SPACE
Boeing's rescue by rival SpaceX 'embarrassing' and ill-timed
Washington (AFP) – SpaceX is coming to Boeing's rescue.
Issued on: 24/08/2024 - 
The legacy company needing aid from an upstart rival is hardly welcome news to the aerospace giant.
Because of problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, two astronauts who rode on it to the International Space Station in June will finally return to Earth on a vessel built by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
NASA's announcement Saturday of that plan represents a blow -- even a humiliation -- for Boeing, a historic partner of the American space agency.
It couldn't come at a worse time for Boeing. The sterling reputation its airplanes have long enjoyed has been seriously eroded by a series of malfunctions and two fatal crashes in recent years.
"It's not a good time for Boeing," Erik Seedhouse, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told AFP.
For Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the astronauts who flew to the ISS on Starliner, to have to return on a SpaceX craft is "very embarrassing," he added.
"It is an image problem," agreed Cai von Rumohr, an aeronautics analyst with TD Cowen, adding that it "could endanger future contracts with NASA."
But Boeing's status and mammoth size give it considerable capacity to bounce back.
"I don't think Boeing is going anywhere," said Glenn Lightsey, a professor at the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech University.
Boeing has engendered cost overruns of some $1.6 billion in developing Starliner, hit by repeated delays in development and price hikes linked to supply chain problems.
But to put that in context, Boeing's Defense, Space & Security division had turnover of $24.93 billion in 2023 -- while the overall company had revenues of $77.79 billion.
"Yes, they can recover, because they're a juggernaut," said Seedhouse.
Regaining confidence
Despite repeated delays in the Starliner program, NASA has never suggested any weakening of the collaboration with Boeing since first placing orders for space "taxis" in 2014 from both Boeing and SpaceX.
The US space agency has repeatedly insisted its goal is to have two vehicles to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, a sort of insurance plan in case one has problems.
What Boeing needs to do to regain confidence, Seedhouse said, is "to solve all these problems and have a successful re-flight sometime next year, probably, with another crew on board."
The company has insisted the two problems Starliner has encountered -- helium leaks and a defective propulsive system -- are fixable.
Such problems are not a "huge surprise," Lightsey said, adding that "it's still early development for Starliner."
The craft has undergone three orbital tests, two of them uncrewed.
"It's really only after maybe you get five missions under your belt" that "you know how everything is going to behave in space," he added.
"Even if it takes a couple more flights, I don't expect NASA to give up on them."
A tough comparison
The comparison between the rival programs of Boeing and SpaceX is nonetheless embarrassing for the older and much larger firm.
Musk's company was widely seen as an outsider in 2014 and received $2.6 billion for the project, compared to Boeing's $4.2 billion.
Yet for the past four years it has been the sole means for astronauts to travel to and from the ISS.
SpaceX had one advantage from the start: its Dragon vessel has been resupplying the ISS since 2012.
But Boeing, for its part, has a long history with NASA, with decades of work on the US space program.
"They were involved with the Apollo program; they built some of the modules on the space station," Seedhouse said.
"So it's a surprise that, in such a short period... they've gone from being a company that's performed very well to a company that has been making mistakes, left, right and center."
He said there was no single reason for the serial setbacks, but that "problems with standards and quality control" at Boeing "apply both to the spacecraft side of things and also to the aircraft."
Because of its size, Seedhouse said, Boeing is intrinsically more bureaucratic than SpaceX, where decisions can be made quickly.
But the dynamic could change one day.
At some future point, Lightsey said, "SpaceX will need help, and Boeing will be able to return the favor.
Flawed Boeing mission to return to Earth with SpaceX: NASA
Agence France-Presse
August 24, 2024
Astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore. (AFP)
Two U.S. astronauts who arrived at the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner will have to return home with rival SpaceX, NASA said Saturday.
“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters.
The return of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams has been delayed by thruster malfunctions of the Boeing spacecraft.
The decision marked a fresh public relations headache for Boeing, meaning the two astronauts will have to spend a total of eight months in orbit, not the eight days as originally planned.
After years of Starliner development delays, the spacecraft had finally lifted off in early June carrying veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams to the ISS.
