NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - has long led the line for
space research, delivering various iconic moments since its inception in 1958. But, today, partway
through the twenty-first century, the landscape has dramatically changed. Where once NASA was out
on its own with only the Soviet Space Program for company, now there is a raft of major competitors
in the field. To stay ahead of the game, then, NASA will need to pull out all the stops.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re taking a closer look at 6 NASA
breakthroughs that are predicted to happen during your lifetime.
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First up, long distance astronauts. You might reasonably argue that any astronaut
capable of reaching the moon is (or has already been) suitably long distance,
in themselves. But, again, times have changed, and getting to the moon is
now relatively small fry in the minds of today’s future planners. Instead,
with all eyes on a proposed mission to Mars, around 140 million miles away,
we need a new breed of astronaut… capable not only of a few days cooped up inside a spaceship,
but a few months. And probably more than a year away from Earth, for an entire return mission.
NASA is on it, though, with its Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog & Mars Dune
Alpha facility, a simulated Martian habitat. Located at the Johnson Space Center in Texas,
Mars Dune Alpha is designed to mimic what life will be like on the Red Planet. And,
in summer 2023, it’ll get its first proper use, when four volunteers start a year-long experiment
of living inside it. For those four, life will become a daily test, as they’ll take on tasks
such as simulated space walks and the growing of crops, all while discovering how easy (or not) it
is to maintain the environment itself plus their own personal hygiene, and mental and physical
health. Experiment runners will also trigger instances such as deliberate equipment failures,
to test how well problems like these can be solved. Even if we were never to actually get
to Mars, then, we should soon at least have a band of people capable of surviving the trip.
Of course, and even if it is perhaps less remarkable than it once was,
before Mars comes the moon. And, here, NASA is increasingly confident of making major progress
in just the next few years. The Artemis Program is the Agency’s flagship project right now, promising
to return astronauts to the lunar surface - and this time to stay there. While we haven’t
actually been to the moon (in person) since Apollo 17 in 1972, the plan is for Artemis to kickstart
a new era of the US having a constant presence on our lunar neighbor - with perhaps months-long
shifts for the astronauts up there, as we currently do on the International Space Station.
What’s arguably more exciting, however, is the Lunar Gateway, which NASA describes as a “vital
component” of the Artemis Program. When complete, it will cruise through the skies around the moon,
orbiting at an optimum distance to 1) provide around-the-clock support to any moon-based
astronauts at the time, and 2) to serve as a key outpost and potential launch location
for other missions into the solar system and deep space. In some ways like the ISS,
only circling the moon instead of Earth, building the Lunar Gateway is set to start in 2024,
with a proposed finish date in 2031 - although many believe it will be later.
Our moon isn’t the only moon that’s out there, though… and, in fact,
it probably isn’t even the most interesting moon in the eyes of most at NASA. One of the
key challenges facing the next generation of NASA scientists is how to explore, in detail,
all of the other moons in the solar system, but most notably Jupiter’s Europa, and Saturn’s Titan.
Of all the other worlds that are relatively nearby (in the grand scheme of the universe)
these are the ones that appear most habitable, to us and perhaps to alien life, as well. And,
over the coming years, you can well expect missions to them to be making the headlines.
For example, the Europa Clipper mission is one of the latest initiatives,
reportedly set to launch in 2024. It’ll be bee-lining straight to Jupiter,
following the collapse of a previously planned NASA mission to the Jovian system,
but will be targeting repeated flybys of Europa, in particular. Meanwhile, and although Saturn
missions have historically lagged behind Jupiter projects with NASA, that could all change with
the Dragonfly spacecraft, scheduled to launch in 2027. Planned (as it is) to soft land on Titan,
for an unprecedented up-close look at this distant world, Dragonfly could well become one of the most
important bits of kit that NASA ever produces - especially if it finds life where it’s headed.
That’s all well and good, you might say, but we’re still confined to just our own solar system,
in a galaxy full of others like it… and a universe full of countless more galaxies, too. But, while
it is unlikely in anyone’s lifetime that NASA will advance enough to begin sending targeted probes to
other cosmological structures entirely, there is hope in abundance that the Agency will break new
ground with propulsion methods. And there are multiple directions down which it could head.
For example, in January 2023, NASA announced that it and DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency) will work together to test a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space.
According to NASA, this particular enterprise could be a key moment in its Moon to Mars push,
as it should easily enable longer period space travel. NASA explains that, if the rocket works,
inside it there will be a nuclear fission reactor… which will heat a liquid propellant to incredible
temperatures, for a setup that “can be three or more times more efficient than conventional
chemical propulsion”. It’s an effort that falls under the wider DRACO propulsion program at NASA,
and although it remains a way away from breaking out of the solar system, proper,
just yet… it appears to be a case of watch this space. And it looks a solid
bet that we will see some major and fundamental propulsion upgrades over the next generation.
We should remember, though, that not everything NASA does is space-bound… and perhaps its greatest
imminent impact in our own skies will be to do with supersonic flights. Anyone who remembers
Concorde knows that this actually isn’t new technology, not exactly, and particularly because
we have many military jets today that are capable of breaking the sound barrier. However, NASA wants
to make supersonic travel more practical than it’s ever been before by removing the sonic boom.
Most of the contemporary interest surrounds the Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST aircraft,
with “QueSST” standing for quiet supersonic technology. Thanks to its unusual and innovative
design, it’s hoped that it will be able to glide almost noiselessly through the air…
while still maintaining upwards of Mach 1 speeds. That characteristically deafening
thunderclap that’s usually generated is why, at present, flight guidelines in the US prohibit
supersonic travel over almost all land. The noise associated with the shockwaves that are made… is
just too much. However, the X-59 QueSST is scheduled to begin test flights in 2023,
with those behind it hoping that it could be good to go by the end of the 2020s. And,
with NASA partnering with Lockheed for this particular venture, there are already hopes
that the currently single-seater plane will one day be expanded into a larger, commercial vehicle.
But finally, and if there’s one message to link almost all of these future NASA plans,
it’s that there’s beauty in the detail. Over the years, the Agency has pushed and pushed the
boundaries of human knowledge, so that now we have a very solid base understanding. The next
challenge, then, is to refine that understanding, by returning to the places we’ve been to before,
but better prepared; by obtaining clearer imagery and samples of even the most far-off worlds;
and by tweaking current technology to make it even better and properly
fit-for-purpose. This isn’t one single breakthrough in itself, but more like a
new era expectation - held by those within NASA, and by everyone else watching on.
Perhaps the James Webb Space Telescope is the greatest, current example. It is now producing
an endless stream of incredible visuals, so much so that for the casual onlooker it might feel as
though one intricately captured supernova is the same as the next, as the next, as the next. But,
that will never truly be the case… and in a universe crammed with infinite possibilities,
NASA is leading the charge to make it as accessible as possible. If there’s one thing that
seems certain to unfold over the next generation or two, it’s that the unknowability of space
will finally be lifted. Space will be painted not as an abyss, as it may have felt in past decades,
but as an opportunity. As a blank canvas, as an inspiration for hope. And, while it remains
true that NASA is no longer out on its own, it is still a very major player in making that happen.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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