Abstract
Astronautics is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Isaac Newton established the mathematical basis of astronautics in his treatise The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. They are embedded in his laws of motion and gravitation. The reactions in a spaceship’s engine produce enormous pressures. They cause the expulsion of gas and/or radiation at high speed in the direction opposite to travel. It is this reaction force that pushes forward the engine and the spaceship attached to it.
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Notes
- 1.
Tsiolkovsky K (1995).
- 2.
Pioneers conducted experiments during the first three decades of the twentieth century, such as R.H. Goddard in the United States; Hermann Oberth, Willy Ley, and Wernher von Braun in Germany; and Sergey Korolyov in the Soviet Union. Astronautical engineering progressed in the decades following the end of World War II. It is also worth mentioning the progress made in the field of the dynamics of orbital motion applied to calculate spaceships’ trajectories and orbital manoeuvres (see Shoemaker and Helin 1978) and the use of gravity to accelerate them (Michael Minovitch 1961).
- 3.
Petrone graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1946. He earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1951. His career in rocket development began in the early 1950s in Huntsville, where he assisted in the development of the Redstone rocket. He served as director of launch operations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center from July 1966 until September 1969 and afterwards as Apollo programme director. His NASA colleagues described him as demanding. Clearly he played, along with von Braun, a vital role in the success of the Apollo missions.
- 4.
LOR was not new. The first mention of it dates back to 1916 when Yuri Kondratyuk, a Ukrainian engineer, proposed it (see Wilford J. 1969). His analysis identified LOR as the most economical way of landing a man on the Moon.
- 5.
In depth analysis of the Apollo programme is provided in Launius (1994).
- 6.
The Soviet space programme history is told by I. Shklovsky (1991).
- 7.
See Chase Econometric Associates (1975) and H. R. Hertzfeld (1998).
- 8.
The appendix to The Mars Project contained technical specifications for the mission to Mars. Von Braun envisioned a scientific expedition involving a fleet of ten spaceships with 70 crew members. The spaceships were to be assembled in Earth orbit using materials supplied by reusable space shuttles. He planned to use Hohmann trajectories to transport the spaceships from Earth orbit to Mars orbit. He calculated each ship’s size and weight, the fuel they needed for the round trip, and each rocket’s burn to effect the required manoeuvres.
- 9.
The terms conjunction class and opposition class refer to Mars’s position relative to Earth. In the former, Mars moves behind the Sun as seen from Earth halfway through the expedition. In the latter, Mars is opposite the Sun in Earth’s skies at the expedition’s halfway point.
- 10.
European national budgets are separate from their contributions to ESA. Member states take part to varying degrees in the mandatory and optional ESA space programmes.
- 11.
Meaningful figures for historical spending on the Chinese space programme are virtually impossible to obtain. The estimates of civilian-space spending are derived from Western expert reports, showing that CNSA spending is around one-tenth of NASA spending.
- 12.
This includes: NASA’s budget of $58.7 billion; Russia’s $12 billion; Europe’s $5 billion; Japan’s $5 billion; Canada’s $2 billion; and the cost of 36 shuttle flights to build the station, estimated at $1.4billion each, or $50 billion in total. Assuming 20,000 person-days of use from 2000 to 2015 by two to six-person crews, each person-day costing $7.5 million, the total is around half a billion dollars.
- 13.
If the Sun’s path is observed from the Earth’s reference frame, it moves around Earth in a path tilted at 23.5°. This path is called the ecliptic. Observations show that other planets, except for Pluto, orbit the Sun in the same plane. The ecliptic plane thus comprises most of the objects orbiting the Sun. A spaceship leaving the ISS for interplanetary missions will have to move from an orbit inclined at 51° to one inclined at 23.5° and so require higher fuel consumption. Hence, it is clear that the ISS is inefficient as a staging point for interplanetary missions.
- 14.
Researchers are studying the effects of weightless environment on evolution, development, growth, and internal processes of plants and animals. They propose to investigate the effects of micro-gravity on the synthesis and growth of human tissues and proteins. Other researchers are investigating the states of matter (in particular superconductors) outside the station at low temperatures.
- 15.
Recently, SpaceX’s CSX-4 vehicle brought to the space station a 3D printer, built by the company Made in Space. This started the first 3D printing in space. It took over an hour to finish the job. More experiments will follow in the following months.
- 16.
Gene McCall, retired chief scientist for the US Air Force Space Command, advanced this solution in 2012.
- 17.
The Variable Specific Impulse Magneto-plasma Rocket (VASIMR) is an electromagnetic thruster. It uses radio waves to ionise and heat a propellant and magnetic fields to accelerate the plasma and so generate thrust. It is one of several types of electric propulsion.
- 18.
In a nuclear thermal rocket, a working fluid is heated to a high temperature in a nuclear reactor. The heated fuel then expands through a rocket nozzle to create thrust. In a nuclear electric rocket, nuclear thermal energy is changed into electrical energy that is used to power one of the electrical propulsion technologies.
- 19.
The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed this engine. The fuel is placed into several very thin carbon bundles, each one sub-critical. Bundles are collected and arranged as spokes on a wheel. Several wheels are stacked on a common shaft to produce a single large cylinder. The entire cylinder is rotated so that a few bundles are always in a reactor core. The surrounding fuel makes the bundles go critical.
- 20.
See Bignami G. et al. (2011).
- 21.
A spaceship is propelled forward by a thrust force equal to the mass flow rate multiplied by the exhaust particles’ speed relative to the spaceship. It can thus achieve a final velocity that is higher than the velocity of the particles in its exhaust jet.
- 22.
See Craig H. W. (2005).
- 23.
In the 1980s, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and NASA studied an ICF powered “Vehicle for Interplanetary Transport Applications” (VISTA). The conical VISTA spaceship could deliver a 100 tonne payload to Mars orbit and return to Earth in 130 days. VISTA needs 41 tonnes of deuterium/tritium plus 4,124 tonnes of hydrogen for this trip. The exhaust velocity was estimated at 157 km/s. The estimated specific impulse is around 70,000.
- 24.
The NASA Human Outer Planets Exploration (HOPE) group has investigated a manned MTF propulsion spacecraft.
- 25.
- 26.
SpaceX claims that the primary stage’s costs represent around two-thirds of the total cost of the rocket. SpaceX has said that if they are successful in developing the reusable technology, launch prices of around 5 to 7 million US$ for a reusable Falcon 9 are possible.
- 27.
The rocket developed by Blue Origin is powered by a mixture of oxygen and natural gas. Blue Origin is developing a technology to recover the first stage of the rocket, which should reduce launching costs.
- 28.
It features a space tug called Jupiter and a space module called Exoliner. The Jupiter module is based on the NASA–Lockheed-built MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Spacecraft), which entered Mars orbit in 2014. According to Lockheed Martin, Exoliner can be converted into a human habitat from its present cargo configuration. The two vessels will be used, in concert with NASA’s Orion capsule, to place astronauts into Moon orbit. Such a mission will help us to learn how to live in deep space outside the Earth’s protective magnetic field.
- 29.
Proposed launch prices are €69 million for Ariane 6.2, which might compete with Falcon 9. However, if SpaceX succeed in reusing the primary stage of Falcon 9, its costs could decline by 30–40%, making Ariane 6.2 uncompetitive.
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Bignami, G., Sommariva, A. (2016). Stepping Out of the Cradle: The Exploration of the Solar System from the 1950s to Today. In: The Future of Human Space Exploration. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52658-8_2
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