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The future holds wild adventures across the universe, and we are incredibly fortunate to be alive at the perfect moment to witness the rise of humanity as a spacefaring species. True to the spirit of science fiction, the revolutionary space technologies propelling us to the stars will range from the bizarre to the dangerously ambitious.
10. Startram: The Magnetic Space Train
For the modest price tag of $20 billion, the proposed launch system Startram aims to send 300,000-ton payloads into orbit at an incredibly affordable rate of approximately $40 per kilogram ($20/lb). This is a staggering 99 percent reduction compared to the current cost of $11,000 per kilogram ($5,000/lb) for launching with solar power satellites.
Instead of relying on rockets, propellants, or ion drives, Startram will harness electromagnetic repulsion. This concept has long been a staple of science fiction and is now becoming a reality, with real-world levitating trains already whisking passengers along at speeds of nearly 600 kilometers per hour (370 mph).
However, current maglev trains, like Japan’s famous bullet trains, face limitations due to air drag as they speed through the atmosphere. To reach mind-blowing velocities, it’s necessary to eliminate the drag caused by nitrogen, oxygen, and other atmospheric gases.
Startram plans to overcome this by launching from a massively long tube in near-vacuum conditions, elevated by powerful magnets and supported by tethers at an altitude of 20 kilometers (12 mi). The thinner air at this height enables smoother launches at much greater speeds.
If the initial version of Startram proves successful, a second, human-capable version will follow. However, it will require an estimated 20 years of development and around $60 billion in investment to complete.
9. Comet Hitchhiker
Despite its scientific accuracy—specifically, the notion that comets are dangerous—the 1998 thriller Armageddon significantly underestimated the challenge of landing on one. Even NASA prefers other approaches. Recently, the agency provided initial funding to develop the Comet Hitchhiker, a harpoon-equipped spacecraft designed to reel itself between asteroids like a fisherman pulling in a prized marlin.
Comets and asteroids present challenging targets due to their small masses and weak gravitational pull. It’s also unwise to invest heavily in exploring these minuscule bodies, especially when the most intriguing ones are found in the Kuiper Belt or the Oort Cloud, which are situated beyond Neptune’s orbit and at the outermost reaches of our solar system, respectively.
The budget-conscious Comet Hitchhiker cleverly sidesteps these obstacles with its retractable harpoon and tether, allowing it to travel between 5–10 rocky objects during a single cosmic journey. In addition to its clever design, the Comet Hitchhiker is remarkably efficient: When it grips its target, it harnesses the rock’s kinetic gravity to propel itself toward other bodies. As the harpoon is retracted, the vehicle is accelerated in the opposite direction, eliminating the need for propellants.
8. Solar Probe Plus
Like Earth, the Sun also experiences gusts of wind, but while a breeze on our planet might just mess up your hair, a solar wind will transform you into a searing mass of radiation. Although this energetic force remains somewhat mysterious, NASA’s Solar Probe Plus is set to answer many questions by approaching the Sun in 2018 more closely than any previous spacecraft.
This robotic probe will fly as close as 8.5 solar radii to the Sun’s surface. At this proximity, the probe will endure intense radiation never before encountered by human-made objects, as it charges through the Sun’s atmosphere at speeds of 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph). To withstand temperatures reaching 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,500 °F), the Solar Probe Plus will be shielded by a 12-centimeter (5 in) thick carbon-composite heat shield made of a foamy material.
However, NASA cannot send the probe directly toward the Sun. Instead, it must gradually be nudged into the correct orbit through seven flybys of Venus. For almost seven years, it will circle our neighboring planet. The precise schedule can be found here.
Each orbit will progressively tighten the probe’s path around the Sun. Eventually, it will settle into an orbit just 3.8 million miles from the Sun, which is far closer than Mercury’s orbit. This is a remarkable achievement for a spacecraft launched from Earth, especially considering the current record holder, the Helios 2 probe, resides about 27 million miles from the Sun.
