For half a century we’ve been visiting the cosmos.
This is a look at some of the missions and technologies we will pursue in the next 50
years and beyond as we continue to explore the infinite space around us.
In the short-term, NASA’s only committed to servicing and manning the International
Space Station until 2024, so there’s a good chance the project will be deorbited within
the decade.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are working toward building their own space station.
So space is currently undergoing this transformation as companies begin to fulfill the relatively
simple tasks of taking people, cargo, and satellites into orbit, while NASA has shifted
its focus to much more difficult challenges, like capturing and mining asteroids and sending
man to Mars.
But many obstacles will need to be overcome before either mission becomes a reality, including
protecting astronauts from exposure to high levels of radiation from the Sun and getting
people to, and successfully landing on, the Red Planet.
For example, if a human entered the Martian atmosphere at the same speed the curiosity
rover did, our retinas would detach from our eyes.
So to get a sense for how researchers are imagining the future of space, let’s take
a look at the 15 projects NASA just funded with $100,000 grants.
Superconducting systems that can stay 50 degrees celsius cooler than their surroundings to
allow for long-term cryogenic freezing.
It’s not for keeping Han Solo or astronauts, like in Interstellar, alive, it’s to store
large amounts of energy for the long distances necessary to reach deep space.
Nanotechnology will make new satellites and space probes tiny and cheap.
Highly concentrated energy beams fired from Earth could continuously power these tiny
objects at ultra-high-speeds away from Earth.
These beams could also vaporize asteroids threatening our planet.
Another idea is for tiny “cubesats” to bombard the surface of asteroids and comets
to gather seismic readings that would reveal what’s beneath their surfaces.
Powerful radio waves shot out of quasars and pulsars act like a map and could guide an
autopilot system for spacecraft venturing into deep space.
Chemicals mined from asteroids could be used as fuel for spaceships.
Another asteroid project would extract 100 tons of water by drilling into it with concentrated
sunlight -- a technique called optical mining -- and then keep the frozen ice ball in Earth
orbit for use in later, manned missions.
Then there’s “the hopper,” a rocket-powered vehicle that could explore Neptune’s moon
Triton -- which only has 8% of Earth’s gravity -- could hop off the surface and circle the
moon in one bounce.
Robots powered by wind and the magnetic fields of host planets could allow for the exploration
of the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn.
And Jupiter’s shifting magnetic field could also power a squid-like rover that could even
be submerged in the subsurface saltwater ocean on its moon Europa.
Space-based telescopes with magnetic mirrors will allow them to move to correct for image
distortion--a much more dynamic approach than today’s generations of giant telescopes
with fixed mirrors.
Another effort aims to replace expensive, curved mirrors in space telescopes altogether
by substituting them for an ultra-thin film that achieves the same effect at a fraction
of the cost.
Hives of tiny, inexpensive robots could swarm the coldest, dark sides of our moon to gather
samples and then come together to heat them up and report back the data.
“Thirsty Walls” is a complete reimagining of the Air Revitalization system (AR) to recycle
air in a highly efficient way in microgravity so people can survive long-range missions.
The oxygen supply problem is one of the main challenges in getting humans to Mars.
Which project do you think most needs to succeed?
Join the conversation with your thoughts in a comment below, and if you liked this video,
share it to help it spread.
You can watch more TDC by clicking the video on the left for our breakdown of the imminent
weaponization of Space.
Or the video on the right to learn about 10 future energy sources that could power life
on Earth into the next century.
And if you want to learn a lot more about the ultimate frontier, we’ve arranged for
you to get a free audio download of the new book “Space Chronicles” by the preeminent
space communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson through the link below if you sign up for a free-30-day
trial at Audible.com.
This has been a production of the two-man team at TDC, aka, the Plank brothers.
We’ll leave you with this thought from the great Carl Sagan: “There is perhaps no better
a demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.”