Space Exploration Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This presentation explores all the experiments on the Moon since the Apollo missions, regarding the detection of water, hydroxyl, HO-, and other indicators, such as neutron abundances. It also cover many space missions and also correlates... more

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- Observational Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Exploration, Astronomy

Mars in unearthly, unchartered, unknown & yet attracts all of humanity. The hazards of the endeavor are overwhelmed by the hype & hope surrounding the enterprise. A variety of individuals, private companies, commercial firms and national space agencies are engrossed in efforts at landing & inhabiting Mars. However, these efforts are disjoint and there exists little or no coordination. The aspirations as also hazards are immense, the resources scarce & costly. Consequently, left ungoverned, the potential for conflict in space exploration is high. There exists a critical need to regulate and coordinate affairs in this area right now when the technologies and legislation are yet immature. This calls for a credible institutionalized governance structure. This paper proposes an expansion of the existing United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) to take on the mantle of space exploration governance and to continue with incremental progressions later.

MELiSSA is a bioregenerative life support system designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the complete recycling of gas, liquid and solid wastes during long distance space exploration. The system uses the combined activity of different living organisms: microbial cultures in bioreactors, a plant compartment and a human crew. In this minireview, the development of a short-cut ecological system for the biotransformation of organic waste is discussed from a microorganism’s perspective. The artificial ecological model—still in full development—that is inspired by Earth’s own geomicrobiological ecosystem serves as an ideal study object on microbial ecology and will become an indispensable travel
companion in manned space exploration.

- by Paul Janssen
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- Microbiology, Environmental microbiology, Microbial Ecology, Medical Microbiology
- by Alessandro Saffiotti
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- Computer Science, Space Technology, Image segmentation, Space Exploration

Today, the vision of Space exploration has touched several milestones. For almost six decades, the U.S. with the help of NASA has led and inspired the world in the arena of space exploration. However, human exploration of deep space has grown weak since the end of Apollo and key robotic exploration capabilities are at risk. Amazing advances in data processing capabilities and avionics component miniaturization have facilitated the development of robotic spacecraft with major gains in operational capabilities as well as autonomy and independent decision making. These robotic spacecraft capabilities enable the pursuit of exploration goals where the risk to humans remains excessive. With major parallel advances in Human Systems Collaboration capabilities, it is now possible to conceive advanced exploration missions with highly synergistic human and robotic roles. Economical space exploration is quite required for the upcoming risks in future decades of being a single planet species. Exploring deep space with a new launch system & propulsion systems like solar-sail, human exploration vehicle, challenges and benefits of Mars-colonisation, and reconstitution of life-support system capabilities. More cooperative and collaborative human-robotic operations and international space agencies collaborations are also essential facilitators. Space exploration, being a long period of exploration, needs to have a perfect life-support system. In this paper, the solar sail mission strategy, the design of advanced exploration vehicles & advanced life support systems will help in solving futuristic problems providing an idea for deep space exploration.

- by Shoubhik Pal and +1
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- Space Sciences, Astronautics, Space Technology, Space Exploration
- by Bettina Kemme
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- Information Systems, Distributed System, Databases, Distributed Systems
- by Ed Salo
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- Cold War, Space Exploration, Space Race, Sputnik 1
- by Cameron M Smith
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- Space Sciences, Space Exploration, Space Colonization

Archaeology might be defined simply as the study of 'the human altered world'. Until recently, traces of humanity's past could have only been found on Earth. But, as our influence continues to expand beyond, we must consider human activities and human-made objects in space and how they—as extensions of ourselves—impact other worlds and the spaces between. This is 'space archaeology'. Features interviews with five activists and innovators in the research and education of outer space from the perspective of archaeology and anthropology.

- by Jim Pass
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- Archaeology, Human Evolution, Medical Anthropology, Science Communication

This brief paper is to explain one of my ideas relating to deep space propulsion. This paper explains what I call the "Nuclear Thermal Pulsejet Engine" and how we can use vacuum of space to cool a small nuclear reactor down for future... more

- by Alex Gardner
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- Engineering, Control Systems Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
- by Zhao Dong
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- Mathematics, Information Technology, Computational Modeling, Simulated Annealing

Within the franmework of the International Academy of Astronautics, the present dictionary or lexicon has been prepared for a set of entries common to many languages. In the first phase, there are some 2600 entries. At the time of... more

- by Harijono Djojodihardjo
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- Aerospace Engineering, Technology, Space Science, Space Exploration

Outer space has become a contested, congested and competitive domain with an ever growing importance to life on Earth. Recently, an increasing number of new players have entered the space arena. Slovakia has also stepped up its space related activities. In March 2013, it declared its interest to become a member of European Space Agency (ESA) by 2020. Increased involvement in space sector will bring new opportunities and responsibilities for Slovakia. Is Slovakia ready to address these challenges?

