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With numerous challenges confronting engineers and astronauts, it's easy to feel that space exploration might not be worth the effort. Fortunately, both professional scientists and enthusiastic amateurs are joining forces to tackle even the most complex problems, often with profound consequences for the future of humanity.
10. The Hedgehog Comet-Hopper
As demonstrated by the Philae lander, landing on a comet is a daunting task. But what about moving across the comet's surface? That presents an entirely different challenge. In the vastness of space, comets are mere specks, and their minimal gravity makes it nearly impossible to perform activities like movement.
A powerful sneeze could send one into orbit, and wheels become ineffective, rendering rovers useless for exploring comets. Instead, NASA has introduced ideas for a smaller probe capable of rolling or launching itself in the comet's low-gravity environment. The Hedgehog robots, as they are charmingly known, are essentially cubes with spikes attached to each corner. These spikes not only safeguard the fragile scientific equipment inside but also function as feet, using internal flywheels to propel the Hedgehog across the comet's surface. When precision is needed, the Hedgehog can roll like a tumbleweed over short distances.
The robots have already undergone several microgravity tests on NASA’s C-9 aircraft and have demonstrated their ability to perform well in a variety of simulated terrains. Additionally, the Hedgehogs are cost-effective for NASA, being far cheaper than nearly any other vehicle to have landed on a foreign body.
And the highlight? Watching the Hedgehog execute the “Tornado,” an erratic movement that helps the ‘Hog escape tricky situations.
9. Plastic-Producing, Breath-Eating Yeast
Transporting supplies to astronauts deep in space is nearly impossible, so the solution is to find a nearby source—the astronauts themselves. NASA recently granted Clemons University $200,000 to perfect a process for extracting plastics and nutrients from urine and exhaled CO2.
Professor Mark Blenner, an expert in chemical and bioengineering, aims to use a mix of yeast and algae to create an endless supply of essentials, including Omega-3 fatty acids, to keep astronauts' brains in top shape. Yeast is a remarkable organism that can be engineered to produce a variety of valuable compounds, including plastic polymers, which can then be woven into tools directly on-site, saving a fortune in launch costs.
However, to keep the yeast thriving, plenty of nitrogen and lipids are needed. Thankfully, nitrogen is plentiful in urine and is easily supplied whenever nature calls. Obtaining the required lipids is more challenging. Certain algae can synthesize these fatty substances from carbon, which is extracted from the CO2 in astronauts’ breath.
8. The Swiss Space Janitor
It’s not just distracted teenage drivers and the morbidly obese who face skyrocketing insurance premiums. As Earth's surrounding space becomes cluttered with debris, the risk to satellites grows, and insurance costs soar.
To reduce the threat of hypersonic space debris, the world’s cleanest country, Switzerland, is launching a robotic janitor. CleanSpace One is the prototype of a series of cleanup satellites designed to collect the half-million pieces of junk polluting Earth’s upper atmosphere.
After meeting a piece of abandoned space equipment at speeds nearing 29,000 kilometers per hour (18,000 mph), CleanSpace One will use its robotic arm to grab and dispose of it in a highly dramatic fashion: It will plunge to Earth, burning up both the satellite and the unwanted debris in the process.
If everything goes according to plan, expect to see these cleaning machines operating in Earth's orbit by 2020.
7. Shooting Paintballs At Asteroids
Asteroid collisions could be catastrophic for humanity, and the brightest minds are working on ways to prevent a doomsday impact. Obvious strategies include vaporizing the asteroid with a heat ray or blowing it apart with a nuclear explosion, but Sung Wook Paek has a creative idea—paintballs.
Perhaps conceived over a few beers, Paek’s plan involves firing paintballs at the asteroid, coating it with a layer of paint and altering its albedo, or reflective index. A darker asteroid absorbs more heat, melts, and shifts its path. In contrast, a lighter asteroid reflects sunlight, preserves its icy mass, and also changes direction.
Either way, humanity would be safe. And as improbable as it may seem, this approach is actually practical because paintballs are far less expensive than orbital lasers or nuclear missiles. Furthermore, since asteroids travel in vast orbits, only a tiny adjustment is needed. Over millions of miles, even a minor shift can steer an asteroid away from Earth.
6. Ants In Space
Ants in Space is not the long-awaited follow-up to Snakes on a Plane. An established feature on the ISS and a phonetic tongue-twister, the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert (CSI-06 program), or cosmic ant colony, will assist scientists in developing more effective algorithms that could transform the robotics and AI industries.
What’s fascinating about ants is their lack of a central authority. There are no leader ants assigning tasks to the worker ants. Instead, they operate through collective intelligence. The ants work together to make sense of their environment and tirelessly pursue a common goal, whether that’s foraging, defending, or performing other tasks.
By taking measurements with their antennae and passing the information along the colony, the pavement ants used in this study, native to the US, can achieve remarkable efficiency, particularly when scouting and exploring new areas. These ant-inspired algorithms could potentially enhance our own exploratory abilities.
