Spacecraft of the future. Reusable space: promising US spacecraft projects. Projects and prospects
Nuclear propulsion system for a Russian spacecraft
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Warp engine of an interstellar ship
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Into deep space using ion engines
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Gym in space
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Thermonuclear rocket engine - first tests
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Ship teleportation: fiction and reality
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3D printing technology: rocket engine
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Russian super-heavy rocket
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Artificial gravity station
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Spacesuit for jumping from space
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System “Baikal”
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Russian spacesuit of the 5th generation
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Russian plasma rocket engine will open the way to Mars
In 2016, NPO Energomash and the Kurchatov Institute Research Center announced their intention to implement a project for an electrodeless plasma rocket engine. Considering the intention of leading space |
Metal glass robot
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EmDrive rocket engine: flight without working fluid
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Launch vehicle “Angara”
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Project MRKS-1
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Project “Spiral”
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Project “Prometheus”
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Project MAKS
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Orion ship project
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Project “Buran”: a future that has not come
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An-325 project
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The truth about UFOs
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Flight into space - space elevator
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Flight to Mars in 2021
A group of young specialists from Russia made a sensational statement, announcing that by 2021 they will be able to provide a manned flight to Mars and Venus. IN |
Why is Leonov's quantum engine not being implemented?
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Plasma engine for interplanetary spacecraft
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Prospects for the Angara rocket
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Prospects for aerospace technology
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In 2011, the United States found itself without space vehicles capable of delivering humans into low-Earth orbit. American engineers are now building more new manned spacecraft than ever before, with private companies leading the way, meaning space exploration will become much cheaper. In this article we will talk about seven planned vehicles, and if at least some of these projects come to fruition, a new golden age in manned space flight will begin.
- Type: habitable capsule Creator: Space Exploration Technologies / Elon Musk
- Launch date: 2015
- Purpose: flights to orbit (to the ISS)
- Chances of success: very decent
When Elon Musk founded his company Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in 2002, skeptics saw no prospects. However, by 2010, his startup became the first private enterprise that managed to replicate what had until then been a state diocese. A Falcon 9 rocket launched an unmanned Dragon capsule into orbit.
The next step on Musk’s path to space is the development, based on the Dragon reusable capsule, of a device capable of carrying people on board. It will be named DragonRider and is intended for flights to the ISS. Using an innovative approach in both design and operating principles, SpaceX says it will cost only $20 million per seat to transport passengers (a passenger seat on the Russian Soyuz currently costs the US $63 million).
Path to the manned capsule
Upgraded interior
The capsule will be equipped for a crew of seven people. Already inside the unmanned version, earth pressure is maintained, so it will not be difficult to adapt it for human habitation.
Wider windows
Through them, astronauts will be able to observe the process of docking with the ISS. Future modifications of the capsule - with the ability to land on a jet stream - will require an even wider view.
Additional engines developing 54 tons of thrust for emergency ascent into orbit in the event of a launch vehicle accident.
Dream Chaser - Descendant of the Space Shuttle
- Type: rocket-launched spaceplane Maker: Sierra Nevada Space Systems
- Planned launch into orbit: 2017
- Purpose: orbital flights
- Chances of success: good
Of course, space planes have certain advantages. Unlike an ordinary passenger capsule, which, falling through the atmosphere, can only slightly adjust its trajectory, shuttles are capable of performing maneuvers during descent and even changing the destination airfield. In addition, they can be reused after a short service. However, the crashes of two American shuttles showed that space planes are by no means an ideal means for orbital expeditions. Firstly, it is expensive to transport cargo on the same vehicles as the crews, because by using a purely cargo ship, you can save on safety and life support systems.
Secondly, attaching the shuttle to the side of the boosters and fuel tank increases the risk of damage from accidentally falling off elements of these structures, which was the cause of the death of the Columbia shuttle. But Sierra Nevada Space Systems vows to clear the orbital spaceplane's reputation. To do this, she has the Dream Chaser, a winged vehicle for delivering crews to the space station. The company is already fighting for NASA contracts. The Dream Chaser design eliminates the major shortcomings of older space shuttles. Firstly, they now intend to transport cargo and crews separately. And secondly, now the ship will be mounted not on the side, but on top of the Atlas V launch vehicle. At the same time, all the advantages of the shuttles will be preserved.