7. Martian Outpost
With Mars and Europa on the horizon, the future of space exploration is looking incredibly promising. Unless some global catastrophe or devastating meteor strikes occurs, NASA aims to have humans walking on Mars within the next two decades.
The space agency has outlined plans for a next-generation scientific outpost inspired by The Martian. By the 2030s, we might be tossing reddish snowballs at each other tens of millions of miles away from Earth. In the video above, NASA gives us a glimpse of what an extraterrestrial proto-colony could look like.
The designated exploration area will cover roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) and will feature habitation modules, research buildings, a fleet of pressurized rovers, and mining equipment for the first four-person crew. Power will be partially provided by a series of small nuclear fission reactors to support the solar panels, which may be ineffective during Martian sandstorms.
As time goes on, multiple crews will inhabit this site, where they will need to grow their own food, extract Martian water, and even produce the fuel required for their journey back to Earth. Fortunately, Mars has what they need. Most—if not all—essential resources can be sourced by mining either the soil or the atmospheric gases.
6. NASA’s ATHLETE
NASA’s All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extraterrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) is a revolutionary, exploratory robot designed to assist in colonizing the Moon. True to its name, each of its six spindly limbs offers six degrees of freedom, allowing it to navigate over the rugged, cratered lunar surface. The limbs are equipped with retractable wheels to help it move more efficiently across smoother ground.
ATHLETE is also a versatile workhorse, packed with a complete set of tools. Its flexible limbs are capable of gripping the scoops, drills, and other instruments required to perform an in-depth physical examination of the Moon’s surface.
Primarily, however, ATHLETE is a heavy-duty laborer designed for carrying large loads. In the image above, it is shown transporting a habitation module. Standing taller than a basketball hoop with a minimum height of 4 meters (13 feet), ATHLETE can lift up to 400 kilograms (900 lbs) of equipment—right here on Earth’s gravity!
Most importantly, ATHLETE’s agile frame allows it to transport supplies with ease, unlike the stationary, cargo-filled landers of the past and present.
5. 3-D-Printed Martian Homes
To fast-track a Mars mission, NASA has passed on the task of Martian habitat design to others by sponsoring a competition focused on developing cost-effective, 3-D-printed living spaces for the Red Planet.
Drawing inspiration from Native American traditions of utilizing every part of a resource, MIT students proposed building homes directly from the Martian terrain and atmosphere. They started by analyzing iconic science fiction movies, including Gravity and 2001: A Space Odyssey, for architectural ideas.
They ultimately came up with a human-centered, doughnut-shaped home that inflates like a bouncy castle. The structure utilizes an innovative printing technique that reduces stress lines, enabling it to handle the higher internal air pressure. Every component is created from materials harvested from Martian ‘sand’ or gases found in the planet’s atmosphere.
However, the coveted prize went to Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office for their psychedelic Mars Ice House. Shaped like a ghostly translucent shark fin, it is reinforced with local ice, which serves as an incredibly cost-effective radiation shield.
The habitat will be initially deployed by a lander that arrives on a well-iced surface and sinters a solid base. Then, a small fleet of robots will gather slush and construct protective membranes around the structure.
The robots—fitted with nozzles resembling those on miniature fire trucks—will spray the inner walls with a blend of water, gel, fibers, and silica. Once frozen, the two icy layers will form a solid enclosure, containing the living environment. At that point, the seedbeds in the lander will begin to come to life, sprouting a garden of oxygen-producing plants for future settlers.
4. NASA’s Beach Ball Coronagraph
In the quest to capture an image of the Sun’s corona—a halo of charged particles surrounding our star—one significant challenge remains: the Sun itself. The intense brilliance of the Sun overwhelms the faint corona, demanding a creative approach to overcoming this obstacle.
Introducing the beach ball coronagraph, NASA’s sleek, super-black titanium occulter. This tennis ball–sized device will fly ahead of a traditional spectrograph imager, simulating a mini eclipse to unveil the outermost layers of the Sun.
NASA’s current spacecraft designed to study the Sun, including SOHO and STEREO, use flat-plate occulters. However, the flat design creates an undesirable fuzziness in the images. A spherical object like the beach ball coronagraph should dramatically cut down on this solar noise.