5. NASA’s New Sports Car Rover
NASA has decided it’s time to dive into the world of self-driving cars, and has quickly advanced a Modular Robotic Vehicle (MRV) into their Game Changing Development Program Office. Often considered the most fun rover ever created, the MRV is described as an absolute thrill to drive and has been compared to the sensation of “driving on ice.”
This rugged vehicle also features drive-by-wire technology, meaning the steering, pedals, motors, and transmission are all electronically coordinated, with no physical connection. In terms of design, it ditches the typical golf cart look of traditional rovers for a more modern, dune buggy-inspired appearance.
With an impressive 100-kilometer (62 mi) range and a blazing top speed of 64 kilometers per hour (40 mph), this vehicle pairs its striking new design with unbeatable performance. It also maneuvers like a shopping cart, but in the best possible way, thanks to its unique rotating wheels. This innovative “e-corner” system gives astronauts or car enthusiasts the ability to pull off a variety of incredible moves, including zero-degree turns and sideways driving.
4. ARES, The Fold-Out Mars Scout
The first human to walk on Mars is alive today, probably busy with astronaut duties, which emphasizes how close we are to achieving humanity’s greatest feat (so far). However, before the most jet-lagged astronauts in history can explore the Martian surface, we first need to find the ideal landing site to start Earth 2.0.
While the Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rovers continue their hard work, they have only covered a combined distance of 56.55 kilometers (35.14 mi). To assess larger areas from within Mars’s atmosphere, scientists have proposed the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars (ARES).
This self-sustaining airplane would be deployed above the Martian surface in a small, compact package housed within a protective aeroshell. After releasing its parachute and heat shield, it unfolds in midair and begins its scouting mission without ever touching the Martian soil.
With its large wings designed to grip the thin Martian air and stylish blue stripes to keep it looking sharp, ARES could easily be mistaken for a prize from a Kinder Egg. Fortunately, you can still enjoy the next best thing, as NASA has thoughtfully created a printable paper version of ARES for your personal enjoyment.
3. ESA’s Lunar Village
Following their triumph at comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and fueled by a multibillion-dollar budget, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) latest ambitious project is the creation of a lunar village. The Moon’s lack of atmosphere makes it the perfect vantage point for gazing into deep space, and such a settlement would serve as the ideal platform for next-generation telescopes, especially as Hubble nears the end of its career.
Though it may seem like a distant fantasy, ESA plans to launch its first lunar reconnaissance vehicle in 2018. This robotic explorer will scout the Moon’s south pole and unofficially claim prime real estate for Europe. If the ESA manages to develop a sustainable lunar shuttle system and avoid financial ruin in the coming years, construction crews could begin building the lunar base as soon as 2024.
But don’t get too excited about being the first human to set foot on the Moon. The initial crew will be fully robotic. A team of bulldozers, equipped with 3D printers, will be tasked with constructing the base, which will be shielded and insulated beneath a dome. With advanced scientific facilities and a permanent location, this lunar base could one day replace the International Space Station as the hub for space-based research.
2. Bear Biology
In order to keep astronauts from going stir-crazy millions of miles away from Earth, the most viable solution for extended space travel is hibernation. Just like in the movies, astronauts could enter a deep sleep for months or even years, only to awaken at their destination feeling as refreshed as when they left.
However, there’s a catch when it comes to human hibernation. Well, there are many, but scientists are focusing on solving one major issue by taking inspiration from the biology of bears. Humans have a continuous flow of calcium between our bones and blood, which usually helps keep our bones healthy. But long stretches of inactivity can lead to dangerously high calcium levels in the blood, causing the skeleton to become fragile, depleted, and weak.
Bears, however, avoid the brittle bone issue. To figure out how, biologists enlisted 13 female bears—by temporarily ‘borrowing’ them during hibernation. Through blood analysis, scientists discovered that the bears suppress bone breakdown and remodeling with the help of specific hormones and enzymes. If humans can use similar techniques, the limitations of our biology may no longer prevent us from taking extended space trips.
1. Self-Healing Spacecraft
Cosmic impacts happen at such incomprehensible speeds that even the smallest debris can punch massive holes in the toughest spacecraft. Similarly, repairing materials damaged aboard the space station—often due to the occasional clumsy astronaut mishap—is a major hassle and a costly problem, given the sky-high expense of sending cargo into orbit.
But that may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to NASA's creation of a self-healing material that can repair itself within two seconds after taking damage. This is made possible by layering polymers around a magical, gelatinous substance filled with a Wolverine-inspired compound called tributylborane.
Picture the whole system like an Oreo cookie: When a projectile punctures one or both of the cookie layers, the malleable jelly inside mixes with air and solidifies instantly. While this self-healing material is still in its proof-of-concept phase, any solution that minimizes hassle and protects against catastrophic depressurization is bound to be seriously considered for future spacecraft designs.