Suborbital flights of the device are scheduled for 2015, and it will be launched into orbit two years later.
How is it inside?
This device can send seven people into space at once. The ship launches on top of the rocket.
At a given point, it is separated from the carrier and can then dock at the space station's docking port.
Dream Chaser has never flown into space, but it's ready to at least run on the runway. In addition, it was dropped from helicopters, testing the aerodynamic capabilities of the ship.
New Shepard - Amazon's Secret Ship
- Type: habitable capsule Creator: Blue Origin / Jeff Bezos
- Launch date: unknown
- Chances of success: good
Jeff Bezos, the 49-year-old founder of Amazon.com and a billionaire with his own vision of the future, has been implementing secret plans for space exploration for more than ten years. Bezos has already invested many millions of his $25 billion capital into a daring venture called Blue Origin. His vehicle will take off from an experimental launch pad, which was built (with FAA approval, of course) in a remote corner of West Texas.
In 2011, the company published footage showing the New Shepard cone-shaped missile system prepared for testing. It takes off vertically to a height of one and a half hundred meters, hovers there for a while, and then smoothly descends to the ground using a jet stream. According to the project, in the future the launch vehicle will be able, having thrown the capsule to a suborbital altitude, to independently return to the cosmodrome using its own engine. This is a much more economical scheme than catching the used stage in the ocean after splashdown.
After Internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos founded his space company in 2000, he kept its very existence a secret for three years. The company launches its experimental vehicles (like the capsule pictured) from a private spaceport in West Texas.
The system consists of two parts.
The crew capsule, in which normal atmospheric pressure is maintained, is separated from the carrier and flies to an altitude of 100 km. The propulsion engine allows the rocket to make a vertical landing near the launch pad. The capsule itself is then returned to earth using a parachute.
The launch vehicle lifts the vehicle from the launch pad.
SpaceShipTwo - Pioneer in the tourism business
- Type: spacecraft launched in the air from a carrier aircraft Creator: Virgin Galactic /
- Richard Branson
- Launch date: scheduled for 2014
- Purpose: suborbital flights
- Chances of success: very good
The first of the SpaceShipTwo vehicles during a test glide flight. In the future, four more similar devices will be built, which will begin to carry tourists. 600 people have already signed up for the flight, including celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The device, built by famous designer Burt Rutan in collaboration with tycoon Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Group, laid the foundation for the future of space tourism. Why not take everyone into space? The new version of this device will be able to accommodate six tourists and two pilots. The journey into space will consist of two parts. First, the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft (its length is 18 m and its wingspan is 42) will lift the SpaceShipTwo apparatus to an altitude of 15 km.
Then the jet will separate from the carrier aircraft, fire its own engines and blast off into space. At an altitude of 108 km, passengers will have an excellent view of both the curvature of the earth's surface and the serene glow of the earth's atmosphere - all against the backdrop of the black depths of space. A ticket costing a quarter of a million dollars will allow travelers to enjoy weightlessness, but for only four minutes.
Inspiration Mars - Kiss over the Red Planet
- Type: interplanetary transport Creator: Inspiration Mars Foundation / Dennis Tito
- Launch date: 2018
- Purpose: flight to Mars
- Chances of success: doubtful
Honeymoon (lasting a year and a half) on an interplanetary expedition? The Inspiration Mars fund, run by former NASA engineer, investment specialist and first space tourist Dennis Tito, wants to offer this opportunity to the chosen couple. Tito's group hopes to take advantage of the parade of planets that will occur in 2018 (this happens once every 15 years). “Parade” will allow you to fly from Earth to Mars and return along a free return trajectory, that is, without burning additional fuel. Next year, Inspiration Mars will begin accepting applications for a 501-day expedition.