Nature has already provided us with the perfect solar occulter, free of charge. Unfortunately, it’s positioned about 400,000 kilometers (250,000 mi) away. Moreover, our temperamental lunar companion only occasionally crosses in front of the Sun, offering us only rare views of the transient corona.
But NASA’s titanium tennis balls are designed to mimic the Moon’s effect, hovering about 2 meters (7 ft) in front of their associated imagers.
3. Objective Europa
Objective Europa represents the most daring and ambitious exploratory mission ever proposed. It seeks to send astronauts to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, inside a submarine to explore the depths of Europa's hidden ocean in search of life.
So, how do the astronauts make their return journey? The reality is, they don’t.
Some brave individuals will willingly sacrifice themselves for the most monumental scientific endeavor ever undertaken by humanity. While current technology can get us to Europa, this mission remains a distant dream as we have yet to establish a human presence on closer planets and moons.
Kristian von Bengston, the visionary leader, designer, and architect behind Objective Europa, thrives on the audacity of such an impossible mission. He is currently crowdsourcing the project to assess feasibility and explore other potential missions to distant celestial bodies.
The submarine will be equipped with a set of gadgets worthy of Inspector Gadget himself, including a powerful drill, multidirectional thrusters, floodlights, and perhaps even a couple of robotic manipulator arms. Both the craft and the submersible will also need a super-durable radiation shield to protect against the lethal radiation from Jupiter and the Sun.
Finding the perfect landing site is critical because certain areas of the frozen moon are believed to offer better protection from charged particles. Furthermore, as the ice layer is several kilometers thick in most regions, the lander must aim for ravines or fissures where the crust is thinner.
2. SPS-ALPHA
The SPS-ALPHA is a solar energy generator in orbit, covered with tens of thousands of thin-film mirrors that are carefully arranged to capture solar energy. The collected sunlight is transformed into a microwave beam and sent to Earth, potentially providing thousands of affordable megawatts of power.
In addition to transmitting power back to Earth, the SPS-ALPHA system also opens up new opportunities for space exploration, an industry often constrained by the availability of affordable energy sources. Many current satellites are powered by the equivalent of minimal resources. An orbiting solar generator could give humanity a boost, providing essential energy to spacecraft traveling in space, as well as to lunar outposts or stations in Earth’s orbit.
However, several colossal challenges lie ahead. For instance, an SPS platform as envisioned would exceed the size of the International Space Station. It’s akin to building our very own Death Star, requiring an immense amount of labor and energy, with thousands of astronauts working as welders, technicians, and builders to complete the project.
Due to its massive size, it must be constructed in space, which means we’ll need a few space factories that could easily be imagined in science fiction. Fortunately, the SPS system is largely made up of smaller, mass-producible components, transforming the task from nearly impossible to extraordinarily difficult.
1. Honeybee Robotics’ Future Tech
Honeybee Robotics has recently secured NASA funding to develop two innovative technologies as part of a collaborative project called the Asteroid Redirect System. The primary goal is to better understand potential asteroid threats so that we can plan for future cosmic dangers. But fortunately, there’s also room in the budget for a bit of destruction.
The first technology is a genuine space shotgun. It will fire a barrage of pellets at target asteroids to assess their structural integrity. Eventually, a large rock will be captured from the asteroid’s surface using robotic claws and guided into orbit around the Moon.
Assuming we successfully avoid a self-inflicted apocalypse, human missions will have the opportunity to explore both an asteroid and our newly acquired satellite—the Moon—with unprecedented ease. NASA anticipates that its initial target will be one of these three asteroids: Itokawa, Bennu, or 2008 EV5.
The second innovation is Honeybee’s portable Nano Drill designed for asteroid sample collection. Weighing less than 1 kilogram (2 lb) and about the size of a smartphone, this two-actuator drilling system extracts small cores from the asteroid at various depths and can be used by robots or astronauts during an asteroid spacewalk.
