The Future of Space Travel
Since the beginning of Mankind, humans have been bound to Earth, but it was not until the late 1950’s and 60’s that humans would achieve the first manmade object in space, the first animal in space, the first human in space, and finally the first human on the moon. A Space race between the United States and the Soviet Union would be responsible for these sporadic and revolutionary improvements in technology. Space has since been used to carry out millions of experiments that have improved technology further for space travel and for people on Earth. From humanities first venture to the moon, to our current plans for Mars, and beyond, the future of space travel will improve life on Earth, allow for colonization of other planets, and expand our knowledge of space through humanities quest of curiosity and discovery for our universe.
Brief Background
The Soviet Space program had many firsts in space. These were achieved in the late 1950’s and early 60’s because of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, a Soviet rocketry scientist and prisoner, who was unknown to anyone outside the USSR. Korolev was captured after a series of Joseph Stalin’s purges in which he was convicted of sabotage and treason; However, the Soviets came to fear the German’s advancement of the V-2 rocket and made Korolev continue his work. According to History.com editors, “The Americans had captured the rocket’s designer, Wernher von Braun, who later became head of the U.S. space program, but the Soviets acquired a fair amount of V-2 resources, including rockets, launch facilities, blueprints, and a few German V-2 technicians.” Both the U.S. and Soviet Union advanced their space programs thanks to German technology during WWII. The Soviet Space programs successes would only provoke the United States’ NASA program to achieve something that would top everything done in the past, landing a man on the moon.
Threatened by the Soviet Space programs’ accomplishments, NASA launched the Apollo space program which would be the first and only space program to put humans on the moon with a total of six successful manned moon missions. However, not every Apollo mission was successful. Three Apollo I astronauts were killed in a capsule fire and Apollo 13 was supposed to be the 3rd moon landing but had to be aborted due to an explosion onboard the service module. Brain Dunbar, a NASA Official, explains how an oxygen tank led to the explosion on Apollo 13, “During one final test on the launch pad, the heaters were on for a long period of time. This subjected the wiring in the vicinity of the heaters to very high temperatures (1000 F), which have been subsequently shown to severely degrade teflon insulation… Furthermore, other warning signs during testing went unheeded and the tank, damaged from eight hours of overheating, was a potential bomb the next time it was filled with oxygen. That bomb exploded on April 13, 1970–200,000 miles from Earth.” The explosion threatened the lives of all three astronauts for the next four days exposing the astronauts to extreme cold, lack of food and water, and almost asphyxiation due to unsafe levels of carbon dioxide. Despite these challenges and tragedies, mankind has learned and overcome them in order to look to the future, the future of space travel.
Where We Are Now
NASA has been maintaining the International Space Station for the past 20 years and it has carried out millions of science experiments to study how things are affected by microgravity. Since its initial construction in 1998, thanks to the Space Shuttle program, the ISS has maintained human presence in space providing significant research into the effects that microgravity has on the human body for prolonged periods of time. Michael Johnson, a NASA editor, explains that, “Understanding how to mitigate the effects of microgravity on bones and muscles is important for future exploration in the partial gravity environments of the Moon and Mars. On Earth, bone and muscle atrophy occurs from normal aging, sedentary lifestyles, and illnesses. This condition may cause serious health issues from injuries due to falls or osteoporosis. Studying these losses in microgravity can help us better understand them and potentially create treatments for people back on Earth.” This research can also help prepare astronauts for long duration space travel such as a Mars mission which is a seven-month journey, one way.
SpaceX has a reusable rocket booster called the Falcon 9 which is capable of taking a crew or payload into low Earth orbit. Falcon 9 has flown many missions including three crewed missions to the ISS. Falcon 9 isn’t fully reusable however, although the main booster is capable of landing itself and being reused, there is a second stage rocket that is much smaller but gives the extra necessary thrust to take the spacecraft into low Earth orbit. As stated by SpaceX, “Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket. Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.” Reusability of spacecraft, especially boosters, significantly reduces the cost of launching spacecraft into orbit and will open up many options for future space travel.
The Future
NASA’s Artemis program is working to return humans to the moon, including the first women, by 2024 and establish a permanent moon base by 2028. There are many challenges that come with establishing a moon base, such as using existing resources, disposing of trash, and transporting supplies and equipment. Missions to the Moon are about 1,000 times farther from Earth than missions to the ISS, requiring systems that can reliably operate far from home, support the needs of human life, and still be light enough to launch (NASA). Brian Dunbar, a NASA editor, explains how Artemis will return humans to the moon with “NASA’s powerful new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft nearly a quarter million miles from Earth to lunar orbit. Astronauts will dock Orion at the Gateway and transfer to a human landing system for expeditions to the surface of the Moon. They will return to the orbital outpost to board Orion again before returning safely to Earth.” Gateway is a lunar space station designed to be a ‘gateway’ where a command module carrying crew from Earth will dock and transfer to a lunar lander to take them to the surface of the moon. This is also where spacecraft can refuel, service, and be a facility for processing samples from the moon. NASA will use what they learn from the Artemis program to prepare for the next milestone in human space exploration, sending astronauts to Mars.
