Deep Space Probes

by Matloff, Gregory L.

• ISBN13: 9783540247722
• ISBN10: 3540247726
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-16
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

The Space Age is nearly 50 years old but exploration of the outer planets and beyond has only just begun. Deep-Space Probes Second Edition draws on the latest research to explain why we should explore beyond the edge of the Solar System and how we can build highly sophisticated robot spacecraft to make the journey. Many technical problems remain to be solved, among them propulsion systems to permit far higher velocities, and technologies to build vehicles a fraction of the size of todaya??s spacecraft. Beyond the range of effective radio control, robot vehicles for exploring deep space will need to be intelligent, a??thinkinga?? craft a?? able to make vital decisions entirely on their own. Gregory Matloff also looks at the possibility for human travel into interstellar space, and some of the immense problems that such journeys would entail. This second edition includes an entirely new chapter on holographic message plaques for future interstellar probes a?? a NASA-funded project.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Preface to the second edition	xv
Preface to the first edition	xvii
Acknowledgements	xix
Contributors	xxi
Figures	xxiii
Tables	xxv
Introduction	xxvii
Motivations for deep-space travel	1	(12)
An inventory of near-Earth objects	4	(2)
Considering NEO origins	6	(1)
The difficulty of telescopic exploration of NEOs near their point of origin	7	(2)
Robotic exploration options	9	(1)
Directed panspermia	10	(1)
Bibliography	10	(3)
The realms of space	13	(12)
The question of origins	13	(2)
Realms of fire, water and ice	15	(2)
Solar radiant flux and planet effective temperature	17	(1)
The effect of atmospheric optical depth	18	(1)
The lifetime of a planet's atmosphere	19	(1)
Comparative planetology: an appreciation of the lifezone	20	(1)
Beyond the planets: the reefs of space	21	(2)
Bibliography	23	(2)
Tomorrow's targets	25	(12)
The TAU mission: an early NASA/JPL extra-solar mission study	26	(1)
SETIsail and ASTROsail: Proposed probes to the Sun's gravity focus	27	(3)
The Aurora project: a sail to the heliopause	30	(1)
The NASA Interstellar Initiative	30	(1)
The NASA heliopause sail	30	(1)
The NASA Kuiper Belt explorer	31	(2)
A probe to the Oort Cloud	33	(1)
Bibliography	34	(3)
Space propulsion today	37	(24)
Rocket history and theory	37	(4)
The solar-electric drive	41	(2)
Unpowered planetary gravity assists	43	(3)
Powered solar gravity assists	46	(3)
The solar photon sail	49	(8)
The solar photon Thruster: Holographic solar sails	57	(1)
Bibliography	58	(3)
The incredible shrinking spaceprobe	61	(10)
The small and the very small	62	(2)
Nanotechnology: The art and science of the very, very small	64	(2)
Nanotechnology and spaceflight: Near-term possibilities	66	(1)
Nanotechnology and spaceflight: Long-term possibilities	66	(1)
Possible limits to nanotechnology	67	(1)
Bibliography	68	(3)
The nuclear option	71	(20)
Nuclear basics	71	(4)
Nuclear-electric propulsion	75	(3)
Nuclear-pulse propulsion: Orion, Daedalus and Medusa	78	(4)
Inertial electrostatic confinement and gas-dynamic mirror fusion	82	(1)
Antimatter: The ultimate fuel	83	(4)
Bibliography	87	(4)
21st century starflight	91	(18)
Laser/maser sailing fundamentals	92	(3)
Starship deceleration using the magsail	95	(3)
Thrustless turning	98	(2)
Perforated light sail optical theory	100	(3)
The Fresnel lens: A method of improving laser beam collimation	103	(1)
Round trip interstellar voyages using beamed-laser propulsion	104	(1)
