Electric solar wind sail facilitated Manned Mars Initiative (EMMI) makes continuous bidirectional manned Mars flights possible by utilising water mined from the asteroids. In the heart of this scheme is the electric solar wind sail which provides propellantless transportation within the solar system, thus enabling economical asteroid mining.
By opening up the possibility of economical asteroid water mining , the electric solar wind sail (E-sail, www.electric-sailing.fi) enables frequent and affordable manned Mars flights
The E-sail is a novel propellantless technology that was invented in Finland in 2006. The E-sail utilises long, charged tethers to convert natural solar wind momentum flux into spacecraft thrust.
According to Janhunen et al. (2015) the E-sail could make asteroid mining feasible by providing essentially free logistics in the solar system outside of Earth’s magnetosphere. After finding a suitable water bearing asteroid, a mining unit is could be sent by the E-sail to extract the water from asteroid soil. This can be done by heating the material and letting the evolving water vapour condense in a cool container. When the container is full, it is separated from the mining unit and transported with an E-sail in to the orbit of Mars or Earth, where it is split into hydrogen and oxygen and liquefied. The liquid hydrogen/oxygen (LH2/LOX) fuel can be used to fill the tanks of manned vehicles travelling between Earth and Mars.
Due to the exponential nature of the rocket equation, intermediate tankings reduce the launch mass dramatically. During the trip, asteroid-mined water could also be used as radiation shielding of the manned module to reduce the launch mass further. With cheap propellant available in Mars orbit, there is also the option of fully propulsive landing on Mars which eliminates the need of a massive and expensive heat shield.
Read more: Electric Solar Wind Sail could make bidirectional manned Mars flights economically feasible
The Latest on: Electric Solar Wind Sail
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The Latest on: Electric Solar Wind Sail
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The revolutionary approach to space travel could enable a future science mission to study the Sun’s polar regions.
- NASA solar sail could take science to new heightson May 25, 2022 at 9:08 am
As NASA's exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept selected by the agency for development toward a demonstration mission could carry science to new destinations.
- NASA-supported solar sail could take science to new heightson May 25, 2022 at 6:03 am
As NASA's exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept selected by the agency for development toward a demonstration mission could carry science to new destinations.
- Innovative Diffractive Solar Sail Funded by NASA Could Take Science to Exciting New Destinationson May 25, 2022 at 1:46 am
As NASA's exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept has been selected by the agency for development toward a demonstration mission that could carry science to new destinations ...
- NASA invests in a new solar sail concept that could propel a mission to the Sunon May 24, 2022 at 3:05 pm
NASA is funding research into diffractive lightsailing, a novel approach to solar sailing that could one day propel a constellation of science spacecraft into orbit around the Sun's poles ...
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