By opening up the possibility of economical asteroid water mining , the electric solar wind sail (E-sail, www.electric-sailing.fi) enables frequent and affordable manned Mars flights
The E-sail is a novel propellantless technology that was invented in Finland in 2006. The E-sail utilises long, charged tethers to convert natural solar wind momentum flux into spacecraft thrust.
According to Janhunen et al. (2015)Â the E-sail could make asteroid mining feasible by providing essentially free logistics in the solar system outside of Earth’s magnetosphere. After finding a suitable water bearing asteroid, a mining unit is could be sent by the E-sail to extract the water from asteroid soil. This can be done by heating the material and letting the evolving water vapour condense in a cool container. When the container is full, it is separated from the mining unit and transported with an E-sail in to the orbit of Mars or Earth, where it is split into hydrogen and oxygen and liquefied. The liquid hydrogen/oxygen (LH2/LOX) fuel can be used to fill the tanks of manned vehicles travelling between Earth and Mars.
Due to the exponential nature of the rocket equation, intermediate tankings reduce the launch mass dramatically. During the trip, asteroid-mined water could also be used as radiation shielding of the manned module to reduce the launch mass further. With cheap propellant available in Mars orbit, there is also the option of fully propulsive landing on Mars which eliminates the need of a massive and expensive heat shield.
Read more:Â Electric Solar Wind Sail could make bidirectional manned Mars flights economically feasible
The Latest on: Electric Solar Wind Sail
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Electric Solar Wind Sail” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Electric Solar Wind Sail
- Going green could bring huge benefits for India’s economyon April 22, 2024 at 5:38 am
Between them, he and Mukesh Ambani, India’s biggest tycoon, will together invest $150bn over the next decade in renewables. Over the past five years, over 80% of the newly installed generating ...
- Solar Energy Newson April 21, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Mar. 27, 2024 — Conditions that usually accompany the kind of intense hot and cold weather that strains power grids may also provide greater opportunities to capture solar and wind energy.
- Wind Energy Newson April 20, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Mar. 27, 2024 — Conditions that usually accompany the kind of intense hot and cold weather that strains power grids may also provide greater opportunities to capture solar and wind energy.
- Why solar and wind energy isn’t winningon April 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
DESPITE us constantly being told that solar and wind are now the cheapest forms of electricity, governments around the world needed to spend US$1.8 trillion on the green transition last year.
- Bjorn Lomborg: Why solar and wind power aren’t winningon April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Wind and solar only produce power when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. When they are not, electricity from these sources is infinitely expensive and back-ups are needed. This is why fossil ...
- NASA Langley shows off solar sail spacecrafton April 16, 2024 at 1:39 pm
If you want to send a rocket into space to orbit the Earth, you need a lot of fuel to get that done quickly and safely. If you want to go to the Moon, Mars or beyond, you will need even more fuel. But ...
- Columbus Division of Power electric customers with solar or wind can sell power backon April 16, 2024 at 4:09 am
The Columbus Division of Power, the historic ... customers using "advanced energy resources," including not just wind and solar photovoltaic but fuel cells, waste-to energy generation, low ...
- Nasa to launch ‘solar sail’ spacecraft into ‘deep space’ that flies without fuel using ‘stream of solar wind’ from Sunon April 12, 2024 at 9:28 am
NASA has plans to launch a next-generation spacecraft that could help us with future space missions. The craft, known as the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, will launch in April. The system ...
- Advanced solar sail mission prepares to catch the wind in the void of spaceon April 12, 2024 at 2:46 am
The differences are the obvious ones. Sailboats travel on water and are pushed along by the wind. Solar sails travel in a vacuum pushed by the solar winds from the Sun – a plasma flow of mainly ...
- NASA Is Set to Launch Its Next-Gen Solar Sail Into Deep Spaceon April 12, 2024 at 12:26 am
"Seven meters of the deployable booms can roll up into a shape that fits in your hand," said Alan Rhodes, the mission's lead systems engineer at NASA's Ames Research Center. "The hope is that the new ...
via Bing News