The future of interstellar spacecraft.

The future of interstellar spacecraft. 

The interstellar spacecraft might not come to practice very soon. But the fact is that theoretical research. Along with careful missions is opening the road to the interstellar journey. And maybe the time of that mission will come in 200-300 years. The fact is that nobody knows when we are ready to travel to the other solar system. When we remember history many things have been "impossible".  

The Chinese knew how to make gunpowder rockets in the 200s(1). And the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky(2)(1857-1935) created theoretical research with rocketry and spaceflight in the 19th century. The thing is that things like interplanetary spaceflights. And space elevators(3) are also invented by Konstantin Tsilkovsky. 

Image 2: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935)

That man is called "the Father of the spaceflight". Tsiolkovsky also created research and articles about "lighter than air aviation". There was a rumor that Tsiolkovsky created an idea to use the hydrogen balloon or high-flying airship to carry space rockets to the high altitude. And then launch that rocket to the orbiter or sub-orbiting trajectory. 

The hydrogen balloon can lift the rocket to an altitude of 30 kilometers. And that thing could make it possible to launch smaller rockets to the orbiter. But for some reason, that plan remained at the theoretical level. And that reason could be bureaucracy. 

The thing is that technology advances all the time. And maybe the advancing of technology is faster than we think. The thing is that the first interstellar mission might become reality sooner than we expect. The thing is that the theory is the first step for making dreams real. And modern scientists have more advanced tools and experience than Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. 

But there are many things. What that man invented and what remains at the theoretical level. One of his greatest ideas is the space elevator. That giant structure that uses the centripetal force of the Earth is ever created in practice.  

Image 3: The Daedalus and Saturn V comparison

The British Interplanetary Society. And theoretical Project Daedalus(3) and its improvements. 

There are a couple of theoretical concepts for interstellar spacecraft. All of those concepts are probes. And the carefully made steps will open the road for successful manned interstellar missions far away in the future. But the first interstellar concepts would be more primitive than some SciFi spacecraft that travels across the galaxy in a couple of weeks. 

In the 1970s the British interplanetary society created Daedalus. Theoretical spacecraft. That could travel to Barnard's star. Daedalus planned to use thermonuclear detonations for reaching that distant star. In the updated version the Daedalus uses antimatter. 

When Daedalus closes the objective of its mission. That craft will create antimatter by using an antimatter generator. The antimatter would be created by benefiting the solar wind which impacts the gold leaf. That thing turns those particles into antimatter. That thing makes it possible that Daedalus II could bring samples from the solar system where it visits. 

NASA has created an idea of "Project Longshot" (4) which is quite similar to Daedalus. As I earlier wrote the both of those theoretical crafts are unmanned. So there are no worries about the lifetime of astronauts. But of course, there is the possibility that the theoretical interstellar probe is forgotten if there is some kind of other problems on Earth.  But the time of that craft will be far away in the future. 

(1)http://en.chinaculture.org/created/2005-07/21/content_70826.htm

(2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky

(3)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

(4)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

(5)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot

Image 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky

Image 2: Pinterest

 Why is planet Mars important when we are going interstellar?

Antimatter is one of the most promising fuels for the interstellar craft. The antimatter rocket is theoretically very easy to create. Material and antimatter will just need to impact inside the reaction chamber. 

Planet Mercury could be a perfect place for the antimatter factory. The antimatter-collection chambers would be the system that pulls the beta-particles like fast electrons that are coming from the Sun through the extremely thin gold layer. That thing turns those particles into antimatter. That can use as fuel for interstellar spacecraft. 

The fact is that producing antimatter in the spacecraft itself is possible. The system can just turn the collector to the star and then the particle flow will travel through the thin gold layer. That thing will turn the electrons that travel through that gold into antimatter. The antimatter can be stored in magnetic bottles. 

That means the hypothetical interstellar probe can fill their antimatter tanks very easily. Those probes must just fly against the particle flow, that comes from those stars. The Daedalus-spacecraft can easily equip with that kind of antimatter collector. And if that spacecraft has the antimatter collector or leaf gold layer with the magnetic chamber at its head. 

That thing allows it to fill the antimatter tank when it comes to the Alpha Centauri. The craft will store the antimatter in the ball-shaped magnetic bottles. And then the material that impacts with antimatter would be water, protons, electrons, or some hydrocarbons. The Proxima Centauri is part of Alpha Centauri system. And that star has a planetary system. 