The ship will have to fly at a distance of 150 km from the surface of Mars. To participate in the flight, it is supposed to choose a married couple - possibly newlyweds (the issue of psychological compatibility is important). “The Inspiration Mars fund estimates that it will need to raise $1-2 billion. We are laying the groundwork for things that were previously unthinkable, such as going to other planets,” says Marco Caceres, head of space exploration at the Teal Group.
- Type: Self-propelled space plane Created by: XCOR Aerospace
- Planned launch date: 2014
- Purpose: suborbital flights
- Chances of success: quite decent
California-based XCOR Aerospace, headquartered in Mojave, believes it holds the key to the cheapest suborbital flights. The company is already selling tickets for its 9-meter Lynx device, designed for just two passengers. Tickets cost $95,000.
Unlike other spaceplanes and passenger capsules, the Lynx does not require a launch vehicle to reach space. Having launched jet engines specially developed for this project (they will burn kerosene with liquid oxygen), Lynx will take off from the runway in a horizontal direction, as a conventional plane does, and only after accelerating will soar steeply along its space trajectory. The first test flight of the device may take place in the coming months.
Takeoff: The space plane accelerates down the runway.
Ascent: Having reached Mach 2.9, it climbs steeply.
Goal: Approximately 3 minutes after takeoff, the engines shut down. The plane follows a parabolic trajectory, rushing through suborbital space.
Return to the dense layers of the atmosphere and landing.
The device gradually slows down, cutting circles in a downward spiral.
Orion - Passenger capsule for a large company
- Type: manned ship of increased volume for interstellar travel
- Creator: NASA / US Congress
- Launch date: 2021–2025
NASA has already, without regret, ceded flights to near-Earth orbit to private companies, but the agency has not yet given up its claims to deep space. The multi-purpose manned spacecraft Orion may fly to planets and asteroids. It will consist of a capsule docked with a module, which, in turn, will contain a power plant with a fuel supply, as well as a living compartment. The first test flight of the capsule will take place in 2014. It will be launched into space by a 70 m long Delta launch vehicle. Then the capsule must return to the atmosphere and land in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
A new rocket will apparently be built for the long-distance expeditions for which Orion is being prepared. Work is already underway at NASA's Huntsville, Alabama, facility on the new 98-meter Space Launch System rocket. This super-heavy transport must be ready for the moment when (and if) NASA astronauts decide to fly to the Moon, to some asteroid, or even further. “We're increasingly thinking about Mars,” says Dan Dambacher, director of NASA's Exploration Systems Development Division, “as our primary goal.” True, some critics say that such claims are somewhat excessive. The projected system is so huge that NASA will be able to use it no more than once every two years, since one launch will cost $6 billion.
When will man set foot on an asteroid?
In 2025, NASA plans to send astronauts in the Orion spacecraft to one of the asteroids located near Earth - 1999AO10. The journey should take five months.
Launch: Orion, with a crew of four, will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Flight: After five days of flight, Orion, using the gravity of the Moon, will make a turn around it and set a course for 1999AO10.
Meeting: astronauts will fly to the asteroid two months after launch. They will spend two weeks on its surface, but there is no talk of a real landing, since this space rock has too weak gravity. Rather, crew members will simply anchor their ship to the asteroid's surface and collect mineral samples.
Return: since asteroid 1999AO10 has been gradually approaching Earth all this time, the return journey will be slightly shorter. Having reached low-Earth orbit, the capsule will separate from the ship and splash down in the ocean.
In 2011, the United States found itself without space vehicles capable of delivering humans into low-Earth orbit. American engineers are now building more new manned spacecraft than ever before, with private companies leading the way, meaning space exploration will become much cheaper. In this article we will talk about seven planned vehicles, and if at least some of these projects come to fruition, a new golden age in manned space flight will begin.
- Type: habitable capsule Creator: Space Exploration Technologies / Elon Musk
- Launch date: 2015
- Purpose: flights to orbit (to the ISS)
- Chances of success: very decent
When Elon Musk founded his company Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in 2002, skeptics saw no prospects. However, by 2010, his startup became the first private enterprise that managed to replicate what had until then been a state diocese. A Falcon 9 rocket launched an unmanned Dragon capsule into orbit.