But while studying problems with the craft’s propulsion system, NASA had to put their return on indefinite hold.
Engineers at Boeing and NASA were concerned Starliner might not have the propulsive power to wrest itself out of orbit and begin the descent toward Earth.
NASA officials said Saturday they had opted for the highly unusual option of bringing the astronauts back from the flying laboratory not on their own craft, but aboard a previously scheduled SpaceX vehicle in February.
Under the new plan, the SpaceX Crew-9 mission will take off in late September, but carrying only two passengers instead of the originally planned four.
It will remain moored to the ISS until its scheduled return in February, bringing back its own crew members plus their two stranded colleagues.
The approach represents a further blow to the already tarnished image of U.S. giant Boeing, whose airplane arm has been beset in recent years with concerns about safety and quality control.
Ten years ago, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA ordered new vessels from both Boeing and SpaceX that could ferry astronauts to and from the ISS.
With two such vehicles available, NASA reasoned, there would always be a backup in case one of the two experienced problems.
But Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat Boeing to the punch and has been the lone vehicle used to taxi astronauts for the past four years.
This year’s crewed Starliner flight, which followed years of delays and disappointments during the craft’s development, was meant to be a last test of the vehicle before it enters regular operations.
NASA has said the astronauts on the ISS have plenty of supplies, are trained for extended stays and have plenty of experiments to conduct.
Two astronauts stranded on ISS will return to Earth in February 2025 with SpaceX
NASA on Saturday said it would wait until next year to bring the two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station back to Earth on a SpaceX shuttle. Astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore have been unable to get home because of a problem with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft originally meant to transport them.
Issued on: 24/08/2024 -
“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters.
The return of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams has been delayed by thruster malfunctions of the Boeing spacecraft.
The decision marked a fresh public relations headache for Boeing, meaning the two astronauts will have to spend a total of eight months in orbit, not the eight days as originally planned.
After years of Starliner development delays, the spacecraft had finally lifted off in early June carrying veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams to the ISS.
But while studying problems with the craft’s propulsion system, NASA had to put their return on indefinite hold.
Engineers at Boeing and NASA were concerned Starliner might not have the propulsive power to wrest itself out of orbit and begin the descent toward Earth.
NASA officials said Saturday they had opted for the highly unusual option of bringing the astronauts back from the flying laboratory not on their own craft, but aboard a previously scheduled SpaceX vehicle in February.
Under the new plan, the SpaceX Crew-9 mission will take off in late September, but carrying only two passengers instead of the originally planned four.
It will remain moored to the ISS until its scheduled return in February, bringing back its own crew members plus their two stranded colleagues.
The approach represents a further blow to the already tarnished image of US giant Boeing, whose airplane arm has been beset in recent years with concerns about safety and quality control.
Ten years ago, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA ordered new vessels from both Boeing and SpaceX that could ferry astronauts to and from the ISS.
With two such vehicles available, NASA reasoned, there would always be a backup in case one of the two experienced problems.
But Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat Boeing to the punch and has been the lone vehicle used to taxi astronauts for the past four years.
This year’s crewed Starliner flight, which followed years of delays and disappointments during the craft’s development, was meant to be a last test of the vehicle before it enters regular operations.
NASA has said the astronauts on the ISS have plenty of supplies, are trained for extended stays and have plenty of experiments to conduct.
"I assume it will all come full circle eventually."
© 2024 AFP
The Conversation
August 23, 2024
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew (L to R:) Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis and Scott Poteet (John KRAUS/AFP)
SpaceX’s upcoming Polaris Dawn mission aims to be historic in more ways than one. Polaris Dawn plans to not only orbit Earth higher than any astronauts have in more than 50 years but to also feature the first private spacewalk.
It’s expected to launch Aug. 27, 2024, and feature a crew of four: the mission’s commander, Jared Isaacman; Scott Poteet, a 20-year Air Force veteran pilot; and SpaceX employees Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. Launching on a Falcon 9 rocket, they will travel in a SpaceX Dragon capsule named Resilience.
The crew members of Polaris Dawn in Boca Chica, Texas. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images
As a space policy expert, I see this mission as a major step in the development of commercial spaceflight. If successful, this mission will show that private companies are working on developing the capabilities needed to go to the Moon or Mars.