The needed thing is that the mirror-particles of antimatter are involved in the annihilating material. So if the electrons are stored the positrons are the annihilating thing. If the protons are annihilating the antiprotons are the thing that causes the annihilation.  

Why Mars will be an important waypoint for interstellar travel? 

When human is going interstellar planet Mars has an important role in that kind of project. On that planet. Is possible to make social and technical tests for the systems. That should use for deeper space missions. And if we want to make the antimatter rocket that system can start far away from the Earth. 

Mars is an excellent place for laboratories where is developed the new type of propulsion systems. Those systems require extremely high energetic power sources. And the most promising power source is antimatter. The mass of antimatter that is needed for the journey to Alpha Centauri is about one kilogram if we want to bring samples from that solar system. 

The antimatter is needed for acceleration, braking, and then stabilizing the probe to a certain trajectory. And also returning from Alpha Centauri requires antimatter. The mass of antimatter that is needed for demolishing Earth is about one gram. And one gram of antimatter is needed for creating a fly-by probe. That travels past the Alpha Centauri system. But that project requires anyway extremely high-class investments. 

The thing is that handling that kind of material is extremely dangerous. So the laboratories where that kind of research is made should be very far away from Earth. 

Because if there is an accident and the antimatter touches the wall of the chamber. That thing can destroy the entire planet. If that laboratory would be on the moon. That causes the asteroid could impact Earth. 

And another thing is if the moon is destroyed. There is nothing that causes tidal waves. And the oceans start to drop to the equator. That causes horrible ecological catastrophe. The laboratories that are on Mars are not causing the same kind of threat. The problem is how to produce enough antimatter for an interstellar trip? 

One of the answers is that the antimatter production plant can create on the planet, Mercury. The Mercury could be the perfect place for the antimatter factory. As I wrote at the beginning of this text. But then the antimatter must carry to Mars. So the creation of antimatter in the craft itself would be easier. But there are lots of risks in that kind of mission. The craft should dive into the Sun. And then it creates antimatter in its collector. Then that antimatter will conduct to the rocket. 

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/mars-city-interstellar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

One improvement for Orion spacecraft

https://avoimenkoodinmaailma.blogspot.com/

Kimmo Huosionmaa

The normal rifle could launch Highly Enriched Plutonium or Californium bullets in the back of the craft, and then that ammunition would target the electromagnetic radiation by using the parabolic antenna in the back of the craft. The gun would release the bullet in the middle of the antenna, and the bullet would go thru the focal point of radiation, what would cause the nuclear fission in that piece of the highly enriched nuclear isotope. In this system standard ammunition, that is filled with gunpowder and that would make the structure of that system simpler than some magnetic rails or some other electromagnetic solutions.


That would give a more sensitive punch, and makes easier to adjust the speed of the device. Sometimes those bullets were planned to fill with Lithium, and the radiation would be mixed radio and laser rays. In fact, the normal Lithium batteries could be used in that motor. The energy of this spacecraft would get from nuclear reactors, what gives enough power to lasers and other devices of that craft. This thing would be similar, what is planned for use in the "Daedalus".  The hypothetical space probe, what would sometimes in the future travel to the Alfa Centauri. Why I'm writing about "Orion" and "Daedalus" in the same text, is the propulsion of those spacecraft are basically the same, but "Orion" uses fission and "Daedalus" uses nuclear fusion for creating the power for accelerating the spacecraft.


Using a nuclear reactor for pumping the energy for fusion system allows making fusion motor application in the spacecraft. The fusion system in this hypothetical spacecraft is not self-operating or self-maintaining. It needs the outer power source for function. Or maybe fission would be used at the beginning of the operation, and then the ship would transfer to use fusion pellets.


Both systems can be installed in the same motor, and changing the tank would be only needed for an operation. In this case, another tank involves the fissile bullets, and another one would involve the fusion material, what would shoot thru the system by small rifle. In this case, the magnetic accelerators would be unnecessary, because the accelerating for the fuel capsules would happen with standard ammunition, what can be installed in the ammunition belt.


And even the minigun would be used in that mission. That would make "Daedalus" or "Orion" possible to shoot right away to the other planets. In the real life, the normal turbogenerator could give enough energy for starting nuclear fission in the pellets, what is filler with Californium, but would the fusion possible. That is the question mark.  That system would be used to send the space probe in our own Solar system, but other stars are the little bit too far away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)