The next step on Musk’s path to space is the development, based on the Dragon reusable capsule, of a device capable of carrying people on board. It will be named DragonRider and is intended for flights to the ISS. Using an innovative approach in both design and operating principles, SpaceX says it will cost only $20 million per seat to transport passengers (a passenger seat on the Russian Soyuz currently costs the US $63 million).
Path to the manned capsule
Upgraded interior
The capsule will be equipped for a crew of seven people. Already inside the unmanned version, earth pressure is maintained, so it will not be difficult to adapt it for human habitation.
Wider windows
Through them, astronauts will be able to observe the process of docking with the ISS. Future modifications of the capsule - with the ability to land on a jet stream - will require an even wider view.
Additional engines developing 54 tons of thrust for emergency ascent into orbit in the event of a launch vehicle accident.
Dream Chaser - Descendant of the Space Shuttle
- Type: rocket-launched spaceplane Maker: Sierra Nevada Space Systems
- Planned launch into orbit: 2017
- Purpose: orbital flights
- Chances of success: good
Of course, space planes have certain advantages. Unlike an ordinary passenger capsule, which, falling through the atmosphere, can only slightly adjust its trajectory, shuttles are capable of performing maneuvers during descent and even changing the destination airfield. In addition, they can be reused after a short service. However, the crashes of two American shuttles showed that space planes are by no means an ideal means for orbital expeditions. Firstly, it is expensive to transport cargo on the same vehicles as the crews, because by using a purely cargo ship, you can save on safety and life support systems.
Secondly, attaching the shuttle to the side of the boosters and fuel tank increases the risk of damage from accidentally falling off elements of these structures, which was the cause of the death of the Columbia shuttle. But Sierra Nevada Space Systems vows to clear the orbital spaceplane's reputation. To do this, she has the Dream Chaser, a winged vehicle for delivering crews to the space station. The company is already fighting for NASA contracts. The Dream Chaser design eliminates the major shortcomings of older space shuttles. Firstly, they now intend to transport cargo and crews separately. And secondly, now the ship will be mounted not on the side, but on top of the Atlas V launch vehicle. At the same time, all the advantages of the shuttles will be preserved.
Suborbital flights of the device are scheduled for 2015, and it will be launched into orbit two years later.
How is it inside?
This device can send seven people into space at once. The ship launches on top of the rocket.
At a given point, it is separated from the carrier and can then dock at the space station's docking port.
Dream Chaser has never flown into space, but it's ready to at least run on the runway. In addition, it was dropped from helicopters, testing the aerodynamic capabilities of the ship.
New Shepard - Amazon's Secret Ship
- Type: habitable capsule Creator: Blue Origin / Jeff Bezos
- Launch date: unknown
- Chances of success: good
Jeff Bezos, the 49-year-old founder of Amazon.com and a billionaire with his own vision of the future, has been implementing secret plans for space exploration for more than ten years. Bezos has already invested many millions of his $25 billion capital into a daring venture called Blue Origin. His vehicle will take off from an experimental launch pad, which was built (with FAA approval, of course) in a remote corner of West Texas.
In 2011, the company published footage showing the New Shepard cone-shaped missile system prepared for testing. It takes off vertically to a height of one and a half hundred meters, hovers there for a while, and then smoothly descends to the ground using a jet stream. According to the project, in the future the launch vehicle will be able, having thrown the capsule to a suborbital altitude, to independently return to the cosmodrome using its own engine. This is a much more economical scheme than catching the used stage in the ocean after splashdown.
After Internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos founded his space company in 2000, he kept its very existence a secret for three years. The company launches its experimental vehicles (like the capsule pictured) from a private spaceport in West Texas.
The system consists of two parts.
The crew capsule, in which normal atmospheric pressure is maintained, is separated from the carrier and flies to an altitude of 100 km. The propulsion engine allows the rocket to make a vertical landing near the launch pad. The capsule itself is then returned to earth using a parachute.
