Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop begins this week

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Advanced Space Propulsion Research Workshop

Scientists and engineers are gathering in Pasadena, CA, to discuss cutting-edge research in space transportation.

May 31, 2000 -- Got power? These people sure do.

The 11th annual Advanced Space Propulsion Research Workshop begins today at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and will run through June 2, 2000. The workshop is sponsored by JPL and the Marshall Space Flight Center.

This year's sessions are packed full with scientists who will share their research and new ideas about how humans and robotic probes will cross the gulf of space to other planets and stars. Topics include advanced chemical propulsion, nuclear fission propulsion, solar sails, tethers, micropropulsion, advanced electrical propulsion, and fusion propulsion.

Science@NASA will cover the conference with a series of stories over the next ten days focusing on solar sails, space tethers, ion propulsion, fusion-powered spacecraft and more. A detailed agenda is available at the workshop's web site. Read on for a preview of workshop highlights!

Wednesday, May 31

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Today's first session will begin with a series of overviews describing basic propulsion research themes within NASA. Robert L. Sackheim from the Marshall Space Flight Center will lead off with a discussion of the importance of nuclear power for future space missions. While solar cells are ideal for some applications, compact nuclear reactors are better for others, such as propelling large spacecraft that would require huge solar arrays.

"For example, to create the one kilowatt of power necessary to run a microwave oven you'd need ten square yards of solar array," said JPL's Dr. Robert H. Frisbee, technical coordinator of this year's conference. "You could produce 100 kilowatts from a nuclear power reactor that is the size of a trash can plus extras like radiators and power conversion systems."

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Other presentations will touch on technologies that might allow humans to travel farther in space at a reasonable cost, such as ion propulsion and the "Gossamer Initiative." Speakers will even tackle mind-bending "breakthrough physics" solutions like warp drives and worm holes. While these concepts are still theoretical, in some cases these theories are being tested and might result in a revolution in space propulsion.

see caption A selection of topics for the remainder of the day will include sessions on "bimodal" propulsion that would allow a rocket to escape Earth's orbit on a high thrust and then switch over to low thrust in deep space (resulting in better fuel economy), radio isotopes for smaller-sized systems, and a variety of chemical propulsion systems, such as those using more exotic chemicals like metallic hydrogen, and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) systems that excite outside air using electrical energy and in turn produce more thrust, allowing for more efficient fuel usage.

For those who want even more cutting edge information, Gerald A. Smith, from Pennsylvania State University, and Steven D. Howe, from Synergistic Technologies, will be discussing high density storage of antimatter and the possible applications of quantum mechanics.

Left: A Penning trap is tested at Penn State University. Penning traps use a combination of low temperatures and electromagnetic fields to store antimatter. While the traps can only store incredibly small quantities, the traps will help in developing the technologies needed for advanced propulsion concepts. Credit: Laboratory for Energetic Particle Science at Pennsylvania State University.

Thursday, June 1

Thursday's sessions will begin with presentations on solar sails, including one by Timothy R. Knowles from Energy Science Laboratories, Inc., which will discuss the use of carbon fibers to make low-density solar sails that can withstand extremely high temperatures, allowing the sails to fly closer to the sun or to be powered by laser or microwave beams. Others will discuss additional solar sail possibilities, focusing on how to keep them accelerating and flying for longer distances most efficiently.

Right: A space sail, as depicted in an artist’s concept at the right-hand side of this picture, could power interstellar missions beyond our solar system. Les Johnson, manager of Interstellar Propulsion Research at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, holds a rigid, lightweight, carbon fiber material that could be used to build a giant space sail. Johnson will present a paper entitled "A Space Transportation Research Overview" during the Wednesday morning session.

In that same session, a remarkable young women, Ulyana Horodyskyj, a ninth-grader from Padua Franciscan High School in Parma, Ohio, will be presenting her paper, which discusses solar sail trajectories using very sophisticated math principles.

