Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs

Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs PDF Author: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781720386841
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
The term, propulsion breakthrough, refers to concepts like propellantless space drives and faster-than-light travel, the kind of breakthroughs that would make interstellar exploration practical. Although no such breakthroughs appear imminent, a variety of investigations into these goals have begun. From 1996 to 2002, NASA supported the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project to examine physics in the context of breakthrough spaceflight. Three facets of these assessments are now reported: (1) predicting benefits, (2) selecting research, and (3) recent technical progress. Predicting benefits is challenging since the breakthroughs are still only notional concepts, but kinetic energy can serve as a basis for comparison. In terms of kinetic energy, a hypothetical space drive could require many orders of magnitude less energy than a rocket for journeys to our nearest neighboring star. Assessing research options is challenging when the goals are beyond known physics and when the implications of success are profound. To mitigate the challenges, a selection process is described where: (a) research tasks are constrained to only address the immediate unknowns, curious effects or critical issues, (b) reliability of assertions is more important than their implications, and (c) reviewers judge credibility rather than feasibility. The recent findings of a number of tasks, some selected using this process, are discussed. Of the 14 tasks included, six reached null conclusions, four remain unresolved, and four have opportunities for sequels. A dominant theme with the sequels is research about the properties of space, inertial frames, and the quantum vacuum.Millis, Marc G.Glenn Research CenterPROPULSION; SPACE FLIGHT; INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL; KINETIC ENERGY; RELIABILITY; ANTIGRAVITY; RELATIVITY

Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs

Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs PDF Author: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781720386841
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 30

Get Book Here

Book Description
The term, propulsion breakthrough, refers to concepts like propellantless space drives and faster-than-light travel, the kind of breakthroughs that would make interstellar exploration practical. Although no such breakthroughs appear imminent, a variety of investigations into these goals have begun. From 1996 to 2002, NASA supported the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project to examine physics in the context of breakthrough spaceflight. Three facets of these assessments are now reported: (1) predicting benefits, (2) selecting research, and (3) recent technical progress. Predicting benefits is challenging since the breakthroughs are still only notional concepts, but kinetic energy can serve as a basis for comparison. In terms of kinetic energy, a hypothetical space drive could require many orders of magnitude less energy than a rocket for journeys to our nearest neighboring star. Assessing research options is challenging when the goals are beyond known physics and when the implications of success are profound. To mitigate the challenges, a selection process is described where: (a) research tasks are constrained to only address the immediate unknowns, curious effects or critical issues, (b) reliability of assertions is more important than their implications, and (c) reviewers judge credibility rather than feasibility. The recent findings of a number of tasks, some selected using this process, are discussed. Of the 14 tasks included, six reached null conclusions, four remain unresolved, and four have opportunities for sequels. A dominant theme with the sequels is research about the properties of space, inertial frames, and the quantum vacuum.Millis, Marc G.Glenn Research CenterPROPULSION; SPACE FLIGHT; INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL; KINETIC ENERGY; RELIABILITY; ANTIGRAVITY; RELATIVITY

Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs

Assessing Potential Propulsion Breakthroughs PDF Author: Marc G. Millis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description


Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research

Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309440998
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 123

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Book Description
The primary human activities that release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere are the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) to generate electricity, the provision of energy for transportation, and as a consequence of some industrial processes. Although aviation CO2 emissions only make up approximately 2.0 to 2.5 percent of total global annual CO2 emissions, research to reduce CO2 emissions is urgent because (1) such reductions may be legislated even as commercial air travel grows, (2) because it takes new technology a long time to propagate into and through the aviation fleet, and (3) because of the ongoing impact of global CO2 emissions. Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research develops a national research agenda for reducing CO2 emissions from commercial aviation. This report focuses on propulsion and energy technologies for reducing carbon emissions from large, commercial aircraftâ€" single-aisle and twin-aisle aircraft that carry 100 or more passengersâ€"because such aircraft account for more than 90 percent of global emissions from commercial aircraft. Moreover, while smaller aircraft also emit CO2, they make only a minor contribution to global emissions, and many technologies that reduce CO2 emissions for large aircraft also apply to smaller aircraft. As commercial aviation continues to grow in terms of revenue-passenger miles and cargo ton miles, CO2 emissions are expected to increase. To reduce the contribution of aviation to climate change, it is essential to improve the effectiveness of ongoing efforts to reduce emissions and initiate research into new approaches.

Frontiers of Propulsion Science

Frontiers of Propulsion Science PDF Author: Marc G. Millis
Publisher: AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics)
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 786

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Book Description
Frontiers of Propulsion Science is the first-ever compilation of emerging science relevant to such notions as space drives, warp drives, gravity control, and faster-than-light travel - the kind of breakthroughs that would revolutionize spaceflight and enable human voyages to other star systems. Although these concepts might sound like science fiction, they are appearing in growing numbers in reputable scientific journals. This is a nascent field where a variety of concepts and issues are being explored in the scientific literature, beginning in about the early 1990s. The collective status is still in step 1 and 2 of the scientific method, with initial observations being made and initial hypotheses being formulated, but a small number of approaches are already at step 4, with experiments underway. This emerging science, combined with the realization that rockets are fundamentally inadequate for interstellar exploration, led NASA to support the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project from 1996 through 2002.""Frontiers of Propulsion Science"" covers that project as well as other related work, so as to provide managers, scientists, engineers, and graduate students with enough starting material that they can comprehend the status of this research and decide if and how to pursue it in more depth themselves. Five major sections are included in the book: Understanding the Problem lays the groundwork for the technical details to follow; Propulsion Without Rockets discusses space drives and gravity control, both in general terms and with specific examples; Faster-Than-Light Travel starts with a review of the known relativistic limits, followed by the faster-than-light implications from both general relativity and quantum physics; Energy Considerations deals with spacecraft power systems and summarizes the limits of technology based on accrued science; and, From This Point Forward offers suggestions for how to manage and conduct research on such visionary topics.

