orbit, the Indian Space Research Organization intends to create several new projects. The plans include the creation of a reusable spacecraft of a new generation, as well as manned flights to the Moon, which are likely to be carried out in cooperation with foreign colleagues.
Projects and prospects
Promising manned spacecraft are now being created in several countries. At the same time, we are talking about different prerequisites for the emergence of new ships. So, India intends to develop its first own project, Russia is going to replace the existing Soyuz, and the United States needs domestic ships with the ability to transport people. In the latter case, the problem manifests itself so clearly that NASA is forced to develop or support several advanced space technology projects at once.
Despite different prerequisites for creation, promising projects almost always have similar goals. All space powers are going to put into operation their own new manned spacecraft, suitable at least for orbital flights. At the same time, most of the current projects are created with the achievement of new goals in mind. After certain modifications, some of the new ships will have to go beyond the orbit and go, at least to the moon.
It is curious that most of the first launches of new technology are scheduled for the same period. From the end of the current decade to the mid-twenties, several countries at once intend to test their latest developments. If the desired results are obtained, the space industry will change markedly by the end of the next decade. In addition, thanks to the foresight of the developers of new technology, astronautics will have the opportunity not only to work in Earth orbit, but also to fly to the Moon or even prepare for more daring missions.
Promising projects of manned spacecraft created in different countries have not yet reached the stage of full-fledged tests and flights with a crew on board. Nevertheless, several such launches will take place this year, and such flights will continue in the future. The development of the space industry continues and gives the desired results.
According to the websites:
http://tass.ru/
http://ria.ru/
https://energia.ru/
http://space.com/
https://roscosmos.ru/
https://nasa.gov/
http://boeing.com/
http://spacex.com/
http://hindustantimes.com/
The solar system has not been of particular interest to science fiction writers for a long time. But, surprisingly, our “native” planets do not cause much inspiration for some scientists, although they have not yet been practically explored.
Having barely cut a window into space, humanity is torn into unknown distances, and not only in dreams, as before.
Sergei Korolev also promised to soon fly into space "on a trade union ticket", but this phrase is already half a century old, and a space odyssey is still the lot of the elite - too expensive. However, two years ago, HACA launched a grandiose project 100 Year Starship, which involves the gradual and long-term creation of a scientific and technical foundation for space flights.
This unprecedented program should attract scientists, engineers and enthusiasts from all over the world. If everything is successful, in 100 years humanity will be able to build an interstellar ship, and we will move around the solar system like trams.
So what are the problems that need to be solved to make stellar flight a reality?
TIME AND SPEED ARE RELATIVE
Strange as it may seem, the astronomy of automatic vehicles seems to some scientists to be an almost solved problem. And this despite the fact that there is absolutely no point in launching automata to the stars with current snail speeds (about 17 km / s) and other primitive (for such unknown roads) equipment.
Now the American spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Voyager 1 have left the solar system, there is no longer any connection with them. Pioneer 10 is moving towards the star Aldebaran. If nothing happens to him, he will reach the vicinity of this star ... in 2 million years. In the same way crawl across the expanses of the Universe and other devices.
So, regardless of whether a ship is habitable or not, to fly to the stars, it needs a high speed close to the speed of light. However, this will help solve the problem of flying only to the nearest stars.
“Even if we managed to build a star ship that could fly at a speed close to the speed of light,” K. Feoktistov wrote, “the travel time only in our Galaxy will be calculated in millennia and tens of millennia, since its diameter is about 100,000 light years. But on Earth, much more will pass during this time.
According to the theory of relativity, the course of time in two systems moving relative to one another is different. Since at large distances the ship will have time to develop a speed very close to the speed of light, the difference in time on Earth and on the ship will be especially large.
It is assumed that the first goal of interstellar flights will be alpha Centauri (a system of three stars) - the closest to us. At the speed of light, you can fly there in 4.5 years, on Earth ten years will pass during this time. But the greater the distance, the greater the difference in time.
Remember the famous Andromeda Nebula by Ivan Efremov? There, flight is measured in years, and earthly ones. A beautiful story, to say the least. However, this coveted nebula (more precisely, the Andromeda galaxy) is located at a distance of 2.5 million light years from us.
