Nautilus-X (Non-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intended for Lengthy United States Exploration) is a

rotating wheel space station A rotating wheel space station, also known as a von Braun wheel, is a concept for a hypothetical wheel-shaped space station. Originally proposed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1903, the idea was expanded by Herman Potočnik in 1929. Specifications ...

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 agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

. 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 standards, as it was projected to only cost US$3.7 billion. In addition, it was suggested that it might only need 64 months of work.

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 is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. 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 influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves the solution of 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 The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 is a U.S. law authorizing NASA appropriations for fiscal years 2011, 2012, 2013 with the same top-line budget values as requested by US President Barack Obama. It resulted from the Augustine Commission's review o ...

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, air-lock or air lock, often abbreviated to just lock, is a compartment with doors which can be sealed against pressure which permits the passage of people and objects between environments of differing pressure or atmospheric compo ...

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 separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby separating fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or ...

equipped with an external ''dynamic'' ring-

flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device which 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, as ...

. Behind the centrifuge would be water and slush hydrogen tanks, which could mitigate the dangers of

cosmic radiation Cosmic rays 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 Solar System in our ow ...

for the crew, to a certain degree. In the aft of the craft are the communication and propulsion systems. The ''standard'' version of Nautilus-X had only 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. Nautilus-X Extended duration explorer

Nautilus-X Extended duration explorer - frontview

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 Bigelow Aerospace is an American aeronautics and outer space technology company which manufactures and develops expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998, and is based in North Las Vegas, Nevada. ...

, which has continued the development of inflatable modules initially designed and developed by NASA.

Attributes

* Robust Environmental Control and Life Support and communication suite * Large storage volumes (for food, mechanical parts or medical supplies) * Real-time visual command and observe capability for crew * Low crew

irradiation Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. The exposure can originate from various sources, including natural sources. Most frequently the term refers to ionizing radiation, and to a level of radiation that will serve ...

* 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 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 is a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family introduced in the early 2000s. Originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, th ...

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Mart ...

launcher. The full cost of such a demonstrator would be between US$83 million and US$143 million.

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