**Ten Amazing Innovations for Future Spaceflight... (someone is thinking)

Precise Mars landing
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The next Mars rover, called Curiosity, is set to launch next November. It’s ten times more advanced than the rovers currently on Mars. It has ten times the number of experiments it can conduct and weighs five times as much. One of the most interesting upgrades: a spacecraft will deliver the rover to a precise location within a 12-mile radius, use reverse thrusters to gently lower the delivery vessel. The rover will also start preparing itself for operation during descent and start moving immediately after landing.

New heat shields for spacecraft
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The shield, which is made from "phenolic impregnated carbon ablator," keeps the capsule at room temperature even though the outside temp is somewhere around 4,000 degrees. The shield can be re-used for each mission and is even capable of withstanding the harsher re-entry conditions of Mars. It's similar to the carbon brake pads used on an F1.

NASA’s powerful rock-zapping laser
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NASA recently developed a rock-zapping laser that will be used on the Mars Science Laboratory, the new rover that will launch next November. With a blast that’s good for up to 22 feet (NASA officially reported a 32-foot distance, but has corrected that fact for FoxNews.com), the laser explodes pinhead-sized rocks into fragments that can then be studied for their chemical compounds. When the rocks are blasted, they produce a flash of light that can also be studied for its chemical make-up.

Skin-tight spacesuit reduces bone loss
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7c8a62929b0d.jpg[/atsimg]

One of the issues facing astronauts who spend too much time in space -- apart from missing family and aging at a slightly different rate from the rest of us -- is that they suffer bone loss. MIT has invented a new spacesuit, called the Gravity Loading Countermeasure Skinsuit (GLCS), that simulates the effects of gravity on the body and helps reduce bone loss.

Source: www.foxnews.com...=1

Man. I would love to be the one running that laser... I would feel like Star Wars....

With all of these suits and tech advancements one can't help but thing that Star Trek and/or Star Wars (I am sure much more boring since we are the only ones in the universe but..) will be a reality someday.

My biggest problem is when I do get a chance to escape for a little ATS time etc. I start feeling warm and fuzzy about a topic and sure enough... just as in this case. I get an email that totally disrupts my train of thought.

So, Im sitting here getting all warm and fuzzy about the future of Space Exploration etc and I get this email that is a thread lead to a story about how a man was dragged from his car while awaiting a green light-two black males approach the car, pull him out. They beat and robbed him. Right on a major roadway.

It just makes me think that we should be the rest of the universe (if in fact there are other beings out there) that maybe we should just stay here on earth and eat ourselves up and not spread it to the rest of them.

(mental note: update pistol/carry permit ASAP)

It is all good.

Can anyone explain to me how come re-entry would be harsher for mars than for earth? Did I read it right? Mars has less atmosphere than the earth hence reentry should be less harsh??

Originally posted by anon72
Skin-tight spacesuit reduces bone loss
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7c8a62929b0d.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c3b773bc8d2f.jpg[/atsimg]
At which point do we finally decide Star Trek is actually not a sci-fi show verses a prognostication of our near future...

Originally posted by tiger5
It is all good.

Can anyone explain to me how come re-entry would be harsher for mars than for earth? Did I read it right? Mars has less atmosphere than the earth hence reentry should be less harsh??

edit on 5-1-2011 by tiger5 because: (no reason given)

Well, you gotta also deal with the martians shooting their rayguns at you

reply to post by SaturnFX


Hey, any time you can work a picture of Jeri Ryan into a thread deserves a and a blue star.

Originally posted by tiger5
It is all good.

Can anyone explain to me how come re-entry would be harsher for mars than for earth? Did I read it right? Mars has less atmosphere than the earth hence reentry should be less harsh??

edit on 5-1-2011 by tiger5 because: (no reason given)

It's all to do with the physics in the shock layer depending on the atmospheric gas ratios in any given atmosphere:

....For lunar return entry of 11 km/s, the shock layer contains a significant amount of ionized nitrogen and oxygen. The five species model is no longer accurate and a twelve species model must be used instead. High speed Mars entry which involves a carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon atmosphere is even more complex requiring a 19 species model.

Real (non-equilibrium) gas model

Basically mars has more variables to account for.

Hope that helps.

reply to post by anon72


Dear Anon72,
Yet another great post. I really like the things you post here on ATS, said it before, saying it again.

Thank you.

S&F

Regards,
T

reply to post by SaturnFX


I like your picture person better.....

I want to volunteer now...

I have to say, if they send females up with the males-that look like that.... you won't have to be worring about a population for any colony.

ME FIRST!!!!