US Spaceflight for the future [update]

Assuming they can get WB-8 operating at beta=1, if losses scale at something reasonably close to B^.25*r^2 and the power scales at B^4*r^3, then there's a reasonable chance they'll be able to fund a full scale reactor in May.

Rick has said it's best to have two machines going at a time, so May 2011 could see the start of a WB-D/100/9 reactor to go along with the optional WB-8.1 if the WB-8 results look really promising (that would sort of make sense, because then the p-B11 results from WB-8.1 lead naturally into a second reactor for p-B11). If WB-8 results are very disappointing, then we probably won't even see the WB-8.1 built.

So in eight months, we should at least know SOMETHING.

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Goshin said:

oooo, some interesting news
NASA and Commercial industry combine to outline FTD Propellant Depot plan | NASASpaceFlight.com



lets hope they follow through with it, as it would really lead to an opening of space for players without huge amounts of money to build gigantic rockets

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HAWTHORNE, CA – Today Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Astrium announced a commercial agreement to provide dedicated launch services to the European institutional small satellite market.
Under the agreement, Astrium intends to work with SpaceX to market Falcon 1 launch capabilities to various space agencies and other institutional customers in Europe for launches to take place through 2015.
With dedicated launch services, customers with very small payloads can launch independently to low-Earth orbit, giving them greater control over launch and launch schedule. With the Falcon 1, these services can be provided at the world's lowest cost per flight when compared to any other launch service provider.
"I am proud that such a prominent European leader in space transportation, satellite systems and services would choose to team with SpaceX," said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO. "Our agreement with Astrium opens exciting new doors for SpaceX. Together we will meet the growing demand for reliable, low-cost and dedicated launch services for very small Earth observation and scientific payloads for European institutional customers."
Falcon launch vehicles are designed to provide breakthrough advances in reliability, cost, and time to launch. The primary design driver is reliability — nothing is more important than getting a customer's spacecraft safely to its intended destination.

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NoGodForMe said:

Launching Millennium Force to 120 MPH is one thing. Launching a drone to mach 10? That's far fetched at this time. So is the idea of a space elevator.

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Under the compromise bill, $1.2 billion would be given over the course of three years to commercial cargo and crew development. Should initial commercial cargo services prove successful and reliable, an additional $2.1 billion would be appropriated for follow-on Commercial Resupply Services for further delivery contracts.

Additionally, the bill would give the Administrator the authority to fully fund the proposed Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program if they meet their contracted milestones and are deemed viable.


Lastly, the other major part concerning manned space flight would be the approval and funding of the International Space Station through at least 2020. The compromise bill would further mandate the establishment an entity to manage ISS National Laboratory research and provide increased funding to revitalize space life and physical science research and technology on ISS to address primary concerns for human exploration of outer space.

This revitalization would also serve to provide both short-term and long-term societal benefits.

Additionally, a further $150 million would be invested, over three years, into the Robotic Precursor program to NEOs (Near Earth Objects) and Mars – with the express goal of paving the way for eventual manned missions.

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First, a few things: 1) Gliese 581 is a dinky, cool red dwarf about 20 light years away. That’s pretty close as stars go; only a handful are closer. Bear in mind it’s still 200 trillion kilometers (120 trillion miles) away, and that’s still a bit of a drive.

2) The planet is one of six now known to orbit the star [that link goes to a PDF of the journal paper]. Apparently, all the planets have neat, circular orbits, so the system seems to be stable. This new planet takes 37 days to orbit the star once, and orbits at a distance about 1/6 the distance of the Earth from the Sun. As far as we know, it’s the fourth planet from its star.

3) The planets have all been found by the Doppler method: as they orbit the star, they tug on it. This causes a shift in the wavelength of emitted light from the star. The mass of the planet, its distance from the star, and the shape of the orbit all determine how the light shifts, which is how astronomers found those properties of the new planet.

OK, so that’s what we know. Now let me be clear here about stuff we can be fairly sure about.


If you’re too close to a star, it’s too hot to support liquid water. If you’re too far, it freezes. This defines a rough region from the star — the Goldilocks Zone, for obvious reasons — where liquid water can exist on the surface of a planet. This depends on the star, of course, but also on other factors like the planet’s atmosphere; Venus could have liquid water, but its super-thick atmosphere produces a runaway greenhouse effect which has heated it to 460° C (900° F). If Mars had a thick atmosphere, it might support liquid water! So the planet itself matters here too.

Gliese 581g, as the new planet is called, is in the zone where the temperature is just right. And with a mass of just three times that of the Earth, it’s unlikely to be a gas giant.

However, this does not mean the planet is habitable, or even very Earthlike. It may not even have any water on it at all. For now, we can’t know these things, so beware of any media breathlessly talking about life on this planet, or how we could live there.

There are some things we can speculate on with some solid footing. The orbital period of 37 days puts it pretty close to the star – since the star is a red dwarf, it’s cooler than the Sun, so being closer doesn’t necessarily mean you overheat. But it does mean the star exerts strong tides on the planet, which have the effect of slowing the planet’s rotation until it equals the orbital period. This has almost certainly happened to this planet, so in other words, one day on this planet = one year, and the planet always shows the same face to its star like the Moon does to the Earth.

That makes things a bit dicier for habitability. The side facing the star may get very hot, while the dark side gets very cold. If the planet has an atmosphere that gets mitigated somewhat (the hot air on the day side will flow over to the night side and vice versa, smoothing out the highs and lows in temperature), and may make the planet more clement. However, we have no clue if this planet has an atmosphere at all.

I also want to note that the mass found (3x Earth) is the minimum mass of the planet! It may be more massive, though it’s unlikely to be much more. The Doppler method doesn’t give an exact mass, only a lower limit. That’s frustrating, but that’s the way the math works out.

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The breakthrough for Reaction Engines has been in the development of its pre-cooler system. At Mach 5, SABRE will need to cope with gases entering at temperatures reaching 1,000 degrees celcius. The pre-cooler uses thousands of small-bore thin-wall tubes, each around the width of a human hair, to drop the air temperature to -150degrees celcius in just 30ms. Back when Skylon was still a concept, the required heat exchangers for this type of pre-cooled jet engine were impossible to make, but with improvements in materials and manufacturing techniques, Varvill believes the technology has turned a corner.

’No one has ever made these heat exchangers at the size, scale and weight that we need to achieve,’ said Varvill. ’We’re attempting do that at the moment and it’s technically very demanding…; If all goes well, we’re hoping to run tests by the middle of next year in front of a Viper jet engine.’ The pre-cooler demonstration technology will be boosted by 1m euros (£817,000) provided by the ESA in February last year to help fund the development programme. Using this money alongside private backing, the team has made huge leaps forward, most notably with its frost-control system.



Read more: Skylon spaceplane gathers momentum | In-depth | The Engineer

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