Commercial spaceflight
Polaris Dawn’s time in space will be spent testing communications between it and Earth via Starlink satellites and completing almost 40 experiments. Many of these experiments will study how the human body reacts in low-gravity environments and measure the radiation the capsule receives.
But Polaris Dawn’s biggest task will be the first private spacewalk. The spacewalk will test out SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity, or EVA, suits and learn about how they function in the low-gravity environment of space.
Polaris Dawn is not the first commercial spaceflight mission SpaceX has launched. In addition to providing launch services to NASA, SpaceX also sells flights on its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon crew capsule to individuals and companies.
SpaceX’s first commercial mission, Inspiration4, launched in 2021. It was led by Isaacman, Polaris Dawn’s commander.
Following that mission, Isaacman purchased three additional flights from SpaceX and worked with the company to start the Polaris program. While neither Isaacman nor SpaceX have released exact numbers, seats on the Dragon have sold previously for about US$55 million.
Polaris Dawn is just the first of three planned Polaris missions. While few details have been released about the second, the third mission will be the first launch of SpaceX’s Starship with humans on board.
High-flying orbit
Given SpaceX’s ambitions to conduct its own missions to the Moon and Mars, it will need to develop and test the many elements that such missions will require. It will need to design and test EVA suits, complete longer missions that mimic the time needed to get to places such as the Moon and demonstrate an ability to communicate with Earth.
Polaris Dawn’s high-flying orbit will send humans farther from Earth than they have been in more than 50 years.
At its peak, Polaris Dawn plans to reach an orbit of more than 850 miles (1367 kilometers) from Earth. That’s more than twice the distance between Earth and the International Space Station, which orbits about 254 miles (408 km) up. It’ll also be the highest orbit humans have reached since the Apollo program sent astronauts around and to the Moon.
Testing new suits
Perhaps more importantly, the spacewalk will test out SpaceX’s new EVA suits. Developing these suits is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish.
A Polaris Dawn crew member tries on SpaceX’s extravehicular activity suit. SpaceX, CC BY-NC-ND
NASA learned early on that spacesuits are incredibly tricky. They must provide life support and protection from the space environment while allowing astronauts to move about. This is particularly tricky, as fully pressurized suits are bulky and hard to move in, leading to exhaustion.
NASA developed its current generation of EVA suits in the 1980s. Just this summer, NASA canceled several spacewalks because of suit discomfort and coolant leaks.
The Polaris Dawn crew is scheduled to conduct their extravehicular activities on Aug. 30. To do so, they will lower their orbit to approximately 434 miles (700 km) to reduce the crew’s exposure to radiation.
All four of Polaris Dawn’s crew members will suit up for the spacewalk. After depressurizing the entire capsule, two of the crew – Isaacman and Gillis – will leave the relative safety of the Dragon capsule to spend approximately two hours in space.
A charitable cause
Polaris and Polaris Dawn are seeking to raise money for children’s cancer research while also expanding SpaceX’s capabilities for space exploration. As a tech billionaire, Isaacman has a long history of charitable giving.
Like Isaacman’s earlier Inspiration4 mission, Polaris Dawn is also raising funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in one case soliciting donations in return for Doritos chips specially developed for space.
Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 and the commander of Polaris Dawn, stands in front of a plane. AP Photo/John Raoux
Isaacman’s commitment to coupling this mission with his philanthropy suggests that he understands many people’s critiques of the so-called billionaire space club. These arguments often include the idea that billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos would help people more by spending their money on things like poverty alleviation rather than on space missions.
While private missions like this aren’t funded by tax dollars and don’t require public support, Isaacman’s decision to make St. Jude a partner creates tangible and immediate benefits on Earth.
Like many of SpaceX’s activities, Polaris Dawn is ambitious, but it is necessary for the company’s future plans. Before SpaceX can run to Mars, it must first walk – or spacewalk, to be more precise.
Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
SpaceX shows off Dragon capsules for Polaris Dawn flight
SpaceX shared images of the new Dragon Crew capsules that will be used for the Polaris Dawn mission. Photo by SpaceX/
Aug. 22 (UPI) -- SpaceX on Wednesday revealed the Crew Dragon capsules that will take part in the Polaris Dawn and Crew-9 astronaut missions on Aug. 27 and Sept. 4.