Interstellar particle-beam propulsion	105	(2)
Bibliography	107	(2)
On the technological horizon	109	(16)
The hydrogen-fusing interstellar ramjet	109	(4)
The ram-augmented interstellar rocket	113	(4)
The laser ramjet	117	(1)
The ramjet runway	118	(2)
A toroidal ramscoop	120	(3)
Bibliography	123	(2)
Exotic possibilities	125	(16)
`Shoes and ships': The potential of magnetic surfing	126	(4)
`Sealing wax': Approaches to antigravity	130	(1)
`A boiling-hot sea': zero-point energy and special relativistic star drives	131	(3)
`Cabbages and kings': General relativity and space-time warps	134	(2)
`Winged pigs': Some other exotic ideas	136	(1)
Bibliography	137	(4)
Of stars, planets and life	141	(14)
A short history of extra-solar planet detection efforts	141	(2)
Methods of imaging extra-solar planets	143	(3)
Extra-solar planets found to date that orbit Sun-like stars	146	(3)
How common are life-bearing worlds?	149	(3)
Terraforming: A way to increase the odds	152	(1)
Bibliography	152	(3)
Life between the stars	155	(12)
Environmental obstacles to interstellar flight, and their removal	156	(3)
Options for onboard power between the stars	159	(1)
Close environment life support systems	160	(1)
Of worldships and interstellar arks	161	(3)
Hibernation for humans: The long sleep to α Centauri	164	(1)
Bibliography	165	(2)
Conscious spacecraft	167	(4)
The von Neumann machine: Can the computer eat the Galaxy?	168	(1)
The cryogenic star child	169	(1)
The virtual star traveller	169	(1)
Bibliography	170	(1)
Meeting ET	171	(6)
Are starships detectable?	172	(2)
Motivations of star-travelling extraterrestrials	174	(1)
Bibliography	175	(2)
Interstellar message plaques	177	(8)
Motivations for interstellar message plaques	178	(1)
The Pioneer 10/11 and Voyager 1/2 message plaques	178	(3)
Holographic message plaques	181	(2)
Bibliography	183	(2)
Appendix: Photon sail history, engineering and mission analysis	185	(38)
Brief history of solar photon sailing	185	(3)
History of interstellar solar-sailing concepts	188	(3)
Recent Research: FOCAL, Aurora and the NASA ISP	190	(1)
Laser/maser photon sailing history	191	(10)
Very large space-based laser concepts	194	(1)
Large optical components	195	(1)
Pointing and tracking	196	(3)
Large controllable space mirrors and antennas: Concepts and experiments	199	(2)
Architecture analysis: Square sails versus hoop sails	201	(1)
Energy/momentum conservation in a perfect solar sail	202	(3)
Energy/momentum conservation in a perfect solar photon sail	203	(1)
Experimental/operational tests of photon sailing	204	(1)
Mission concept 1: A lunar microsail	205	(1)
Mission concept 2: geostorm/solar-sentinel	206	(1)
Mission concept 3: Comet rendezvous and comet-nucleus sample return	206	(5)
Candidate comet selection	207	(1)
Sailcraft design parameters	208	(1)
The mathematics of comet and sailcraft orbits	208	(1)
Mission phase 1: Earth departure	209	(1)
Mission phase 2: Inclination cranking	209	(1)
Mission phase 3: Comet orbit matching	209	(1)
Mission phase 4: Station keeping and sample collection	210	(1)
Mission phase 5: Earth return	210	(1)
Mission concept 4: Neptune rendezvous using sail aerocapture	211	(5)
Sailcraft design parameters	211	(1)
The pre-Neptune encounter mission phases	211	(1)
The physics of sail aerobraking	212	(1)
An isodensity planetary atmosphere model and its applications to screening calculations	213	(1)
A Neptune aerocapture profile	214	(1)
Thermal effects during aerocapture	215	(1)
Modified mission profiles	215	(1)
Mission concept 5: An Oort Cloud explorer	216	(1)
Bibliography	217	(6)
Afterword	223	(2)
Nomenclature	225	(6)
Glossary	231	(4)
Index	235