- by Tomáš Hrozenský
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- Strategic Studies, Security Studies, Czech & Slovak Studies, Space Policy

Multi-robot exploration problem is generally constituted of a determination of next-best-views (NBVs), path planning, and coordination algorithm. This paper presents a unified 3D multi-robot exploration algorithm in order to solve the inefficiency that takes place when the aforementioned three components are constructed individually. The proposed algorithm is composed of two parts: an allocation of exploration regions and a determination of the best path. For the allocation of the region to explore, each robot generates a sampling-based tree, e.g. RRT, which composes a Voronoi-biased forest (VBF). A VBF, a new data structure introduced within this work, assigns a region for each robot to explore in a probabilistic manner. The amount of the space a VBF covers is quantitatively analyzed depending on its parameters. From the generated VBF, each robot determines the best path from branches of its tree based on the amount of information can be gained along with the paths of peer robots. Only the first edge of the best branch of each tree is executed in a receding horizon scheme. The overall exploration algorithm is evaluated in a computer simulated environment. The results demonstrate that our coordination algorithm allows robots to quickly and reliably explore the environment.

- by Jaeho Lee
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- Robotics, Mobile Robotics, Autonomous Robotics, Motion Planning

As interest in the exploration of Mars intensifies and advancements in technology increase the viability of just such a mission, one of the very first problems facing explorers, and eventually settlers, is adequate shelter. An extremely promising candidate material for the building of these structures is concrete made using Martian soil as the aggregate and Sulphur as the cement. This Martian Concrete is strong, and would be more durable in Mars' weaker gravity, more reusable than regular concrete, and significantly dense 1 , enough to provide a measure of protection from the radiation found on Mars' surface, which is moderately more pervasive than the radiation on Earth's surface. Building these structures by hand would be inefficient and costly, taking time away from other important and urgent activities. The advent and proliferation of 3D printing in Earth based architecture holds many possibilities for application off-world. Since 3D printing technology is advancing and often providing cheaper ways of building many different types of structures of virtually any design. By adapting and redesigning some of the plans and ideas presented for 3D printing structures on the Moon 2 and conceptualizing architecture that would be better suited for the Martian environment, it is possible to build adequate and lasting structures quickly and cheaply using materials found in abundance on the Martian surface. As numerous projects advancements in 3D printing in architecture and construction have demonstrated 3 , 3D printed structures are safe, sound, and easily made. Combining existing technology and Martian Concrete will be the best and most sustainable way to build habitats on Mars.

- by Jonathan Harline and +1
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- Structural Engineering, Planetary Science, Composite Materials and Structures, Mars
- by Erin R Balsamo
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- X Ray Astronomy, Star Formation, Infrared Optics, Polarization (Ideology)

Conference PowerPoint presentation slides for SoCIA 2016, Clemson, SC.

- by Brian Green
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- Ethics, Applied Ethics, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas
- by Amol Deshpande
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- Computer Science, Database Systems, Query Optimization, Space Exploration

The development of an industry extracting resources from asteroids requires a means of finding and extracting these resources, and also a market willing to bear the costs of those extracted resources. The extraordinarily high costs of space travel indicate that the initial markets for such resources are unlikely to be in precious metals or other such resource needs on Earth, but, instead, for needs in space. An examination of possible markets for asteroid resources reveals that the first material to be extracted profitably is likely to be water, which is common on certain asteroids, and that the first market for that water is likely to be human missions of exploration in deep space. Extraterrestrial water would supplant water brought from Earth, allowing these mission to transport larger quantities of other needed supplies and possibly enabling features (such as radiation shielding) would just not be economically feasible otherwise. Given the very high cost to deliver a crewed mission to cislunar space or a Mars transfer orbit, this supplemental water could potentially be sold for several $ 100 million US per ton, sufficient to provide a profit to commercial asteroid mining missions. The planned crewed missions to cis-lunar space and Mars orbit are thus likely to bootstrap this industry in addition to furthering the human exploration of the solar system.

