To ensure a robust capability to monitor, nowcast and forecast potentially dangerous solar events, ESA has initiated the assessment of two possible future space weather missions. This assessment foresees positioning spacecraft in orbit at the L1 and L5 Lagrangian points - points in space where gravitational forces and the orbital motion of the spacecraft, the Sun and Earth interact to create a stable location from which to make observations.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lagrange_mission_ESA414888.png
Seen in orbit from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009, flying Servicing Mission 4 (STS-125), the fifth and final Hubble mission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope
NASA has selected 16 cool new futuristic space technology concepts for further study. Four of them are from NASA’s own Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), including a railway system on the moon to move cargo.
One of the new proposals from JPL is FLOAT, where a railway system would be used on the moon to move cargo. Magnetic robots would levitate over the track. Image via Ethan Schaler/ NASA.
Space is a busy place these days, relatively speaking, with numerous missions in our solar system exploring planets, asteroids, comets and the sun. All of the excitement and insights of the new space missions are possible because of ever-changing advances in technology. But what about the future? What technological marvels lie ahead?
NASA has provided of glimpse of that future, with the selection of 16 new futuristic space technology concepts, including four from NASA’s own Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the space agency announced on February 25, 2021.
NASA has approved grants from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program to be given to over a dozen researchers to study their concepts’ feasibility. This includes scientists from NASA itself, industry and academia. STMD has selected 16 Phase I proposals for 2021. Each proposal will receive an initial grant of $125,000 from NASA. Proposals that are successful in their nine month feasibility studies are then eligible to apply for Phase II grants. All proposals are considered to be early-stage technology development efforts with no guarantee of being actual missions.
The Titan Sample Return Using In-Situ Propellants mission would obtain samples from the surface of Saturn’s largest moon Titan and bring them back to Earth for study. Image via Steven Oleson/ NASA.
Here is a list of other proposals funded:
Regolith Adaptive Modification System to Support Early Extraterrestrial Planetary Landings
Ablative Arc Mining for In-Situ Resource Utilization
Kilometer-Scale Space Structures from a Single Launch
Autonomous Robotic Demonstrator for Deep Drilling (ARD3)
Atomic Planar Power for Lightweight Exploration (APPLE)
Titan Sample Return Using In-situ Propellants
ReachBot: Small Robot for Large Mobile Manipulation Tasks in Martian Cave Environments
FarView: In-situ Manufactured Lunar Far Side Radio Observatory
Making Soil for Space Habitats by Seeding Asteroids with Fungi
https://earthsky.org/space/futuristic-space-technology-concepts-nasa-jpl-niac
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Virgin Galactic announced that it has made a deal with NASA to bring private astronauts to the International Space Station. So far, Richard Branson’s company hasn’t done any paid suborbital trips, let alone orbital flights. However, the NASA contract only calls for Virgin to find commercial client prospects and coordinate their transport to the ISS, for now. That could involve training and possibly brokering trips on the SpaceX Crew Dragon, Boeing Starliner or Russia’s Soyuz Capsule.
The idea is that Virgin Galactic will create a plan for how to do all this and run it by NASA. “NASA will conduct an assessment of the feasibility of Virgin Galactic’s plan to develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program to enable private astronaut missions to the International Space Station,” NASA told The Verge. “Virgin Galactic’s plans to develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program directly support NASA’s broad strategy to facilitate the commercialization of low-Earth orbit by U.S. entities.”
While training and trip brokering doesn’t sound too thrilling, Virgin Galactic does have some unique expertise. It has a number of ex-NASA employees and is already developing an astronaut training program for future suborbital flights. The company’s VSS Unity spaceplane (above) would also be a great way to train private astronauts. Even though they don’t enter orbit, passengers experience the same things they would on an orbital spacecraft like zero gravity and high G loading.
Virgin also has a Rolodex full of prospective clients that may have already inquired about suborbital flights. The service won’t just be for rich space tourists, but could be used by “researchers or even government researchers,” the company said.
It’s also part of a push by NASA to open up the ISS to more commercial use. The agency famously spoke to Tom Cruise about filming a movie on the ISS, and SpaceX recently formed an alliance with a company called Axiom to send private astronauts to the space station as early as this year. Virgin Galactic recently went public, so it’s clearly trying to expand its business beyond the suborbital space tourism realm.
For an up-to-date schedule of NASA's Launches and Landings click HERE.