Advanced Space Propulsion Systems

Advanced Space Propulsion Systems PDF Author: Martin Tajmar
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3709105471
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
Space propulsion systems have a great influence on our ability to travel to other planets or how cheap a satellite can provide TV programs. This book provides an up-to-date overview of all kinds of propulsion systems ranging from classical rocket technology, nuclear propulsion to electric propulsion systems, and further to micro-, propellantless and even breakthrough propulsion, which is a new program under development at NASA. The author shows the limitations of the present concepts and how they could look like in the future. Starting from historical developments, the reader is taken on a journey showing the amazing technology that has been put on hold for decades to be rediscovered in the near future for questions like how we can even reach other stars within a human lifetime. The author is actively involved in advanced propulsion research and contributes with his own experience to many of the presented topics. The book is written for anyone who is interested in how space travel can be revolutionized.

Advanced Propulsion Study

Advanced Propulsion Study PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
This study was tasked with the purpose of conducting a thorough literature and program search to carry out and document a technical assessment of the latest concepts in science and engineering that show promise of leading to a major advance in Earth-to-orbit (ETO) propulsion. The study also reviewed and evaluated a select number of credible far-term breakthrough propulsion physics concepts pertaining to R & D work done on or related to gravity/inertia modification, spacetime metric modification, and the extraction of energy from the space vacuum environment. The results of the study are presented and summarized in this report. A combined bibliography of advanced propulsion references was assembled and is presented. The report includes an overview of the recent history and present state-of-the-art of ETO launch vehicle and propulsion concepts. Also included is an outline and summary of the criteria and operative guidelines that the author used to examine, select and recommend advanced propulsion concepts. The author identified and selected five promising advanced propulsion concepts, and provides a detailed technical evaluation of their breakthrough potential for ETO propulsion.

Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Aeronautics

Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Aeronautics PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309062268
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
After the completion of the National Research Council (NRC) report, Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Aeronautics: Scenario-Based Strategic Planning for NASA's Aeronautics Enterprise (1997), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology requested that the NRC remain involved in its strategic planning process by conducting a study to identify a short list of revolutionary or breakthrough technologies that could be critical to the 20 to 25 year future of aeronautics and space transportation. These technologies were to address the areas of need and opportunity identified in the above mentioned NRC report, which have been characterized by NASA's 10 goals (see Box ES-1) in "Aeronautics & Space Transportation Technology: Three Pillars for Success" (NASA, 1997). The present study would also examine the 10 goals to determine if they are likely to be achievable, either through evolutionary steps in technology or through the identification and application of breakthrough ideas, concepts, and technologies.

Movement And Maneuver In Deep Space

Movement And Maneuver In Deep Space PDF Author: Brian E. Hans
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781608881932
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description
From the authors' abstract: "This analytical study looks at the importance of Deep Space Operations and recommends an approach for senior policy leaders. Section 1 presents a capability requirements definition with candidate solutions and technology strategies. Section 2 recommends an acquisition and organizational approach. Section 3 provides an extended strategic rationale for deep space operations as a national priority." And from the Introduction: [this essay] "presents capability requirements, potential solutions, and strategic rationale for achieving movement and maneuver advantage in deep space. In this context, deep space is anything beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). Driving the research are two primary assumptions underpinning the need for investment in deep space propulsion. The first assumption is that growing international activity, commerce, and industry in space extends the global commons, thus creating a military-economic imperative for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to expand its protection of U.S. interests by defending space lines of communication. Although there are wide-ranging reasons to expand the space-faring capabilities of the human species, from the capitalistic to the existential, the fact of its occurrence offers the U.S. immense strategic opportunity. Section 1, operating on this assumption, recommends capability-based requirements for deep space operations given a projected future operating environment.The second driving assumption underpinning this study is that improved movement and maneuver capabilities in deep space offer a wide array of benefits for the current National Security Enterprise, and for this reason alone demands attention in the form of disciplined investment. Furthermore, because the core functional capability required for deep space operations is in-space propulsion, the requirement necessitates a materiel solution.

Advances in Chemical Propulsion

Advances in Chemical Propulsion PDF Author: Gabriel D. Roy
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420040685
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 553

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Book Description
Written by the scientists who performed the research, this book reports on the progress achieved by the outstanding team of researchers participating in the ONR Propulsion Program. It covers all aspects of the combustion process, from chemical synthesis, reaction pathways of the fuel, and combustor performance to the reduction of emissions, thrust vectoring, and control. The chapter authors discuss the relevant issues, describe their approach and results, and explain how the findings can be extended to practical applications. Richly illustrated and carefully edited for clarity, uniformity, and readability, this book offers a comprehensive survey of the field, from pre- to post-combustion.

New Trends in Astrodynamics and Applications

New Trends in Astrodynamics and Applications PDF Author: Edward Belbruno
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astrodynamics
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description