- by Marshall Eubanks
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- Asteroids, Space Exploration, Asteroid Mining

Despite the importance of social media as an inexpensive and efficient means of communication, it is not clear to what degree space advocacy groups are making a strong organized effort to use the resources available to them. Moreover, there is no previous literature that specifically examines the use of social media tools by space organizations. This study seeks to start a larger dialog regarding how the space advocacy community can make use of these tools to promote their mission. Using a case study approach, this article focuses specifically on the organization of Yuri’s Night to explore how this group is using social media to accomplish its mission of building general space awareness. In addition, this article evaluates the organization’s social media presence as well as the role social media has played in the organization’s ability to accomplish its mission. Other space advocacy groups can use the lessons learned here to improve their own social media strategies.

- by Ryan L Kobrick
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- Sociology, Communication, Social Media, Space Exploration

Economically profitable resource exploitation in space is becoming increasingly feasible as more actors - national,
public and private-are engaging in space exploration. The Outer Space Treaty (OST), which serves as the
basis for the current corpus juris spatialis, declares that no government can claim sovereignty over celestial bodies
or outer space itself. Because this is generally interpreted as denying private ownership, the OST is sometimes
claimed to be an obstacle to commercial venture, particularly resource exploitation. Such claims ignore a wealth
of terrestrial models which promote profitable commercial resource exploitation independent of fee-simple
ownership. To achieve an approach to space exploration and exploitation which balances national, international,
and commercial interests and a need to prevent conflict and militarization of outer space, terrestrial approaches
to managing resource exploitation should be carefully examined for frameworks and mechanisms with potential
to serve as models in further elaborating an international regime for space resource exploitation. A previously
overlooked terrestrial example, the Alaska Permanent Fund, and its unique citizen's dividend, is explored as one
possible model for such a balanced approach that could encourage profit-driven exploration and exploitation of
extra-terrestrial resources, reduce the risk of conflict between actors in outer space and simultaneously accrue
tangible benefits to all of humanity.

- by Kevin Orrman-Rossiter
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- Space Exploration, Outer Space Law, Asteroid Mining, space resources
- by Wlodek Kofman
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- Remote Sensing, Data Analysis, Earth, Ground Penetrating Radar
- by James Schwartz
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- Space Sciences, Ethics, Normative Ethics, Applied Ethics

Humanity faces many important decisions about space exploration. An important but controversial decision making paradigm is cost-benefit analysis (CBA). This paper discusses some ethical considerations in CBA that are important to decision making about space exploration, including: how we define costs and benefits; space exploration's non-market value; the standing of future humans and of extraterrestrials; and the role of discounting in evaluating long-term space exploration projects.

- by Seth D Baum
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- Ethics, Astrobiology, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Space Exploration
- by James Schwartz and +1
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- Space Sciences, Planetary Science, Space Exploration, Commercial Uses of Outer Space
- by James Schwartz
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- Space Sciences, Philosophy, Ethics, Epistemology
- by Rupert Young
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- International Cooperation, Space Technology, Space Science, Propulsion

How do we make sense of the Earth at a moment in which it is presented in crisis? To live in an epoch that is shaped by extensive environmental transformations is to be confronted with risks and uncertainties at scales larger than that of the planet. Paradoxically, while we worry that the sky may be falling on our heads, we remain so immobilized in part maybe because of our failures to comprehend the scales of a story that is difficult both to tell and to hear. Two Cosmograms mediates the dissonance between the environmental question at stake and the narrow repertoire of emotions and imaginations with which we try to understand these issues by exploring speculative fiction as the political art that integrates the story of the cosmos into our own life stories. In response to the expansion of infrastructural systems and resource exploitation beyond the Earth, the two projects - Neck of the Moon and Love your Monsters- engage the architectural imaginations of the Cosmos. The speculative fictions probe the politics and aesthetics of technological systems, both in the extra-planetary environment as well as here on Earth.

