39 Days to Mars

Breakthrough in plasma rocket engine technology drastically cuts transit times to the Red Planet from six months to less than six weeks

A new breakthrough in space propulsion technology could one day power spacecrafts to reach Mars in just 39 days, instead of the gruelling six months it takes to reach the Red Planet. Scientists have tested a powerful new ion engine that works with plasma at temperatures close to the interior of the Sun.

On Wednesday, Ad Astra, a US-based corporation ran its VX-200 engine with a superconducting magnet, which helps the engine process large amounts of plasma power. The company’s founder Chang Diaz claims that the engine is the most powerful plasma rocket in the world, and that it could transport payloads in space far more efficiently and economically than today’s chemical rockets.

The company had signed an agreement on Wednesday to commence testing the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) engine in 2013 on the International Space Station (ISS). The 200 kilowatt ion engine could by used by NASA to maintain the ISS’s altitude and orbit.

Conventional thrusters aboard the ISS consume 7.5 tonnes of fuel ever year, Chang said that the VASIMR rocket would require only 0.3 tonnes of fuel, saving millions of dollars in operational costs.

100 TIMES MORE POWERFUL

While chemical rockets are effective in giving the initial thrust to push the rocket off the Earth’s surface, trip times and payload mass are major limitations of conventional rockets.

Ion engines provide much less thrust, but once in space, they can give a continuous push for years, accelerating gradually, eventually  moving faster than normal rockets.

VASIMR works something like a steam engine, with the first stage performing a duty analogous to boiling water to create steam. In the second phase,  it uses a radio frequency generator to reach power levels a hundred times as higher than conventional ion engines.

“Preliminary data indications point to operation well within the design specifications.” said Dr Jared P Squire, leader of the experimental team conducting the tests. The company envisions the technology to reduce maintenance costs of space stations, satellites, lunar outposts and fuel depots. The engines could also reduce transit times for robotic and human missions to Mars and beyond.

AS HOT AS THE SUN
The VASIMR engine works with plasma, electrically charged fluids that can be heated to temperatures close to the interior of the Sun. Plasmas can be controlled and guided by strong magnetic fields, which can be used to insulate the structure. Temperatures well beyond the melting point of materials can be achieved while maintaining safely of the aircraft.

Why 'bomb' the moon?

Find out all you need to know of why US space agency NASA plans to crash two spacecraft into Moon

Scientists hope to make a splash by “bombing” the Moon with two spacecraft on Thursday. The plan is to slam the projectiles into a dark crater at the lunar south pole, kicking up a six-mile high dust cloud that may contain water.

British researchers helped Nasa pick the spot for the drama, which will be broadcast live on the American space agency’s website.

The Cabeus south polar region was identified by the University of Durham team as a site with high concentrations of hydrogen - a key component of water.

Search of water ice

It is believed water ice could lie at the bottom of dark craters at the Moon’s poles, where temperatures are lower than minus 170C.

The crashing spacecraft consist of an orbiter, LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite), which is now mapping the lunar surface, and its 2.2 tonne empty Centaur launch rocket.

Both are currently on collision course with the Moon and still attached together.

In the early hours, British time, the probe and rocket will separate. Then at 12.31pm the larger rocket will smash into the crater at 5,600 mph, blasting out 350 tonnes of debris in a 6.2 mile high plume. Following close behind, the LCROSS satellite beaming live pictures back to Earth will fly through the material and four minutes later plunge into the crater itself. LCROSS will trigger its own dust cloud a third of the size of the first one.

As the debris is propelled into sunlight, scientists on Earth will study its composition with ground-based telescopes.

Amateur astronomers in dark parts of the world will be able to view the spectacle through their own instruments. But daylight will make this impossible in the UK.

Dr Vincent Eke, from the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham, said: “Water ice could be stable for billions of years on the Moon provided that it is cold enough.

“If ice is present in the permanently shaded lunar craters of the Moon then it could potentially provide a water source for the eventual establishment of a manned base on the Moon.

“Such a base could be used as a platform for exploration into the further reaches of our Solar System.”

The TNT impact

The energy generated by the rocket hitting the Moon will be equivalent to exploding about two tonnes of TNT, he said. He added: “While this sounds dramatic, the impact of this will simply create one more dimple on the moonscape.

“The cratered surface of the Moon shows it has a history of violent collisions with asteroids and comets.”

Dr Eke led a study of data from Nasa’s 1998 Lunar Prospector mission which showed that hydrogen was concentrated in permanently shaded craters at the Moon’s polar regions.

If the hydrogen really is a sign of ice, it implies that the craters could hold a total of 200,000 million litres of water.

Last month new findings from three spacecraft, including India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe, showed that small amounts of water might be chemically bound up with the Moon’s soil.

The smaller probe carrying cameras and other scientific instruments separated from the rocket as planned.

It is now trailing behind ready to measure the debris kicked up by the rocket before hitting the moon’s surface four minutes later.