NASA: Oxygen Drilling Rovers, Please!

Even though the Moon may lack an abundance of water on (or even under) its surface, Earth's little sibling does have one element critical to our survival off world--oxygen.

Since most of this oxygen is locked away in lunar rock, NASA is planning on using moon rovers to not only drill into the moon rock, but to produce oxygen from its surface as well.

(NASA) NASA's lunar exploration plan currently projects that on-site lunar resources could generate one to two metric tons of oxygen annually. This is roughly the amount of oxygen that four to six people living at a lunar outpost might breathe in a year. The field demonstrations in Hawaii showed how lunar materials might be extracted. It also showcased the hydrogen reduction system used to manufacture oxygen from those materials and how the oxygen would be stored. These experiments help engineers and scientists spot complications that might not be obvious in laboratories.

A prototype system combines a polar prospecting rover and a drill specifically designed to penetrate the harsh lunar soil. The rover's system demonstrates small-scale oxygen production from regolith. A similar rover could search for water ice and volatile gases such as hydrogen, helium, and nitrogen, in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon's poles. Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh built the rover, which carries equipment known as the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction.

While developing rovers to convert oxygen from moon rock (even in small amounts) is great, NASA may want to rethink the whole drilling approach, as it may be cheaper to use a lunar vacuum (as replacing bits may become expensive after awhile).

Solar Shades For Mercury Outposts?

(Image: The James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield outstretched. Credit: NASA / Northrop Grumman)

Of all the worlds humanity world humanity has yet to conquer, Mercury will probably be one of the toughest to conquer.

With surface temperatures reaching as high as 427 degrees Celsius (or about 800 degrees Fahrenheit), the future of any Mercury outpost looks to be either underground and/or nocturnal (which would probably make this planet an attractive place for penal colonies).

Since living underground (or even inside an outpost) may not attract the masses towards the planet, scientists may need to "revamp" solar shades from space telescopes in order to allow residents to explore the world during the Mercurian day (which is about 29 Earth days long).

(ESA Space Science) Imagine sunglasses that can withstand the severe cold and heat of space, a barrage of radiation and high-speed impacts from small space debris. They don't exist, but the sunshield for the James Webb Space Telescope, JWST, has been designed for just that. [...]

Any satellite that flies in the depths of space has to be able to withstand the rigors of space, from the icy cold to the intense heat and radiation of a solar flare. Temperatures in space can range from a hot 400 K (127°C) to a frigid 30 K (-243°C). In addition, the telescope's sunshield will be bombarded with tiny meteorites (sand-like grains) and radiation in space, so it has to be tough. It has to stand up against those things, as well as tension and aging under the extreme space environments.

Hopefully scientists can find a way to adapt this technology for "space windows" and helmet visors, as it will will enable colonists to view and roam the surface of Mercury without being blinded by the suns rays.

Even though Mercury may not be as colorful or attractive as some of the other worlds in our star system, the first rock from the sun may could easily replace Mars as humanities "next step" (after the Moon) due to the amount of potential resources that may be located there.

Mars: Locating Ice Water In All The Right Places (Technology)

(Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Russian Federal Space Agency)

When it comes to water, Mars probably holds more than any other terrestrial body (at least as far as safely retrieving goes).

While the red planet does hold an abundance of water beneath its surface (not to mention the north and south poles), locating the ice rich regions may determine how successful a future outpost will be on the crimson world.

Fortunately it looks as if scientists may have found a way to locate areas wealthy in ice water simply by "bouncing" neutrons off of the Martian soil.

(Astrobiology Magazine) Detecting water underground does not require a magical stick. Neutrons reflecting out of the soil can indicate the presence of water or ice. A novel instrument that can detect those neutrons is planned for NASA's next rover mission to Mars. [...]

"It is like striking a billiard ball with the cue ball," Boynton said. "If you hit it directly on center, all of the energy of the cue ball (the neutron in this case) will be transferred to the billiard ball (the hydrogen atom)."

The net result is that a neutron is stopped or slowed when colliding with hydrogen. Presumably, most of the hydrogen atoms on a planet surface will be part of a water molecule.

"Water will both thermalize (slow down) and absorb neutrons, so the reflected neutron signal will be higher in thermal (low-energy) neutrons and lower in epithermal (high-energy) neutrons," Boynton explained.

Dry soil, by contrast, will reflect more high-energy neutrons. This is because it will contain predominantly heavier atoms, which act like bowling balls that barely budge when a cue ball hits them. Neutrons striking iron or silicon atoms, rather than hydrogen atoms, will ricochet with practically the same energy that they started with.

Even though we can use satellites to locate ice water from space, their results are not as accurate (as according to the article their signal can only penetrate one meter below the surface).

If promising regions can be located, NASA (and others) could then send robotic landers to drill through the surface, which will make it easier for future colonists to simply collect and filter the Martian water once they arrive.

Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Simostronomy)

Last weeks Carnival of Space was hosted by Mike Simonsen over at Simostronomy.

Posts ranged from mourning over Phoenix's demise to the upcoming Space boom (note: I am looking forward towards that!) to even how to prepare for a "zero-G" flight.

A few articles of interest that readers might want to check out are:

• Alexander DeClama (of Potentia Tenebras Repellendi) reported on scientists may be able to create magnetic shields which could protect astronauts (and future colonists) from deadly space radiation.
  
• Brian Wang of Next Big Future goes into a little more depth regarding the magnetic shielding technology (warning: this post may only appeal to science geeks).
  
• David Portree from Altair VI discusses NASA's previous plans about sending a nuclear powered rocket to Mars.
  

