Null Ship: Lighter-Than-Air Travel by Vacuum

Three designs for a Lighter Than Air (LTA) structure that achieve positive buoyancy using a vacuum in place of a lifting gas were proposed and evaluated. Before the first human flight it was predicted that LTA flight was possible through the use of a light weight structure maintaining an internal vacuum. Since that time LTA flight has been used to accomplish various missions through the use of lifting gases. This study was conducted in response to an anticipated shortage of helium, the danger of hydrogen, and the possibility of using LTA vehicles as a means of passenger or cargo transportation.

AIAA Journal

Transportation systems and technology, 2018

Background: There are a number of problems in the prior art, those are topics of research inputs likes ranges of the drag force generated by the vehicle, lift force at high vehicle motion velocities for compensation of the vehicle weight, Aerodynamic aspects of operation of the vehicle, Aim: Stream wise stability of vehicle motion and levitation and breaking of the vehicles and supersonic speed is not achieved in any mode of transportation. But this present invention related to high speed magnetic levitating transportation. More particularly, present invention is related to high speed magnetic levitating transportation using compressed air chamber in the transportation vehicle. Methods: The present invention is more particularly related to high speed vehicle levitated on a vacuum tunnel by using electromagnetic levitation. As this vehicle will move from one place to another in a vacuum environment and this vehicle will levitate above track with the help of electromagnets. Results...

Ocean Engineering, 2004

Artificial air cavity ship concept has received some interest due to its potential on viscous resistance reduction for high speed craft. Although a small number of ships were designed and built by using this concept, further research on resistance components is required to improve the understanding of artificial air cavity forms. A method based on tank testing with wave pattern measurements to identify resistance components was adopted in the current work. Resistance tests were conducted with two forms; first of which was conventional prismatic planing hull form with a deadrise angle of 10 v , and second one was an alternative form with an artificially cavity which was tested both without any air injection, and with two different air injection rates.

40th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, 2004

NASA's In-Space Propulsion Technology Program is investing in technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the robotic exploration of deep space. For robotic exploration and science missions, increased efficiencies of future propulsion systems are critical to reduce overall life-cycle costs and, in some cases, enable missions previously considered impossible. Continued reliance on conventional chemical propulsion alone will not enable the robust exploration of deep spacethe maximum theoretical efficiencies have almost been reached and they are insufficient to meet needs for many ambitous science missions currently being considered.

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 2003

This paper reports recently completed structural dynamics experimental activities with new ultralightweight and inflatable space structures (a.k.a., "Gossamer" spacecraft) at NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Nine aspects of this work are covered, as follows: 1) inflated, rigidized tubes, 2) active control experiments, 3) photogrammetry, 4) laser vibrometry, 5) modal tests of inflatable structures, 6) in-vacuum modal tests, 7) tensioned membranes, 8) deployment tests, and 9) flight experiment support. Structural dynamics will play a major role in the design and eventual in-space deployment and performance of Gossamer spacecraft, and experimental R&D work such as this is required now to validate new analytical prediction methods. The activities discussed in the paper are pathfinder accomplishments, conducted on unique components and prototypes of future spacecraft systems. INTRODUCTION • Solar sails of 100m or larger in size with areal densities of less than 2 g/m _ • Orbital transfer vehicles with large inflatable concentrators for solar thermal propulsion • Next-generation space telescopes with large membrane sunshields forpassive cooling • Space solar power collectors and transmitters that are hundreds or even thousands of meters in size • Inflatable habitats for the Inter'national Space Station or future lunar or planetary exploration A predominant design factor for future ultralightweight space structures is their dynamic response to applied loads, which is correspondingly larger than for heavier structures. Therefore, structural dynamics will play a major role in the development and eventual in-space deployment and performance of these systems. Structural dynamic analytical prediction methods for Gossamer spacecraft are mostly unproven. 4' 5 Ground and flight tests of prototype hardware are required as soon as possible to validate the accuracy and sufficiency of these new analytical methods. Initial experimental work along these lines has NASA is focusing renewed attention on the topic ................. recently at the Langley Research of large, ultra-lightweight space structures, also known as "Gossamer" spacecraft, t' 2 New materials and new structural concepts including inflatables offer the possibility of creating space structures that are orders of magnitude larger and/or lighter than existing ones. 3 This technology can enable many new classes of missions within the next 5-30 years, such as: • Space observatories with collectors of 30m or larger in size with sub-millimeter surface accuracy This paper is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Center (LaRC), the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and this paper summarizes these activities. Due to the uniqueness of the structures being tested, experiments conducted to date generally have required as much effort in developing the test methods themselves as in acquiring the specific test results. Test procedures used for traditional aerospace structures are mostly not applicable. Therefore, the results presented in this paper are pathfinder accomplishments, to be undoubtedly followed by improved experimental methods and facilities in the months and years ahead.

