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Innovative Interstellar Explorer
Innovative Interstellar Explorer was a NASA "Vision Mission" study funded by NASA following a proposal under NRA-03-OSS-01 on 11 September 2003. This study focused on measuring the interstellar medium, the region outside the influence of the nearest star, the Sun. It proposes to use a radioisotope thermal generator to power ion thrusters. The project is a study of a proposed interstellar precursor mission that would probe the nearby interstellar medium and measure the properties of magnetic fields and cosmic rays and their effects on a spacecraft leaving the Solar System. Mission launch plans analyzed direct, one planet, multi-planet, and upper-stage trades. As a concept study, a number of technologies, configurations, and mission goals were considered, leading to the choice of a spacecraft propelled with ion engines powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Innovative Interstellar Explorer Interstellar Space Probe
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies. Innovation often takes place through the development of more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, art works or business models that innovators make available to markets, governments and society. Innovation is related to, but not the same as, ''invention'': innovation is more apt to involve the practical implementation of an invention (i.e. new / improved ability) to make a meaningful impact in a market or society, and not all innovations require a new invention. Technical innovation often manifests itself via the engineering process wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star 48
The Star 48 is the largest of a family of solid rocket motors used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages, almost exclusively as an upper stage. It was developed primarily by Thiokol Propulsion and after several mergers, is manufactured by Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems division. A Star 48B stage is also one of the few man-made items sent on escape trajectories out of the Solar System, although it is derelict since its use. The Star 48B variant was the PAM-D upper stage used on the retired Delta II rocket. The Star 48 has been used as an upper stage in three- and four-stage launch systems. Overview The "48" designation refers to the approximate diameter of the fuel casing in inches (122 cm); Thiokol had also manufactured other motors such as the Star 37 and Star 30. Internally, Thiokol's designation was TE-M-711 for early versions and TE-M-799 for later ones. Subtypes are given one or more letter suffixes after the diameter number, or a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypothetical Spacecraft
A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess or thought. If a hypothesis is repeatedly independently demonstrated by experiment to be true, it becomes a scientific theory. In colloquial usage, the words "hypothesis" and "theory" are often used interchangeably, but this is incorrect in the context of science. A working hypothesis is a provisionally-accepted hypothesis used for the purpose of pursuing further progress in research. Working hypotheses are frequently discarded, and often proposed with knowledge (and warning) that they are incomplete and thus false, with the intent of moving research in at least somewhat the right direction, especially when scientists are stuck on an issue and brainstorming ideas. A different meaning of the term ''hypothesis'' is used in formal logic, to deno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TAU (spacecraft)
TAU (Thousand Astronomical Units) was a proposed uncrewed interstellar probe that would go to a distance of one thousand astronomical units (1000 AU) from the Earth and Sun by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1987 using tested technology. One scientific purpose would be to measure the distance to other stars via stellar parallax. Studies continued into 1990, working with a launch in the 2005–2010 timeframe. Overview TAU was a proposed nuclear electric rocket spacecraft that used a 1 MW fission reactor and an ion drive (with a burn time of about 10 years) to reach a distance of 1000 AU in 50 years. The primary goal of the mission was to improve parallax measurements of the distances to stars inside and outside the Milky Way, with secondary goals being the study of the heliopause, measurements of conditions in the interstellar medium, and (via communications with Earth) tests of general relativity. One of the tasks envisioned for TAU would be a flyby of Pluto. A Pluto fly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Horizons
''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a Planetary flyby, flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow, which became a mission to 486958 Arrokoth. It is the List of artificial objects leaving the Solar System, fifth space probe to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. On January 19, 2006, ''New Horizons'' was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station by an Atlas V rocket directly into an Earth-and-solar Escape velocity, escape trajectory with a speed of about . It was the fastest (average speed w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Horizons 2
''New Horizons 2'' (also ''New Horizons II'', NHII, or NH2) was a proposed mission to the trans-Neptunian objects by NASA. It was conceived as a planetary flyby mission in 2002, based on the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft, which was in development at the time. In March 2005, the proposal was not selected for further development because of a shortage of plutonium-238 needed for the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). The ''New Horizons 2'' study was funded by the New Frontiers program, and delivered to the U.S. Congress in June 2005. Description ''New Horizons 2'' was included in the tentative budget for the New Frontiers program missions. In 2004, the United States Senate on Appropriations Committee provided additional funding for ''New Horizons 2'', a new Kuiper belt mission. As early as 2004, there was a conference on how to make the most use of ''New Horizons 2'' Uranus flyby. Candidate targets included 47171 Lempo, a system that, like Pluto–Charon, contains m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interstellar Probe