According to some calculations, the astronauts' journey will take more than 60 years (according to starship hours), but an entire era will pass on Earth. How will the space "Neanderthals" be met by their distant descendants? And will the Earth be alive at all? That is, the return is basically meaningless. However, like the flight itself: we must remember that we see the Andromeda galaxy as it was 2.5 million years ago - so much of its light reaches us. What is the point of flying to an unknown target, which, perhaps, has not existed for a long time, in any case, in its former form and in the old place?
This means that even flights at the speed of light are justified only up to relatively close stars. However, vehicles flying at the speed of light, so far live only in a theory that resembles science fiction, however, scientific.
A SHIP THE SIZE OF A PLANET
Naturally, first of all, scientists came up with the idea to use the most efficient thermonuclear reaction in the ship's engine - as already partially mastered (for military purposes). However, to travel in both directions at a speed close to the speed of light, even with an ideal design of the system, the ratio of the initial mass to the final mass is not less than 10 to the thirtieth power. That is, the spaceship will look like a huge train with fuel the size of a small planet. It is impossible to launch such a colossus into space from Earth. Yes, and collect in orbit - too, it is not for nothing that scientists do not discuss this option.
The idea of a photon engine using the principle of matter annihilation is very popular.
Annihilation is the transformation of a particle and an antiparticle during their collision into any other particles that are different from the original ones. The most studied is the annihilation of an electron and a positron, which generates photons, the energy of which will move the spaceship. Calculations by American physicists Ronan Keane and Wei-ming Zhang show that, based on modern technologies, it is possible to create an annihilation engine capable of accelerating a spacecraft to 70% of the speed of light.
However, further problems begin. Unfortunately, using antimatter as a rocket fuel is very difficult. During annihilation, flashes of the most powerful gamma radiation occur, which are detrimental to astronauts. In addition, the contact of positron fuel with the ship is fraught with a fatal explosion. Finally, there are no technologies yet to obtain enough antimatter and store it for a long time: for example, an antihydrogen atom "lives" now for less than 20 minutes, and the production of a milligram of positrons costs $25 million.
But, let's assume, over time, these problems can be resolved. However, a lot of fuel will still be needed, and the starting mass of a photon starship will be comparable to the mass of the Moon (according to Konstantin Feoktistov).
BROKEN THE SAIL!
The most popular and realistic starship today is considered to be a solar sailboat, the idea of which belongs to the Soviet scientist Friedrich Zander.
A solar (light, photon) sail is a device that uses the pressure of sunlight or a laser on a mirror surface to propel a spacecraft.
In 1985, the American physicist Robert Forward proposed the design of an interstellar probe accelerated by microwave energy. The project envisaged that the probe would reach the nearest stars in 21 years.
At the XXXVI International Astronomical Congress, a project was proposed for a laser spacecraft, the movement of which is provided by the energy of optical lasers located in orbit around Mercury. According to calculations, the path of a starship of this design to the star Epsilon Eridani (10.8 light years) and back would take 51 years.
“It is unlikely that we will be able to make significant progress in understanding the world in which we live, based on data obtained from travels in our solar system. Naturally, thought turns to the stars. After all, earlier it was understood that flights around the Earth, flights to other planets of our solar system are not the ultimate goal. To pave the way to the stars seemed to be the main task.These words do not belong to a science fiction writer, but to the spacecraft designer and cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov. According to the scientist, nothing particularly new in the solar system will be found. And this despite the fact that man has so far only flown to the moon ...
However, outside the solar system, the pressure of sunlight will approach zero. Therefore, there is a project to accelerate a solar sailboat with laser systems from some asteroid.
All this is still theory, but the first steps are already being taken.
In 1993, a 20-meter-wide solar sail was deployed for the first time on the Russian ship Progress M-15 as part of the Znamya-2 project. When docking the Progress with the Mir station, its crew installed a reflector deployment unit on board the Progress. As a result, the reflector created a bright spot 5 km wide, which passed through Europe to Russia at a speed of 8 km/s. The patch of light had a luminosity roughly equivalent to that of the full moon.
So, the advantage of a solar sailboat is the lack of fuel on board, the disadvantages are the vulnerability of the sail design: in fact, it is a thin foil stretched over a frame. Where is the guarantee that the sail will not get holes from cosmic particles along the way?
The sail version may be suitable for launching robotic probes, stations and cargo ships, but is unsuitable for manned return flights. There are other starship designs, but they somehow resemble the above (with the same massive problems).