The launch vehicle lifts the vehicle from the launch pad.
SpaceShipTwo - Pioneer in the tourism business
- Type: spacecraft launched in the air from a carrier aircraft Creator: Virgin Galactic /
- Richard Branson
- Launch date: scheduled for 2014
- Purpose: suborbital flights
- Chances of success: very good
The first of the SpaceShipTwo vehicles during a test glide flight. In the future, four more similar devices will be built, which will begin to carry tourists. 600 people have already signed up for the flight, including celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The device, built by famous designer Burt Rutan in collaboration with tycoon Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Group, laid the foundation for the future of space tourism. Why not take everyone into space? The new version of this device will be able to accommodate six tourists and two pilots. The journey into space will consist of two parts. First, the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft (its length is 18 m and its wingspan is 42) will lift the SpaceShipTwo apparatus to an altitude of 15 km.
Then the jet will separate from the carrier aircraft, fire its own engines and blast off into space. At an altitude of 108 km, passengers will have an excellent view of both the curvature of the earth's surface and the serene glow of the earth's atmosphere - all against the backdrop of the black depths of space. A ticket costing a quarter of a million dollars will allow travelers to enjoy weightlessness, but for only four minutes.
Inspiration Mars - Kiss over the Red Planet
- Type: interplanetary transport Creator: Inspiration Mars Foundation / Dennis Tito
- Launch date: 2018
- Purpose: flight to Mars
- Chances of success: doubtful
Honeymoon (lasting a year and a half) on an interplanetary expedition? The Inspiration Mars fund, run by former NASA engineer, investment specialist and first space tourist Dennis Tito, wants to offer this opportunity to the chosen couple. Tito's group hopes to take advantage of the parade of planets that will occur in 2018 (this happens once every 15 years). “Parade” will allow you to fly from Earth to Mars and return along a free return trajectory, that is, without burning additional fuel. Next year, Inspiration Mars will begin accepting applications for a 501-day expedition.
The ship will have to fly at a distance of 150 km from the surface of Mars. To participate in the flight, it is supposed to choose a married couple - possibly newlyweds (the issue of psychological compatibility is important). “The Inspiration Mars fund estimates that it will need to raise $1-2 billion. We are laying the groundwork for things that were previously unthinkable, such as going to other planets,” says Marco Caceres, head of space exploration at the Teal Group.
- Type: Self-propelled space plane Created by: XCOR Aerospace
- Planned launch date: 2014
- Purpose: suborbital flights
- Chances of success: quite decent
California-based XCOR Aerospace, headquartered in Mojave, believes it holds the key to the cheapest suborbital flights. The company is already selling tickets for its 9-meter Lynx device, designed for just two passengers. Tickets cost $95,000.
Unlike other spaceplanes and passenger capsules, the Lynx does not require a launch vehicle to reach space. Having launched jet engines specially developed for this project (they will burn kerosene with liquid oxygen), Lynx will take off from the runway in a horizontal direction, as a conventional plane does, and only after accelerating will soar steeply along its space trajectory. The first test flight of the device may take place in the coming months.
Takeoff: The space plane accelerates down the runway.
Ascent: Having reached Mach 2.9, it climbs steeply.
Goal: Approximately 3 minutes after takeoff, the engines shut down. The plane follows a parabolic trajectory, rushing through suborbital space.
Return to the dense layers of the atmosphere and landing.
The device gradually slows down, cutting circles in a downward spiral.