An interstellar probe is a space probe that has left—or is expected to leave—the Solar System and enter interstellar medium, interstellar space, which is typically defined as the region beyond the Heliopause (astronomy), heliopause. It also refers to probes capable of reaching other star systems. there are five interstellar probes, all launched by the American space agency NASA: ''Voyager 1'', ''Voyager 2'', ''Pioneer 10'', ''Pioneer 11'' and ''New Horizons''. Also ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2'' are the only probes to have actually reached interstellar space. The other three are on interstellar trajectories. Contact to Pioneer 10 and 11 was lost long before they reached interstellar space. The termination shock is the point in the heliosphere where the solar wind slows down to subsonic speed. Even though the termination shock happens as close as 80–100 AU (astronomical units) the maximum extent of the region in which the Sun's gravitational field is dominant (the Hill sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Applied Physics Laboratory
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (or simply Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and employs 8,700 people as of 2024. APL is the nation's largest UARC. The lab serves as a technical resource for the Department of Defense, NASA, and other government agencies. APL has developed numerous systems and technologies in the areas of air and missile defense, surface and undersea naval warfare, computer security, and space science and spacecraft construction. While APL provides research and engineering services to the government, it is not a traditional defense contractor, as it is a UARC and a division of Johns Hopkins University. APL is a scientific and engineering research and development division, rather than an academic division, of Johns Hopkins. Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering offers part-time graduate programs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solar Sail
Solar sails (also known as lightsails, light sails, and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been proposed since the 1980s. The two spacecraft to successfully use the technology for propulsion were IKAROS, launched in 2010, and LightSail-2, launched in 2019. A useful analogy to solar sailing may be a sailing boat; the light exerting a force on the large surface is akin to a sail being blown by the wind. High-energy laser beams could be used as an alternative light source to exert much greater force than would be possible using sunlight, a concept known as beam sailing. Solar sail craft offer the possibility of low-cost operations combined with high speeds (relative to chemical rockets) and long operating lifetimes. Since they have few moving parts and use no propellant, they can potentially be used numerous times for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centauri Dreams
Centauri may refer to: * Centauri Production, a Czech computer games company acquired by Bohemia Interactive * Centauri, a fictional civilization of ''Babylon 5'' * Centauri, a fictional character in ''The Last Starfighter'' See also * ** Several stars or star systems in the constellation Centaurus * Alpha Centauri (other) *Centaur (other) *Centaure (other) *Centauro (other) Centauro is the Italian word for centaur. Centauro also may refer to: People *Greg Centauro (1977–2011), French pornographic actor and director Military formations *I Mechanized Brigade "Centauro", ancestor of the Italian Army's Mechanized Bri ... * Centaurus (other) {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlas V 551
Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to launch payloads for the United States Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial customers, Atlas V is the longest-serving active rocket in the United States. Each Atlas V vehicle consists of two main stages. The first stage is powered by a single Russian-made RD-180 engine that burns kerosene and liquid oxygen. The Centaur upper stage uses one or two American-made Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engines that burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are used in several configurations. Originally equipped with AJ-60A SRBs, the vehicle switched to Graphite-Epoxy Motor (GEM 63) boosters beginning in November 2020, except for flights in the Boeing Starliner program. Standard payload fairings measure either or in diameter, with mul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star 37
The Star is a family of US solid-propellant rocket motors originally developed by Thiokol and used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages. They are used almost exclusively as an upper stage, often as an apogee kick motor. The number designations refer to the approximate diameter of the fuel casing in inches. Three Star 37 stages, and one Star 48 stage, were launched on solar escape trajectories; fast enough to leave the Sun's orbit and out into interstellar space, where barring the low chance of colliding with debris, they will travel past other stars in the Milky Way galaxy and survive potentially intact for millions of years. Star 13 The Star 13 (TE-M-458) is a solid fuel apogee kick motor. It was used on NASA's Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform satellites. Several other versions were developed. Star 13D (TE-M-375) was used on the Syncom 1, Star 13A (TE-M-516) on LES 1/ 2, Aurora (P67-1), Orbiscal (P68-1), Lincoln Calibration Sphere 4, S3-2, Sol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