- by Rania Ghosn and +1
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- Future Studies, Landscape Architecture, Urban Studies, Ecology
- by Martin Vickers
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- Space Exploration, Nasa, Robots, Moon
- by Deana Weibel
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- Space Exploration, Anthropology of Religion

Human spaceflight is likely to change in character over the 21st century, shifting from a military/governmental enterprise to one that is more firmly tied to private industry, including businesses devoted to space tourism. For space tourism to become a reality, however, many obstacles have to be overcome, particularly those in finance, technology, and medicine. Ethnographic interviews with astronauts, engineers, NASA doctors, and NewSpace workers reveal that absolute faith in the eventual human occupation of space, based in religious conviction or taking secular forms, is a common source of motivation across different populations working to promote human spaceflight. This paper examines the way faith is expressed in these different contexts and its role in developing a future where space tourism may become commonplace.

- by Deana Weibel
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- Religion, Anthropology, Political Science, Faith

"Lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions beyond low-Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations;".-White House Space Policy Directive #1 Abstract The US administration has laid out, in the clearest terms yet in many years, what the nation expects NASA to do in the immediate term: Return people to the Moon asap(2020s timeframe) with the goal of building the technological and operational infrastructure to conduct a safe human Mars expedition within the next two decades(2030s). A fresh new space policy outlook drives an invigorated agency impetus to incorporate homegrown private space companies, that are chomping at the bit with creativity and new visions for utilizing human spaceflight for commerce and profit, and NASA is already showing signs of nurturing many more partners, both commercial and international entities into the core of this vital civilian endeavor, particularly in human space activity. How to jumpstart a self-sustainable cislunar economy that does not wither and fade with each administration cycle and be victim yet again to the on-again off-again visions for human space activity ? Robotic precursor missions to both Moon and Mars have been underway for some years now, with the aim of gauging in-situ resources for extended human activities, eventually leading to permanent settlements. Following the Apollo missions nearly half a century ago, several reports have presented the case that the Moon is the most proximal celestial body where much of the hard engineering data and experience needed for more ambitious missions may be tested, evolved and certified. Commerce is the lifeblood of modern civilization. Commerce is a pillar of national security. Open-ended government funded space exploration, by itself, is not sustainable for future long duration missions. Hence the role of commerce and international partners in human space activity. An effort to expand the International Space Station model to include more partners on a global scale is also proceeding in parallel. The goal to develop and field the next generation of human occupied space station, one that can safely keep her crew and reliably operate beyond the protective cocoon of the Earth's magnetic field is logically the next step along the critical path for evolving a Mars expedition vehicle, one that has to withstand the interplanetary environment, before crew can be delivered to the surface of Mars. While large, heavy lift launch vehicles and planetary landers are being developed, integrated and tested, are there ways to speed up human spaceflight activity ? What projects can we do with existing human spaceflight assets that are aligned with administration space policy directives ? The ADAM Project attempts to explore options available in the immediate term, to satisfy the national space policy goals set forth by the current administration, while encouraging new visions for human space activity, utilizing existing space technology to accelerate real space commerce for the immediate benefit of all society. The USC 2018 ADAM Project continues in a long line of past lunar projects that make the case for speedy lunar return. The ADAM project concepts and earlier works of the ASTE527 Studio may be accessed at : https://sites.google.com/a/usc.edu/aste527/home

- by Madhu Thangavelu
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- Human Spaceflight, Hybrid Space (Architecture), Space Exploration, Nasa

The purpose of this study is to (1) demonstrate the viability of detecting terrestrial caves at thermal-infrared wavelengths, (2) improve our understanding of terrestrial cavethermal behavior, (3) identify times of day when cave openings have the maximum thermal contrast with the surrounding surface regolith, and (4) further our understanding of how to detect caves on Earth, the Moon and Mars. We monitored the thermal behavior of two caves in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Through this work, we identified times when temperature contrasts between entrance and surface were greatest, thus enabling us to suggest optimal overflight times. The largest thermal contrast for both caves occurred during mid-day. One cave demonstrated thermal behavior at the entrance suggestive of cold-trapping, while the second cave demonstrated temperature shifts suggestive of airflow. We also collected thermograms without knowing optimal detection times; these images suggest both caves may also be detectable during off-peak times. We suggest cavedetection using thermal remote sensing on Earth and other planetary objects will be limited by (1) capturing imagery in the appropriate thermal wavelength, (2) the size of cave entrance vs. the sensor's spatial resolution, (3) the viewing angle of the platform in relation to the slope trajectory of the cave entrance, (4) the strength of the thermal signal associated with the cave entrance, and (5) the time of day and season of thermal image capture. Through this and other studies, we will begin to identify the range of conditions under which caves are detectable in the thermal infrared and thus improve our detection capabilities of these features on Earth, the Moon and Mars.