The capsules were rolled out Wednesday at its processing facility in Florida with SpaceX saying on social media they were "readying for flight."
Polaris Dawn is the first of three private missions paid for by billionaire tech owner Jared Isaacman. He will make the Dawn flight with experienced pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
The flight is expected to feature the first private spacewalk along with taking the crew more than 800 miles from Earth, the farthest man had been away from Earth since NASA's Apollo missions.
"After more than two years of training, we are excited to embark on this mission," Isaacman, who will serve as the mission's commander, said in a statement on Monday. "Throughout our mission, we will aim to inspire humankind to look up and imagine what we can achieve here on Earth and in the worlds beyond our own."
The Dragon capsule does not have an airlock, so the spacewalk will happen closer to Earth, 435 miles from the surface. Since all four astronauts will be exposed to the vacuum of space during the walk, they will all wear their spacesuits during that time. They will be testing SpaceX's new spacesuits at the time that are crafted for long-duration space travel.
The astronauts will perform medical and health experiments while on their five-day trip as the capsule travels past the VanAllen Radiation Belt, which has a higher level of radiation than lower orbit.
NASA rolls out critical rocket part for upcoming manned Artemis II mission
Crews ready a cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter, which will connect the rocket's core stage to its upper one. It's a critical piece of NASA's Artemis II mission being readied at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo by Samuel Lott/NASA
Aug. 22 (UPI) -- NASA has taken the next critical step in preparing for the launch of its first crewed Artemis space mission, the agency announced Thursday.
On Wednesday, crews rolled out a key piece of space flight hardware, a cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter, that will connect the rocket's core stage to its upper one, protecting the engines that will help propel the Artemis II in a test flight around the moon, a mission scheduled for next year.
"The launch vehicle stage adapter is the largest SLS component for Artemis II that is made at the center," said Space Launch System Spacecraft Payload Integration and Evolution element manager Chris Calfee.
The SLS is touted by NASA as the only rocket that can send NASA's Orion spacecraft, four astronauts, and large cargo directly to the moon on a single mission.
The system "is a super heavy-lift rocket that provides the foundation for human exploration beyond Earth orbit," NASA said in a statement describing it.
The SLS is highly efficient and flexible, capable of supporting a range of missions while keeping them less complex, agency officials said. NASA said it aims to send Orion or other cargo to the moon, nearly 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station resides in low-Earth orbit.
"The high-performance rocket provides the power to help Orion reach a speed of 24,500 mph -- the speed needed to send it to the moon," NASA said.
"To fulfill America's future needs for deep space missions, SLS will evolve into increasingly more powerful configurations."
The hardware for the Artemis II mission was produced and tested at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and will begin the highly calculated and planned trek via NASA's Pegasus barge to the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"Both the adapters for the SLS rocket that will power the Artemis II and Artemis III missions are fully produced at NASA Marshall. Alabama plays a key role in returning astronauts to the moon," NASA officials said.
Once stage adaptor arrives in Florida, engineers will work to connect the adapter to the core stage and get the craft ready for launch after more testing.
The Artemis II project is part of NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Project.
With the key piece of Artemis II spaceflight hardware out the door, engineers continue to focus on the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis III.
Novel strategy proposed for massive water production on moon
Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
image:
The strategy for in situ water production on the Moon through the reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen.
view moreCredit: Image by NIMTE
Water plays a crucial role in human survival on the lunar surface, thus attracting extensive research attention. Prof. WANG Junqiang’s team at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently developed a new method of massive water production through reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen.
Research results of previous lunar explorations, like the Apollo and Chang’E-5 missions, have revealed the widespread presence of water on the Moon. However, the water content in lunar minerals is extremely low, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%. It remains challenging to extract and utilize water in situ on the Moon.
“We used lunar regolith samples brought back by the Chang’E-5 mission in our study, trying to find a way to produce water on the Moon,” said WANG.