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the rest of the articles from the Carnival of Space! If anyone has any questions or comments about joining the next round, be sure to visit Universe Today for more details on how to enter.

Saturn's Titan: Where Rovers Fail, Hot Air Balloons May Prevail

(Hat Tip: Centauri Dreams, Image Credit: NASA)

To say one could easily explore the surface of Titan without descending below the clouds would be as silly as trying to fathom Earth's oceanic depths without using machines to probe the deep.

If Titan is destined to be a future home for humanity, then we are going to have to find a way to accurately explore its surface.

Since exploring its surface via satellite may be useless due to the methane moon's "jelly insides," we may have to explore it via hot air balloon in order to map out this orange hazy moon.

(Titan and Saturn Future Exploration) We are now in the phase of describing our study of the past year for a return to Titan and the Saturnian System in extensive reports that will allow the science committees appointed by the agencies to evaluate the interest and feasibility of the mission. The JSDT, and the NASA, JPL and ESA engineers have been working hard on putting together these reports and on defining the science, as well as the measurement requirements related to our ambitious mission, which comprises a dedicated Titan orbiter, and two in situ elements : a hot-air (Montgolfière) balloon and a lander. The balloon is to fly over Titan’s mid latitudes at 10 km altitude for about 6 months, while a short-lived probe will land in a north-polar lake. The CNES French Agency has committed to supplying a large part of the balloon, and is actively studying the Montgolfière. For the lander, the flourishing heritage from Huygens is putting us in a strong, comfortable position.

Although some may suggest that we simply deploy another rover (as that will give us a ground view of things), and future machine with wheels my find itself getting stuck due to the chemical nature of Titan's sand grains.

A hot air balloon would probably be a better alternative, as it would not only give us a birds eye view of the region, but enable us to measure what Titan weather is like in the sky (as future colonists will probably construct "nitrogen planes" in order to transport goods across the surface).

Update: Corrected random link color error in blockquote.

Finally! Magnetic Shields For Space Ships (And Colonies Too)

(Hat Tip: Potentia Tenebras Repellendi, Image Credit: Edited by ProjectRHO.com, Original art work by Winchell Chung)

People often say that space is the final frontier. While our future may lie among the stars that shine from above, humanity will forever will be pondering the distant celestial lights if our species can not find a way to deal with the deadly radiation that drifts throughout our star system.

Fortunately it looks as if scientists from the United Kingdom may be on the edge of creating artificial magnetic bubbles after announcing their plans of developing this technology last year.

(Telegraph) The idea of a "mini-magnetosphere" has been around since the 1960s but it was thought impractical because it was believed that only a very large - more than 100km wide - magnetic bubble could possibly work. This would involve enormous amounts of energy and massive machinery.

But the British team, which published its results in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, has come up with a system that would be about the size of a playground roundabout and use the same energy as a kettle.

They envisage two "mini-magnetospheres" being housed in two outrider satellites in front of the space craft that when a storm approaches would switch on the shield and deflect the deadly rays.

While this would tremendously benefit future astronauts traveling throughout our star system, it would also enable us to safely establish large outposts on the Moon, Mars and Ganymede (as Callisto, Titan, Earth and a few Saturan moons are the only radiation safe worlds within our star system).

It may also enable us to bring along all of our animal and insect friends (like bees), instead of having to rely upon creatures who may not need Earth's magnetic influence in order to carry out critical functions (one example being ants).

Note: Since creating these mini magnetic fields will probably require a lot of energy, we will probably  have to use a miniature nuclear reactor to provide enough power to keep the radiation out (and the life support on).

Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Plus Death Of A Space Dream?)

Last weeks Carnival of Space was hosted by Tim Neale of Tomorrow Is Here which not only featured some interesting posts, but also killed this authors dream regarding a certain space technology (note: more of that below).

Articles readers should consider browsing include thoughts regarding the red planet's "semi-magnetic field," NASA partnering with Kentucky Space, interstellar beacons from E.T., and five items to pack on your way to Mars (note: check out reason number four).

The article that caused the most heart-ache was from the Space Cynics, who for an hour on The Space Show pretty much dissected the practicality of space solar power and (unfortunately) found it to be lacking economically.

(Space Cynics) Space Cynics Shubber Ali, Tom Olson (Tom's Rants), Dr. John Jurist (Old Space Cadet) and Dr. David Livingston (Professor L) engaged in a roundtable conference call Saturday morning, Oct. 25, 2008 to discuss space solar power. In keeping with true Space Cynics fashion, this was a hard-hitting discussion addressing some of the fundamental challenges facing SSP and why the Cynics do not share the joy of seeing a future SSP world as do those promoting it. As we started the discussion, Shubber outlined three basic areas that we addressed: technical challenges, economic and political (policy) challenges, and those challenges represented by substitute technology. All of us were in agreement that the technical challenges can be met over time and with sufficient funding and R&D. All the Cynics believe that substitute technologies here on Earth will typically give the economic and policy advantage to terrestrial power over SSP. Furthermore, the economic, political, and policy challenges ahead for SSP are formidable and likely to be much harder, complex, and costly to resolve than many of those promoting SSP believe will be the case.

Even though other countries like Japan might pursue creating space solar power satellites, other upcoming technologies (like geothermal power or even a Hyperion power nuclear reactor) may make space solar power irrelevant in the future (as far as the economics go).

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the rest of the entries over at the Carnival of Space. For those of you seeking to submit your articles to the next round, be sure to visit Universe Today for details on how to enter.