Orion - Passenger capsule for a large company
- Type: manned ship of increased volume for interstellar travel
- Creator: NASA / US Congress
- Launch date: 2021–2025
NASA has already, without regret, ceded flights to near-Earth orbit to private companies, but the agency has not yet given up its claims to deep space. The multi-purpose manned spacecraft Orion may fly to planets and asteroids. It will consist of a capsule docked with a module, which, in turn, will contain a power plant with a fuel supply, as well as a living compartment. The first test flight of the capsule will take place in 2014. It will be launched into space by a 70 m long Delta launch vehicle. Then the capsule must return to the atmosphere and land in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
A new rocket will apparently be built for the long-distance expeditions for which Orion is being prepared. Work is already underway at NASA's Huntsville, Alabama, facility on the new 98-meter Space Launch System rocket. This super-heavy transport must be ready for the moment when (and if) NASA astronauts decide to fly to the Moon, to some asteroid, or even further. “We're increasingly thinking about Mars,” says Dan Dambacher, director of NASA's Exploration Systems Development Division, “as our primary goal.” True, some critics say that such claims are somewhat excessive. The projected system is so huge that NASA will be able to use it no more than once every two years, since one launch will cost $6 billion.
When will man set foot on an asteroid?
In 2025, NASA plans to send astronauts in the Orion spacecraft to one of the asteroids located near Earth - 1999AO10. The journey should take five months.
Launch: Orion, with a crew of four, will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Flight: After five days of flight, Orion, using the gravity of the Moon, will make a turn around it and set a course for 1999AO10.
Meeting: astronauts will fly to the asteroid two months after launch. They will spend two weeks on its surface, but there is no talk of a real landing, since this space rock has too weak gravity. Rather, crew members will simply anchor their ship to the asteroid's surface and collect mineral samples.
Return: since asteroid 1999AO10 has been gradually approaching Earth all this time, the return journey will be slightly shorter. Having reached low-Earth orbit, the capsule will separate from the ship and splash down in the ocean.
Humanity has been exploring outer space with manned spacecraft for more than half a century. Alas, during this time it, figuratively speaking, has not sailed far. If we compare the Universe to the ocean, we are just wandering at the edge of the surf, ankle-deep in water. One day, however, we decided to swim a little deeper (the Apollo lunar program), and since then we have lived with memories of this event as the highest achievement.
Until now, spaceships have primarily served as delivery vehicles to and from Earth. The maximum duration of autonomous flight achievable by the reusable Space Shuttle is only 30 days, and even then theoretically. But perhaps the spaceships of the future will become much more advanced and versatile?
Already the Apollo lunar expeditions have clearly shown that the requirements for future spacecraft can be strikingly different from the tasks for “space taxis”. The Apollo lunar cabin had very little in common with streamlined ships and was not designed for flight in a planetary atmosphere. Photos of American astronauts give some idea of what the spaceships of the future will look like more than clearly.
The most serious factor that hinders occasional human exploration of the Solar System, not to mention the organization of scientific bases on the planets and their satellites, is radiation. Problems arise even with lunar missions that last a week at most. And the year and a half flight to Mars, which seemed to be about to take place, is being pushed further and further away. Automated research has shown that it is deadly to humans along the entire route of interplanetary flight. So the spaceships of the future will inevitably acquire serious anti-radiation protection in combination with special medical and biological measures for the crew.
It is clear that the faster he gets to his destination, the better. But fast flight requires powerful engines. And for them, in turn, highly efficient fuel that does not take up much space. Therefore, chemical propulsion engines will give way to nuclear ones in the near future. If scientists succeed in taming antimatter, that is, converting mass into light radiation, the spaceships of the future will acquire. In this case, we will be talking about achieving relativistic speeds and interstellar expeditions.
Another serious obstacle to man’s exploration of the Universe will be the long-term provision of his life. In just one day, the human body consumes a lot of oxygen, water and food, releases solid and liquid waste, and exhales carbon dioxide. It is pointless to take a full supply of oxygen and food on board due to their enormous weight. The problem is solved by an on-board closed circuit. However, so far all experiments on this topic have not been successful. And without a closed life support system, spaceships of the future flying through space for years are unthinkable; The artists' pictures, of course, amaze the imagination, but do not reflect the real state of affairs.
So, all projects of spaceships and starships are still far from real implementation. And humanity will have to come to terms with studying the Universe by undercover astronauts and receiving information from automatic probes. But this, of course, is temporary. Astronautics does not stand still, and indirect signs show that a major breakthrough is brewing in this area of human activity. So, perhaps, the spaceships of the future will be built and make their first flights in the 21st century.