The study revealed that when the lunar regolith is heated above 1,200 K with concave mirrors, one gram of molten lunar regolith can generate 51–76 mg of water. In other words, one ton of lunar regolith could produce more than 50 kg of water, which is equal to about a hundred 500-ml bottles of drinking water. This would be enough drinking water for 50 people for one day.
In addition, lunar ilmenite (FeTiO3) was found to contain the highest amount of solar wind-implanted hydrogen among the five primary minerals in the lunar regolith, owing to its unique lattice structure with sub-nanometer tunnels.
In-situ heating experiments indicated that hydrogen in lunar minerals is a substantial resource for producing water on the Moon. Such water could be used both for drinking and irrigating plants. In addition it could be electrochemically decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, with hydrogen being used for energy and oxygen being essential for breathing.
These discoveries provide pioneering insights into water exploration on the Moon and shed light on the future construction of lunar research stations.
Results of the study were published in The Innovation.
Journal
The Innovation
Article Title
Massive Water Production from Lunar Ilmenite through Reaction with Endogenous Hydrogen
Article Publication Date
22-Aug-2024
New detectable gravitational wave source from collapsing stars predicted from simulations
The ripples in space-time caused by the death of massive spinning stars could be within the limits of detection of projects like LIGO and Virgo, new simulations by Flatiron Institute astrophysicists suggest
Simons Foundation
image:
After the death of a massive, spinning star, a disk of material forms around the central black hole. As the material cools and falls into the black hole, new research suggests that detectable gravitational waves are created.
view moreCredit: Ore Gottlieb
The death of a massive, rapidly spinning star can shake the universe. And the resulting ripples — known as gravitational waves — could be felt by instruments on Earth, according to new research published August 22 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. These new sources of gravitational waves just await discovery, the scientists behind the research predict.
The gravitational waves emerge following the violent deaths of rapidly rotating stars 15 to 20 times the mass of the sun. Upon running out of fuel, these stars implode, then explode, in an event known as a collapsar. This leaves behind a black hole surrounded by a large disk of leftover material that quickly whirls into the black hole’s maw. The spiraling of material — which lasts just minutes — is so great that it distorts the space around it, creating gravitational waves that travel across the universe.
Using cutting-edge simulations, the scientists determined that these gravitational waves could be detectable with instruments like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which made the first direct observations of gravitational waves from merging black holes in 2015. If spotted, the collapsar-driven waves would help scientists understand the mysterious inner workings of collapsars and black holes.
“Currently, the only gravitational wave sources that we have detected come from a merger of two compact objects — neutron stars or black holes,” says study lead Ore Gottlieb, a research fellow at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) in New York City. “One of the most interesting questions in the field is: What are the potential non-merger sources that could produce gravitational waves that we can detect with current facilities? One promising answer is now collapsars.”
Gottlieb, along with CCA visiting scholar and Columbia professor Yuri Levin and Tel Aviv University professor Amir Levinson, simulated the conditions — including magnetic fields and cooling rates — found in the aftermath of a massive rotating star’s collapse. The simulations showed that collapsars can produce gravitational waves powerful enough to be visible from about 50 million light-years away. That distance is less than one-tenth the detectable range of the more powerful gravitational waves from mergers of black holes or neutron stars, though it’s still stronger than any non-merger event yet simulated.
The new findings come as a surprise, Gottlieb says. Scientists thought the chaotic collapse would create a jumble of waves that would be hard to pick out amid the universe’s background noise. Think of an orchestra warming up. When each musician plays their own notes, it can be hard to distinguish the melody coming from a single flute or tuba. On the other hand, gravitational waves from the merger of two objects create clear, strong signals like an orchestra playing together. This is because when two compact objects are about to merge, they dance in a tight orbit that creates gravitational waves with each turn. This rhythm of near-identical waves amplifies the signal to a level that can be detected. The new simulations showed that the rotating disks around collapsars can also emit gravitational waves that amplify together, very much like the orbiting compact objects in mergers.
“I thought that the signal would be much messier because the disk is a continuous distribution of gas with material spinning in different orbits,” Gottlieb says. “We found that the gravitational waves from these disks are emitted coherently, and they’re also rather strong.”
Not only is the predicted signal from collapsar disks strong enough to be detected by LIGO, but Gottlieb’s calculations suggest that a few events might already be in existing datasets. Proposed gravitational wave detectors such as the Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope could spot dozens a year.