2001

A vacuum arc thruster (VAT) in combination with an innovative inductive energy storage power processing unit (PPU) has been developed for microspacecraft propulsion. The VAT can be operated with a variety of materials, each of which provides ions with a different specific impulse ranging from 1100s for Ta to close to 3000s for Al. Initiation of the arc requires only a few hundred volts due to the innovative 'triggerless' approach in which a conductive layer between the cathode and the anode produces the initial charge carriers needed for plasma production. The initial starting voltage as well as the energy to operate the vacuum arc is generated by a low mass (<300 g) inductive energy storage PPU, which can be controlled with TTL level signals. Calculations have shown that the expected thrust efficiency can reach up to 18µN/W for tungsten. The VAT has been tested at JPL to verify the predicted performance using Ti as cathode material. Thrust measurements with a resolutio...

2011

The space elevator should offer access to space at a cost orders of magnitude lower than possible today, changing the appearance and scope of space travel itself. The elevator has two major conceptual advantages over rockets that should lower operational cost. Firstly, the energy required to climb the tether does not have to be stored on board of the delivery vehicle, but can be e.g. transmitted from the ground by laser or by electrical power through the cable. Secondly, the energy spent can be partially recovered as the delivery vehicle and its return cargo descends. As a result of the steep drop in cost, rapid developments could be expected, as have happened in recent years for personal computers and mobile communication. For large multi stage rockets it would mean they would become all but obsolete. The use of satellites for any purpose would however become commonplace, and so would commercialization of space as well as human exploration of the solar system. For orbital transfer less ambitious than the bolo systems one can avoid the requirement of spin up that is inherent to a rotating tether system. A pendulum motion can be sufficient in some cases and it is readily achieved as a side effect of deployment. A well timed payload release from a swinging rather than rotating tether can be an effective way of changing orbit for both endmasses through the principle of momentum transfer. An example is the delivery Chapter 1 Year Experiment Length [km] Technology Objective Success Remark Ref. Gemini 11 Gemini 12 0.036 0.04 Mechanical link between Gemini and Athena upper stage Artificial gravity Gravity gradient stabilization YES MOSTLY Spin stable 0.15 rpm Manned with manual control NASA 1967 TPE 1 TPE 2 Charge 1 Charge 2 Charge 2B 0.04 of 0.4 0.07 of 0.4 0.418 0.426 Part II, the development, therefore narrows down on the SpaceMail application. It focuses on the design, development and qualification of a tether system for a demonstration mission. Chapters 4 is concerned with the development and assessment of a suitable material and tether design. As tether induced collision risk has been identified as a primary show stopper for past mission proposals, particular attention is paid to the design s implications for safety. Possibilities are explored to decrease risk both during and after studies have been performed by Erik and myself jointly. I developed the risk analysis approach and performed and analyzed many of the simulations. The bare tether as fail safe concept is my idea. The plasma chamber tests at IFSI CNR were performed and analyzed for us by F. de Venuto & G. Vannaroni. M. Dobrowolny provided a sneak preview into his dynamic models for comparison with our simulations. The multi point sensing options are generated by Joe Carroll, Erik and myself. The deboost study was supported by ESA ARCOP contract 14621/00/NL/MV. Bas Lansdorp at Delta Utec came up with the rimspeed as critical parameter for the artificial gravity comfort zone ("no tether no comfort"). He also made many of the MARS g trade offs and designed the HELD deployer. The self accelerating rotating tether for stable deorbit (LeBRETON) is my idea, Alexander van Dijk at Delta Utec worked out a lot the details for the Jupiter case. Overall it has been a joint effort including also Erik and Prof. Juan Sanmartin, funded by ESA/ESTEC contract 17239/03/NL/HB. Chapter 4. Thanks to Martien Jacobs, Daan Tummers, Joyce Kersjens, Hans Plug at DSM High Performance Fibers and for their advise on Dyneema® and helpful discussions. All at ESTEC/QMC (Marc, Jacco, Andreas, Gerard, ...) & Antonio Araujo for providing and operating the test facilities and a lot of support. Prof. Guillet for the E/CO and MVK samples. Pieter Gijsman at DSM research provided chemistry advice and performed the GPC and FTIR tests. The degradable tether study was supported by ESA contract 13746/99/NL/MV. Andrew (break strength), Igor Sheynikov at Delta Utec (damping, ripstitch) and Center of Expertise in Reggio Emilia (stiffness) were a great help with the material tests. Igor also helped me with the barberpole test in vacuum, performed at the SSAU. The YES2 Center of Expertise in Samara was led by Igor Belokonov. Chris Blanksby did the Foton tether interaction simulations. Joep Breuer came up with the Prusik knot idea, it proved to be Columbus egg. Chapter 5. The Rapunzel deployer is a brainchild of Manfred Krischke and Dieter Sabath, built by Werner Kast and Mario Kowalchyk with whom Erik and I tested it in zero g. The YES2 breadboard barberpole is designed by Carlo Menon at Delta Utec, he also devised the conceptual trade offs. The YES2 flight hardware by the YES2 Center of Expertise in Patras and our students in Delta Utec. Bradford Engineering manufactured it. Marcel van Slogteren and colleagues at the ESTEC workshop helped out a lot. Thanks to Kayser Threde and Christian Knueppel of the TSE team for the opportunity to do the deployment tests and for the TSE breadboard long term loan afterwards. I often think back of the 21 day stay with Erik in a tent in Rostock. TSE was an ESA GSTP project. Prof. Ferdi Hermanns at the YES2 Center of Expertise in Remagen/Krefeld is the source of the great textile industry ideas in winding and unwinding rig. These rigs are truly an extensive effort, involving many of Hermanns students. I am most indebted to the builders of the first version: Stefan Zwick, Joerg Malchus, Thomas Betz, David Schaefer, the builders of the second version: Mario Timmermanns and Christian Camps. Andrew again helped a lot and performed many of the YES2 unwinding tests. We even lived together in Krefeld for I do not know how many months to get these things running properly. I was particularly supported with the last but not least improvements for the third and final version and long nights of tether winding by Florian Helling and Marco Stelzer (an ace on the "Winding machine DeLuxe"), at Delta Utec and ESTEC. Thanks to Marco again and Paul Williams for the help with the control algorithms. Mathieu Mirmont programmed the flight model of the OBC (I was allowed to do only the breadboard). Ilias Spiliotopoulos and Rafal Graczyk programmed and built the flight stepper driver. The Chapter 5 early work and YES2 design phase were mostly funded by Delta Utec. The brainstorm phase, the Centers of Expertise and the flight hardware development were funded by the ESA Education Office. Chapter 6. I thank Erik, Prof. Ockels, the Delta Utec students, the ESA staff, the ESA Young Graduates, Tether Applications, Arthur C. Clarke, TNO and Bradford Engineering for their help. ESA, NIVR & Delta Utec funded YES. Chapter 7. The FLOYD, MASS and Fotino have been designed, built and tested under my lead with the help of 100 Delta Utec interns, and about 80 other students at the 4 YES2 Centers of Expertise, in Warsaw and scattered elsewhere around Europe. Thanks to Fabio De Pascale (the integration manager) and all ESA staff that supported us. Emxys in Elche, Spain supported the electronics development, as well as Bernard Ouwehand and Bradford Engineering. Chapter 8. Thanks to the ESA Human Spaceflight microgravity department, the ESA Education Office and TsSKB to make the YES2 mission possible, in particular Antonio Verga and Ruedeger Reinhard for their genuine interest. Tom and Christophe at RedShift for providing the excellent DIMAC data. Receiving data from your own space experiment is exhilarating, but that joyful moment may not by itself balance the efforts that needs to be invested to get it done. Having worked with so many dedicated young people so closely, and with a shared goal, certainly does.