SpaceX is developing its Starship spacecraft which is designed to be fully reusable. When fully completed, Starship will consist of two parts, a ‘Super Heavy’ booster and the Starship which will sit on top. When re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, Starship will fall horizontally to increase drag and slow its decent all while using its fins to control stability and direction. Just before it lands, it flips back upright using the raptor engines which slows it gently down to the landing pad. The Super Heavy booster will land like the Falcon 9 booster by using its remaining fuel to slow itself down and grid fins to control orientation. Paul Rincon, a BBC News Science editor, describes the power of the Super Heavy booster, “It will be powered by around 28 Raptor engines (this specification has changed several times), providing some 16 million lbs (72 Meganewtons) of maximum thrust. It should be able to lift at least 100 tonnes of payload, and possibly as much as 150 tonnes, to low-Earth orbit. This will make Super Heavy more powerful than the immense Saturn V launcher used for the Apollo Moon missions in the 1960s and 70s.” This immense amount of power will be capable of taking 100 people comfortably to Mars and back. Elon Musk, who is the founder of SpaceX, is pursuing his goal of making humans an interplanetary species by landing humans on Mars with the new Starship spacecraft. It is very likely that in our lifetimes we will see Starship take humans to and from Mars.
Virgin Galactic recently released its second passenger spaceplane capable of taking six passengers and two pilots into suborbital space. Though it is only capable of suborbital space, passengers will be able to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curve of the Earth against the blackness of space. Mike Wall, a writer for Space.com, explains how this space plane works, “Imagine is a two-pilot, six-passenger space plane designed to lift off beneath the wings of a carrier aircraft, which drops it at an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). At that point, the spacecraft’s onboard rocket motor lights up, blasting it up to suborbital space.” The spaceplane works differently from a typical rocket ship by using lift generated from the wings while moving through the atmosphere and propelling it with a rocket engine since there will not be any atmosphere for a typical plane engine to work after the space plane passes the Karmen line (Boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space). This technology will provide a cheap, safe, and reusable alternative for space tourists in the future.
Blue Origin is developing its fully reusable spacecraft called New Shepard capable of taking a crew or payload into suborbital space and then landing back down on Earth safely. New Shepard can take six passengers into suborbital space fully autonomously without any pilot and can successfully abort in any phase of flight. Blue Origin staff stress that “Blue Origin has been flight testing New Shepard and its redundant safety systems since 2012. The program has had 15 successful consecutive missions including three successful escape tests, showing the crew escape system can activate safely in any phase of flight.” The reliability and safety of New Shepard certainly makes Blue Origin stand out when compared to SpaceX who has had many rockets explode during testing. Currently Blue Origin is auctioning the first seat on New Shepard for its first crewed flight on July 20th, 2021. The only downside is that Blue Origin is owned by Jeff Bezos and he is evil. Vehicles like these will make space travel a new exotic tourist attraction.
Conclusion
The benefits of exploring space will improve life on Earth through experiments in outer space. Colonizing planets like Mars will make humans an interplanetary species. Exploring space will expand our knowledge of our universe. Space travel is becoming cheaper, revolutionary technologies and innovations in spacecraft are being made, more people will have access to space travel. The future of space travel will certainly take humanity to new heights.
Works Cited
Blue Origin Staff. Blue Origin, 25 Feb. 2021, www.blueorigin.com/. Accessed 6 April 2021.
Dodd, Tim. “SLS VS Starship: Why Does SLS Still Exist?!” YouTube, 30 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA69Oh3_obY. Accessed 2 May 2021.
Dunbar, Brian. “Apollo 13.” NASA, 29 Mar. 2017, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html. Accessed 18 April 2021.
History.com Editors. “Yuri Gagarin Becomes the First Man in Space.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-man-in-space. Accessed 18 April 2021.
Johnson, Michael. “20 Breakthroughs from 20 Years of Science Aboard the ISS.” NASA, 26 Oct. 2020, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/iss-20-years-20-breakthroughs#Methods%20to%20combat%20muscle%20atrophy%20and%20bone%20loss. Accessed 12 April 2021.
Loff, Sarah. “Artemis Program.” NASA, 4 June 2019, www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram. Accessed 6 April 2021.
Rincon, Paul. “What Is Elon Musk’s Starship?” BBC News, 4 Mar. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55564448. Accessed 6 April 2021.
SpaceX Staff. “Falcon 9.” SpaceX, 23 Oct. 2020, www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/. Accessed 14 April 2021.
Wall, Mike. “Meet VSS Imagine.” Space, 30 Mar. 2021, www.space.com/virgin-galactic-unveils-spaceship-iii-spacecraft. Accessed 6 April 2021.