The gravitational wave community is already interested in looking for these events, but it is not an easy task. The new work calculated gravitational wave signatures for a modest number of potential collapsar events. Stars, however, span a wide range of mass and rotation profiles, which would create differences in the calculated gravitational wave signals.
“In principle, we would ideally simulate 1 million collapsars to be able to create a generic template, but unfortunately, these are very expensive simulations,” Gottlieb says. “So, for now, we have to pick other strategies.”
Scientists can look into historical data to see if any events are similar to the one Gottlieb simulated. Given the variety of stars, though, each with a potentially unique signal, finding a match for one of the simulated signals is probably unlikely. Another strategy is to use other signals from close by collapsar events — such as supernovae or gamma-ray bursts that are emitted during the star’s collapse — and then search the data archives to see if any gravitational waves were detected in that area of the sky around the same time.
Detecting collapsar-generated gravitational waves would help scientists better understand the inner structure of the star upon collapse and would also enable them to learn about the properties of black holes — two topics that remain poorly understood.
“These are things that we can otherwise not detect,” Gottlieb says. “The only way for us to study these inner stellar regions around the black hole is through gravitational waves.”
A simulation showing the distribution of matter around a newborn black hole following a collapsar event. Warmer colors denote higher densities of matter.
Credit
Ore Gottlieb
ABOUT THE FLATIRON INSTITUTE
The Flatiron Institute is the research division of the Simons Foundation. The institute's mission is to advance scientific research through computational methods, including data analysis, theory, modeling and simulation. The institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics creates new computational frameworks that allow scientists to analyze big astronomical datasets and to understand complex, multi-scale physics in a cosmological context.
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Method of Research
Computational simulation/modeling
Article Title
In LIGO's Sight? Vigorous Coherent Gravitational Waves from Cooled Collapsar Disks
Article Publication Date
22-Aug-2024
Researchers identify effective materials for protecting astronauts from harmful cosmic radiation on Mars
New findings can help design protective habitats and spacesuits, making long-duration Mars missions more feasible
New York University
Abu Dhabi, August 23, 2024: Researchers have identified specific materials, including certain plastics, rubber, and synthetic fibers, as well as Martian soil (regolith), which would effectively protect astronauts by blocking harmful space radiation on Mars. These findings could inform the design of protective habitats and spacesuits, making long-duration Mars missions more feasible. Because Mars lacks Earth’s thick atmosphere and magnetic field, astronauts exploring the planet would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.
Dimitra Atri, Investigator, Center for Astrophysics and Space Science and Group Leader of the Mars Research Group at NYU Abu Dhabi's Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, and lead author Dionysios Gakis from the University of Patras in Greece, report these new findings in “Modeling the effectiveness of radiation shielding materials for astronaut protection on Mars,” appearing in the journal The European Physical Journal Plus.
Using computer modeling to simulate the radiation conditions on Mars, the researchers tested various standard and novel materials to see which best shielded cosmic radiation and determined that compound materials like certain plastics, rubber, and synthetic fibers would all perform well. Martian soil (regolith) was also somewhat effective and could be used as an extra layer of protection. In addition, they demonstrated that the most widely used aluminum could also be helpful when combined with other low atomic number materials. The study also used real Mars data from NASA's Curiosity rover to confirm these findings.
“This breakthrough enhances astronaut safety and makes long-term Mars missions a more realistic possibility,” said Atri. “It supports the future of human space exploration and potential establishment of human bases on Mars, including the UAE's Mars 2117 project and its goal of establishing a city on Mars by the year 2117.”
“Several materials were specifically tested in a simulated Martian environment, making our results directly applicable to future missions and optimizing the combination of advanced materials with the natural resources available on Mars,” Gakis added.
ENDS
About NYU Abu Dhabi
www.nyuad.nyu.edu
NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. Times Higher Education ranks NYU among the top 30 universities in the world, making NYU Abu Dhabi the highest-ranked university in the UAE and MENA region. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 120 countries and speak over 100 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.
Journal
The European Physical Journal Plus
Article Title
Modeling the effectiveness of radiation shielding materials for astronaut protection on Mars