9th International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, 1999

This paper presents a new conceptual launch vehicle design in the Bantam-X payload class. The new design is called Stargazer. Stargazer is a two-stage-toorbit (TSTO) vehicle with a reusable flyback booster and an expendable LOX/RP upper stage. Its payload is 300 lbs. to low earth orbit. The Hankey wedge-shaped booster is powered by four LOX/LH2 ejector scramjet rocket-based combined-cycle engines. Advanced technologies are also used in the booster structures, thermal protection system, and other subsystems. Details of the concept design are given including external and internal configuration, mass properties, engine performance, trajectory analysis, aeroheating results, and a concept cost assessment. The final design was determined to have a gross mass of 115,450 lb. with a booster length of 99 ft. Recurring price per flight was estimated to be $3.49M. The overall conceptual design process and the individual tools and processes used for each discipline are outlined. A summary of trade study results is also given. NOMENCLATURE C t thrust coefficient I sp specific impulse (sec.) q dynamic pressure (psf) T/W e engine thrust-to-weight ratio This paper summarizes part of an 18 month Bantam-X concept study conducted by the Space Systems Design Laboratory at Georgia Tech with the support and collaboration of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The study goal was to investigate a promising concept based on rocket-based combinedcycle (RBCC) propulsion for longer range Bantam-class missions. NASA MSFC currently has an ongoing development program in RBCC engines.