Nautilus-X
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Nautilus-X (Non-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intended for Lengthy United States Exploration) is a rotating wheel space station concept developed by engineers Mark Holderman and Edward Henderson of the Technology Applications Assessment Team of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
. The concept was first proposed in January, 2011 for long-duration (1 to 24 months) exo-atmospheric space journeys for a six-person crew. In order to limit the effects of microgravity on human health, the spacecraft would be equipped with a centrifuge. The design was intended to be relatively inexpensive by
crewed spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...
standards, as it was projected to cost US$3.7 billion. In addition, it was suggested that it might only need 64 months of work. The project was cancelled in favour of other projects due to budget constraints.


Objectives

The original goal of Nautilus-X was to be a stopover to long-term missions for the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
or
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
. To ease route planning of the whole mission, the station would be placed at the
Lagrange point In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the gravitational influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves t ...
L1 or L2 of the Moon or Mars, depending on which location is to be visited. It would also have served as an emergency station and hospital for current mission crews. Other objectives included: * Self-sustained for long-duration missions with crews as large as 6. * Support crewed landing missions. * Satisfy requirements of NASA Authorization Act of 2010.


Description


Design

The proposal notionally included a main corridor, a rotating habitable centrifuge, inflatable modules for logistical stores and crew use, solar power arrays, and a reconfigurable thrust structure. The design was modular, enabling it to accommodate any of a number of mission specific propulsion modules, manipulator arms, docking port for an Orion or commercial crew capsule, and landing craft for destination worlds. In theory the engines and fuel could be swapped out depending on the mission. The proposal also had an industrial slide-out
airlock An airlock is a room or compartment which permits passage between environments of differing atmospheric pressure or composition, while minimizing the changing of pressure or composition between the differing environments. An airlock consist ...
unit and a command, control and observation deck. On the other end of the docking port would have been the spacecraft's
centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to subject a specimen to a specified constant force - for example, to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby ...
equipped with an external ''dynamic'' ring-
flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device that uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy, a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, a ...
. Behind the centrifuge would be water and slush hydrogen tanks, which could mitigate the dangers of
cosmic radiation Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Sol ...
for the crew, to a degree. The aft of the craft would contain the communication and propulsion systems. The ''standard'' version of Nautilus-X had three inflatable modules. The ''Extended Duration Explorer'' variant on the Nautilus-X design concept would have several more, plus docking bays for science payloads and away-mission vehicles.


Technologies

In order to deploy this massive spacecraft as easily as possible, it would consist of a variety of rigid and inflatable modules and solar dynamic arrays. The expandable modules are based on the technology used by the inflatable living quarters proposed by Bigelow Aerospace, which has continued the development of inflatable modules initially designed and developed by NASA.


Attributes

* Environmental Control and Life Support and communication suite * Large storage volumes (for food, mechanical parts or medical supplies) * Visual command and observe capability for crew * Low crew
irradiation Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. An irradiator is a device used to expose an object to radiation, most often gamma radiation, for a variety of purposes. Irradiators may be used for sterilizing medical and p ...
* Semi-autonomous integration of multiple mission specific propulsion units


Status as of 2011

The Nautilus-X design concept did not advance beyond the initial drawings and proposal.


ISS centrifuge demonstration

In order to assess and characterize influences and effects of the centrifuge relative to human reactions, mechanical dynamic responses and influences, the demonstration of a similar centrifuge first would be tested on the International Space Station ( ISS). If produced, this centrifuge would have been the first in-space demonstration of sufficient scale for artificial partial-g effects. The demonstrator would be sent using a single
Delta IV Delta IV was a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family. It flew 45 missions from 2002 to 2024. Originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) p ...
or
Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...
launcher. The full cost of such a demonstrator would be between US$83 million and US$143 million.


See also

*
Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a planned space station which is to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part ...
*
Lunar Orbital Station The Lunar Orbital Station (; LOS) is a proposed Russian space station which would orbit around the Moon. The design was presented in 2007 at a conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Star City. It is one of the tw ...
* Rotating wheel space station


References


External links


NAUTILUS-X: Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle
Mark L. Holderman, ''Future in Space Operations (FISO) Colloquium'', 2011-01-26.
New NASA Designs for a Reusable Manned Deep-Space Craft, Nautilus-X
Popular Science, 2011-02-14. {{Space stations Proposed space stations