- by Jut Wynne
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- Mars, Space Exploration, Cave and Karst Studies, Moon

An overview of the project history of the first remotely-manned exploration of the Jovian system by scientists and engineers at Pasadena, California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Special emphasis is given to the redesign of the mission... more

- by David Clow
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- History of Space Travel, Astrophysics, Space Exploration, Astronomy

In this very competitive era, with the advent of SpaceX in the field of Space Exploration, the competition has obviously been clambered to an unabridged different level. The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. recorded in the business turf by the name of SpaceX, has been posing great challenges to the government organisations in the field of aerospace since 2002. The landmark achievements of the company are innumerable as well, but the one topping this list is the latest achievement of-the first re flight of a commercial cargo spacecraft (FALCON 9). Its Spacelab and Aerospace hardware is very much different from the league, it fabricates two far-reaching modules of rocket engine in-house: the kerosene fuelled Merlin engines and hypergolic fuelled Draco/Super Draco Vernier thrusters. SpaceX is actively pursuing several R&D line-ups. Utmost noteworthy are the plans envisioned to mature reusable launch vehicles, an interplanetary conveyance scheme, and a worldwide telecommunications grid.

- by IJISRT digital library and +1
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- Space Exploration

One of the most critical points in space exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit is the provision of systems that ensure the long-term survival of both crew and technological assets in the harsh space environment. The utilization of the Moon seems to be the next logical step in implementing the global strategy for humans to explore the solar system. The key to any sustainable presence in space is the ability to manufacture necessary structures, spares, in situ and on demand reducing the cost, volume, and up-mass constraints that could prohibit launching everything needed for long-duration or long distance missions from Earth. Additive Manufacturing (AM) has the potential to provide a number of sustainability advantages. The establishment of an AM process in support of a Moon base will be strongly correlated to the self-sustainability of the process itself and the possibility in re-using the recycled materials for different purposes. The ESA General Study project URBAN evaluates the feasibility and implementation effort required in establishing the possible use of AM in easing the construction, expansion and maintenance of a lunar base. The study is implemented through two parallel tasks: 1) Comprehensive survey of the elements/hardware required in a permanent and sustainable manned lunar base, based on a hierarchical investigation from permanent infrastructures to the " on demand " items. 2) Specific survey of additive manufacturing technologies addressing a broad range of applications that can be useful from a lunar base perspective. The assessment includes the state of the art of 3D printing related to several materials such as metals, polymers, ceramics, food ingredients and living tissues. From these two surveys a database related to required hardware and available technologies has been created. A systemic analysis will be described, to define the most suitable printing technologies for hardware manufacturing. Derived from the selected 3D printing technologies, a roadmap for Moon applications will be presented, including the recommendations for " print on the Moon " versus " bring to the Moon " .

- by LIQUIFER Systems Group Vienna and +2
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- Additive Manufacturing, Space Exploration, Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing, Lunar Exploration

Places in space: initial challenges for exogeography as human activities develop outside planet Earth Over fifty years after the first Lunar landing, the present-day developments in as-tronautics are presenting humankind with the perspective of expanding its presence and activity beyond the boundaries of planet Earth. If it is true that such presence and activity have been the traditional cores of attention for geography as a scientific discourse, it is reasonable to assume that they will remain so even outside of their orig-inary spatial boundaries. A possible evolution of geography might therefore be what has begun to be called exogeography i.e. the study of dynamics and processes which, after being developed on Earth during the past centuries, are likely to be developed in outer space or other celestial bodies in the future as well. This appears to be the case, since human territorialization processes appear to follow the same general patterns even though their scope and areas of action evolve with time. A reflection on this topic is being started in Italy and some initial steps were taken in recent years. This paper briefly summarizes some perspectives in this field. By reviewing some epistemological statements about geography in classical academic formulations, this work asserts that there is a definite potential of continuity between geographical studies, regardless of their being focused on Earth as a physical context or on other planets or interplanetary space. This is due to the fact that their ultimate objects remain, consistently, human presence and activity in the spaces where they occur.

- by Andy Thomas
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- Space Exploration, Deudney