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Diagram of a MMRTG. The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) is a type of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed for NASA space missions [1] such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Energy's Office of Space and Defense Power Systems within the Office of Nuclear Energy.
First, the aeroshell decelerates the spacecraft as it penetrates the planet's atmosphere and must necessarily dissipate the kinetic energy of the very high orbital speed. The heat shield absorbs some of this energy while much is also dissipated into the atmospheric gasses, mostly by radiation. During the latter stages of descent, a parachute is ...
Hypothetical in-space propulsion technologies describe propulsion technologies that could meet future space science and exploration needs. These propulsion technologies are intended to provide effective exploration of the Solar System and may permit mission designers to plan missions to "fly anytime, anywhere, and complete a host of science ...
A laser-pushed lightsail is a thin reflective sail similar to a solar sail, in which the sail is being pushed by a laser, rather than the sun.The advantage of lightsail propulsion is that the vehicle does not carry either the energy source or the reaction mass for propulsion, and hence the limitations of the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation to achieving high velocities are avoided.
6 kW Hall thruster in operation at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 3D sketch of an electromagnetic propulsion fusion plasma thruster. Spacecraft electric propulsion (or just electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generating thrust to modify the velocity of a spacecraft in ...
[1] [2] The 2005 NASA Authorization Act designated the American segment of the International Space Station as a national laboratory with the goal of increasing the use of the ISS by other federal agencies and the private sector. [3] Research on the ISS improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body.
An orbital propellant depot is a cache of propellant that is placed in orbit around Earth or another body to allow spacecraft or the transfer stage of the spacecraft to be fueled in space. It is one of the types of space resource depots that have been proposed for enabling infrastructure-based space exploration. [1]
The energy heats and ionizes the shell of metal formed by the crushed rings. The hot ionized metal is shot out of a magnetic rocket nozzle at a high speed (up to 30 km/s). Repeating this process roughly every minute would accelerate or decelerate the spacecraft. [ 18 ]