SURPRISES IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE
It seems that many surprises await travelers in the universe. For example, just leaning out of the solar system, the American device "Pioneer-10" began to experience a force of unknown origin, causing weak deceleration. Many suggestions have been made, up to yet unknown effects of inertia or even time. There is still no unambiguous explanation for this phenomenon, a variety of hypotheses are considered: from simple technical ones (for example, the reactive force from a gas leak in an apparatus) to the introduction of new physical laws.
Another spacecraft, Voyager 1, detected an area at the edge of the solar system with a strong magnetic field. In it, the pressure of charged particles from interstellar space causes the field created by the Sun to thicken. The device also registered:
- an increase in the number of high-energy electrons (about 100 times) that penetrate into the solar system from interstellar space;
- a sharp increase in the level of galactic cosmic rays - high-energy charged particles of interstellar origin.
The space between the stars is not empty. Everywhere there are remnants of gas, dust, particles. When trying to move at a speed close to the speed of light, each atom colliding with the ship will be like a particle of high-energy cosmic rays. The level of hard radiation during such a bombardment will increase unacceptably even during flights to the nearest stars.
And the mechanical impact of particles at such speeds will be likened to explosive bullets. According to some calculations, every centimeter of the starship's protective screen would be fired continuously at a rate of 12 shots per minute. It is clear that no screen can withstand such exposure for several years of flight. Or it will have to have an unacceptable thickness (tens and hundreds of meters) and mass (hundreds of thousands of tons).
Actually, then the starship will consist mainly of this screen and fuel, which will require several million tons. Due to these circumstances, flights at such speeds are impossible, all the more so because along the way you can run into not only dust, but also something larger, or get trapped in an unknown gravitational field. And then death is inevitable again. Thus, even if it is possible to accelerate the spacecraft to subluminal speed, then it will not reach the final goal - there will be too many obstacles on its way. Therefore, interstellar flights can only be carried out at significantly lower speeds. But then the time factor makes these flights meaningless.
It turns out that it is impossible to solve the problem of transporting material bodies over galactic distances at speeds close to the speed of light. It makes no sense to break through space and time with the help of a mechanical structure.
MOLE HOLE
Science fiction, trying to overcome the inexorable time, invented how to "gnaw holes" in space (and time) and "fold" it. They came up with a variety of hyperspace jumps from one point of space to another, bypassing intermediate areas. Now scientists have joined science fiction writers.
Physicists began to look for extreme states of matter and exotic loopholes in the universe, where you can move around with superluminal speed contrary to Einstein's theory of relativity.
This is how the idea of the wormhole was born. This burrow links the two parts of the Universe like a carved tunnel connecting two cities separated by a high mountain. Unfortunately, wormholes are only possible in absolute vacuum. In our universe, these burrows are extremely unstable: they can simply collapse before a spaceship gets there.
However, to create stable wormholes, you can use the effect discovered by the Dutchman Hendrik Casimir. It consists in the mutual attraction of conducting uncharged bodies under the action of quantum oscillations in a vacuum. It turns out that the vacuum is not completely empty, there are fluctuations in the gravitational field, in which particles and microscopic wormholes spontaneously appear and disappear.
It remains only to find one of the holes and stretch it, placing it between two superconducting balls. One mouth of the wormhole will remain on Earth, the other will be moved by the spacecraft at near-light speed to the star - the final object. That is, the spaceship will, as it were, punch through a tunnel. Once the starship reaches its destination, the wormhole will open up for real lightning-fast interstellar travel, the duration of which will be calculated in minutes.
WARP BUBBLE
Akin to the theory of wormholes bubble curvature. In 1994, the Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre performed calculations according to Einstein's equations and found the theoretical possibility of wave deformation of the spatial continuum. In this case, the space will shrink in front of the spacecraft and simultaneously expand behind it. The starship, as it were, is placed in a bubble of curvature, capable of moving at an unlimited speed. The genius of the idea is that the spacecraft rests in a bubble of curvature, and the laws of the theory of relativity are not violated. At the same time, the bubble of curvature itself moves, locally distorting space-time.
Despite the impossibility of traveling faster than light, nothing prevents space from moving or propagating the warp of space-time faster than light, which is believed to have happened immediately after the Big Bang at the formation of the Universe.
All these ideas do not yet fit into the framework modern science However, in 2012, NASA representatives announced the preparation of an experimental test of Dr. Alcubierre's theory. Who knows, maybe Einstein's theory of relativity will someday become part of a new global theory. After all, the process of learning is endless. So, one day we will be able to break through the thorns to the stars.
Irina GROMOVA