Thursday afternoon's sessions will include discussions of tethers, both momentum tethers and electrodynamic tethers. Electrodynamic tethers could produce electricity or act as a propulsion system on an orbiting spacecraft with another power source such as solar panels.

see caption There will be two sessions to end the day. The first will discuss micropropulsion and its applications. Specifically, the scientists will discuss different micropropulsion systems for use as the primary engine on a micro-spacecraft, one about the size of a 9-inch television or ultimately as small as a 3-pound can of coffee, or for missions that require very highly precise station keeping.

Left: An ion thruster-on-a-chip (ITOC) concept is currently being investigated at JPL to determine its feasibility to meet the needs of future microspacecraft. [more information from JPL]

"For example, interferometers, which are advanced space telescopes designed to detect and image planets and other stars, require incredibly good, precise pointing capabilities and the ability to keep the correct distance between different space craft," said Frisbee. "Micropropulsion systems are vital here."

The second will discuss nuclear fission, with one paper specifically concerning how we can safely test fission thermal rockets on the ground.

Friday, June 2

The final day of the conference will primarily focus on fusion and advanced electric propulsion.

see caption "We are about 5 years away from the break-even point in fusion," said Frisbee. "There is the capability that fusion will allow us to perform long distance missions. One thing of particular concern at the moment is how we will confine the high energy gas once we can make it."

Left: Science fiction or future fact? This fanciful image shows an artist's concept of a fusion-powered spaceship as it brakes into orbit around Titan, Saturn's methane-shrouded moon and a possible harbor for extraterrestrial life. Basic research on fusion rocket technology is one of many areas of inquiry in NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program. (NASA/Marshall)

One highlight of the electrical propulsion session will be the discussion of lithium plasma thrusters, presented by JPL's James Polk. Lithium thrusters have the capability to operate at 250 kilowatts of power, and are approximately the same size and weight of an ion engine, which operates at 2.5 kilowatts.

Each session in the three days of the Advanced Space Propulsion Research Workshop promises to provide the latest in cutting-edge space propulsion technology, and some hopes for the future.

"When my friends ask what I do, I sometimes reply tongue-in-cheek that I do government-funded science fiction," said Frisbee. "But then so were trips to the moon 31 years ago."

Web Links

Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop, May 31- June 2 -- home page

Advanced Propulsion Concepts -- from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Highway2Space.com -- news and information about space transportation research from the Marshall Space Flight Center

Recent Science@NASA Stories about Space Transportation:

May 29, 2000: What's the Matter with Antimatter?- It may be the ultimate fuel for space travel, but right now antimatter is fleeting, difficult to work with, and measured in atoms not pounds!

April 11, 2000: Where's the Edge?- NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program looks at ways to turn science fiction into reality.

Stories from the 1999 Space Propulsion Workshop:

April 6, 1999: Ion Propulsion -- 50 Years in the Making- The concept of ion propulsion, currently being demonstrated on the Deep Space 1 mission, goes back to the very beginning of NASA and beyond.

April 6, 1999: Far Out Space Propulsion Conference Blasts Off - Atoms locked in snow, a teaspoon from the heart of the sun, and the stuff that drives a starship will be on the agenda of an advanced space propulsion conference that opens today in Huntsville.

April 7, 1999: Darwinian Design - Survival of the Fittest Spacecraft

April 7, 1999: Coach-class tickets for space? - Scientists discuss new ideas for high-performance, low-cost space transportation

April 8, 1999: Setting Sail for the Stars - Cracking the whip and unfurling gray sails are among new techniques under discussion at the 1999 Advanced Propulsion Research Workshop

April 12, 1999: Reaching for the stars - Scientists examine using antimatter and fusion to propel future spacecraft.

April 16, 1999: Riding the Highways of Light - Science mimics science fiction as a Rensselaer Professor builds and tests a working model flying disc. The disc, or "Lightcraft," is an early prototype for Earth-friendly spacecraft of the future.