Name: 3 Bizarre Projects That Could Transform Exploration | NIAC 2019
Uploaded: 2020-03-30T05:41:45.000Z
Duration: 7 min 3 s
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the universe is a big place, and there's a lot to explore out there.

They're distant, icy moons and fiery atmospheres and everything in between.

And understanding how all these places work can teach us more about Earth and open our eyes to some wonder along the way.

Except exploring space is not easy, and the most groundbreaking missions usually require some really creative engineering.

So that's where the Nyack program comes in.

It stands for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, and it gives scientists and engineers a chance to explore ideas that can transform future missions.

In an earlier episode, we talked about some of 2019 most advanced Nyack projects.

But it's worth giving some attention to the other concepts to because even though they're in the early stages of development, it could mean big things for our future else.

The night program is broken into three phases.

When a researcher thinks they have a good idea, they can apply to face one.

If they get accepted, they won $125,000 get nine months to figure out if their idea is actually feasible.

In this phase, researchers are given $500,000.2 years to start to develop their projects.

And finally, if all that goes well, they can apply to fees.

In this last stage, they're given $2 million another two years to work.

And by the end of this baby's NASA or another organization should be able to pick up their project for further developments.

Every year there's a new class of phase 12 and three concepts.

But no matter what phase they're in, all of the projects are fascinating.

Take one of 2019 space one projects called Breeze.

It stands for bio inspired Ray for extreme environments and zonal exploration.

And it's a flyer designed to withstand the harsh winds of Venus also looks a lot like a cute little stingray.

Although Venus is our closest neighbor and about Earth sized, its atmosphere is vastly different around the planet.

Winds blow at hurricane force, and because of all the greenhouse gases that trap the sun's heat surface, temperatures can reach more than 470 degrees Celsius.

But scientists believe that studying it may help us better understand the effect of greenhouse gases, as well as how planets evolve in general, and with a maneuverable, fire like breeze, we could see the areas all around the planet.

This concept is currently being developed by an associate professor at the University of Buffalo, and it would maneuver similarly to help birds fly over the ocean.

Birds take advantage of the fact that wind speed changes at different altitudes with air moving faster, the higher you go to increase velocity, they fly downward, picking up speed from the descent and wind at their tail.

Then they live around to fly back into the faster moving air, using their higher velocity and tailwind to create lift.

It's a pretty efficient flying methods, so it makes sense that engineers would want to adapt it for their spacecraft.

To this case, Breeze would use the zonal winds that travel around Venus parallel to its equator.

Internal cables would control its altitude and flap its wings, and the planet's atmosphere would do the rest.

Using a variety of instruments, Breeze would travel around and collect data on weather patterns chemistry, volcanoes and even the planet's geography.

We'll need to wait until 2020 to see if the mission pans out.

But even if it doesn't visits, that uses could someday be incorporated into future missions.

Another phase one concept, taking inspiration from nature, is called MP four E, which stands for microprobes propelled and powered by planetary atmospheric electricity.

It's being developed by a West Virginia University associate professor, and its ultimate goal is to study planet's atmospheres by deploying thousands of tiny probes.

Since this is only a Phase one study, the project doesn't have a specific plan in mind.

But the researcher does have an idea about how they would work.

These probes would imitate a flying technique that some species of spider use.

It's called ballooning and evidence of just It happens from the spider spin a sale like Trail of Web and use it to ride the wind and the atmosphere's electric field.

The fact that the atmosphere has its own electric field might seem a little weird at first, but it's because the Earth's surface and its upper atmosphere actually have different charges.

The surface of the planet has a slight negative charge.

Well, the higher region of the atmosphere, called the ionosphere, has a positive charge.

This creates a global electric circuit that's maintained by thunderstorms and varies and strength depending on the weather.

You almost definitely won't notice it during your daily life, but some spiders take advantage of it all the time.

Because spider silk has a negative charge, it's repelled by the ground and actually generate enough lift to propel the spider upwards.

This seems to allow these spiders to travel kilometers through the air, and these days, one micro probes are hoping to do the same thing.

The 50 milligram probes would consist of a small payload pod hanging from a 200 meter loop of string.

The string would provide drag, which would slow the probes and cause them to drop through the air, and electro static lift would raise them up.

Researchers would even be able to control their altitude at least somewhat by regulating the strings electric charge through a device on the probe.

If we're going to study a planet's atmosphere, we typically use a space telescope or a single orbiting satellite.

The MP for A E would allow us to study huge chunks of an atmosphere at once and in a lot more detail.

These concepts were inspired by animals, but this last one that seems like something straight out of science fiction.

It's a propulsion method where the spacecraft is powered by lasers.

It's being developed by a member of the Texas A and M Engineering Experiment station, and it was accepted as a Phase two study in April of 2019.

Could somebody help Spacecraft traveled to places like Ludo and the Outer Solar System.

It's specifically designed to go to Proxima Centauri B.

This is a planet orbiting the closest star to our sun, and if Proxima works, it would enable humanity's first trip to a planet outside of our solar system.

This project is a form of beamed energy propulsion, which is pretty much what it sounds like.

Some kind of remote power source beams energy to the spacecraft and that heats up the spacecrafts propellant and creates thrust.

Since Proxima is only a Phase two project, there's a lot left to figure out, like where in space that remote power source would go.

Ultimately, this method offers a big advantage for long distance spacecraft.

Since not having onboard power source, we'll make them much lighter.

The researcher even has a strategy for how to keep proximate laser beam narrow and focused over long distances using a few types of beams.

So maybe when we send the first spacecraft to another solar system, it could be powered by a method like this.

At the end of the day, there's a chance that none of these phase one or two projects will make it to the next round.

But even if this is the last you hear of them, they're worth knowing about creative ideas like this.

And programs like Nyack are shaping the future of space exploration one mission concept at a time.

Every amazing mission you know about today started off as an idea like this.

So whether these missions get fully developed or just inspire future concepts, we're glad people are thinking about, um, Developing a new mission obviously takes a lot of engineering talent, but it also takes soft skills.

You might not think of things like how to communicate well and honestly, those skills applied to any field not just speaks ex operation.

If you wanna work on your soft skills you can check out crash course Business Soft Skills, A show produced by complexly.

This series is hosted by Evelyn from the Internet, and over the course of 17 episodes she'll teach you how to tackle the job search and use skills.

You already have to stand out in the workplace.

 Check out the first video about the key to all things business building trust Link is in the description. 