Even with growing knowledge in the field, it was not until 1957 when the first Earth orbiter, the Soviet's Sputnik 1, was sent into space and placed in orbit at an altitude of 1,370 miles and weighed 184 pounds. Later in that year, the Soviets sent Sputnik 2 into space with a dog named Laika. Laika was the first animal to venture into space.
Then in 1985, the United States successfully sent their very own satellite into space. In 1960, the Soviets launched two dogs into space and successfully returned them to Earth. From this point started the space race. The space race was a challenge between the USSR and the United States to see who could land a man on the moon first.
In 1961, the first man in space was cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who was in space for 60 minutes before returning to Earth in Vostok 1 and was sent by the USSR. Astronaut Shepard flew the first manned sub-orbital space-flight by the Americans. The first true American orbital flight was by John Glen and he stayed in space for five hours in Mercury 6 in 1962. Then in 1963, the USSR sent the first woman into space; her name was Valentina Tereshkova-Nikaleva. They also had the first person to take a space-walk in 1965. In 1968, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA tested the first Saturn 5 rocket, which would be used for the Apollo missions. The first manned Apollo missions and the first flight around the moon took place in 1968. Finally, on July 21, 1969, the United States placed the first man on the moon winning the space race.
Now, the future of space exploration depends on many factors. Some of these factors are as followed: how much technology advances, how political forces change rivalries as well as partnerships with other nations, and how important space exploration is to the general public. NASA is working on a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle, but until it is until then, NASA plans to us the space shuttle fleet to the year 2012. It is clear that mankind has devoted itself to the exploration of the unknown and that we are committed to find new planets on which man can live and prosper. An interesting spacecraft is the X-33, which is a single stage orbiter. The X-33 will allow companies to put satellites in orbit for a cheaper cost.
Space travel does take its effect on humans though. Piloted space flights have to supply oxygen, food, and water for their occupants and even longer flights need to have a way to dispose of or recycle waste. The even longer flights, spacecrafts will eventually need to become mostly self-sufficient. The astronauts will have to exercise and since the astronauts will be weightless, the shuttle will need to provide more than just the core physical needs for the astronauts to stay healthy.
The weight of the craft is so important that it plays a crucial role in the amount of food supplied by the spacecraft. Most food provided to the astronauts is dehydrated, which is rehydrated by a device that is some what like a water gun, to save space as well as weight.
However, some foods are given in their conventional form such as fruits, candy, and bread. Water is usually provided by fuel cells that also provide electricity to the whole ship. The reaction between Hydrogen and oxygen provides the electricity and creates water as well. A small amount of water is also carried onboard in case of emergencies.
Space exploration has come a long way since the beginning. Mankind has gone to the moon and back, we have sent probes to the furthest reaches of our solar system, we have sent a robot to roam the Martian terrain, we have made spaceships that are reusable, and we can see other galaxies that are billions of light years away. Now we brainstorm on how to explore space even further. Man kind is destined to go to the far reaches of the universe and make contact with other life forms. With all things considered, humans are not far from colonizing space.
This brief note is about Beamed Energy Propulsion (BEP), which is, actually, a rocket science. However, you dont have to be a rocket scientist in order to understand what it is about, it is simple and I will explain it to you in next few paragraphs. It is all about rockets. What everyone knows about them? On Earth motion is based on pushing from the medium, wherever the motion takes places: cars pushing from pavement by wheels, swimmers pushing from water by limbs, etc. Rockets fly in space and space is mostly a vacuum, it is empty. Rockets move in space using reactive principle, i.e. exhausting hot gases (backward) and pushing away from exhaust in opposite direction (forward). Rockets have to carry all their fuel and burning agent onboard, because there is nothing in space that can be used for burning fuel (like air for burning gasoline in automobiles on earth). So, the rockets are the only manmade vehicles that push away from their own exhaust and move that way. Rockets have to carry everything needed for motion in space onboard, is a heavy burden and it brings a great downside: price of cargo gets enormously high. If we can only separate the source of energy from a rocket, we will be rewarded with gigantic increase in efficiency! This can be done if instead of carrying energy source onboard, we will beam that energy from a remote power station. What kind of beam it can be? Laser beam, microwave beam, even x-ray, in all cases energy will be delivered to the rocket with speed of light. When a great number of photons is focused (even loosely) on a solid matter, such matter is evaporated and ionized almost instantaneously, i.e. the release of energy is much higher than one used from burning hydrogen. So, laser-driven vehicle will be still flying on the same rocket principle (pushing away from its exhaust), but exhaust energy and structural lightness will be incomparably superior to hydrogen-burning rockets. Driven by a high-power photon beam rocket will be composed of very light focusing mirrors, relatively small (energy efficient) solid propellant and, voila: the rest will be payload! Forget heavy liquefied gases (oxygen and hydrogen), cryogenics, fuel tanks and lines, combustion chambers, etc.: Payload, Propellant and Photons, Period! Arthur Kantrowitz, the founding father of laser propulsion, called it 4P Rule. Can efficiency of beam-driven rocket be compared to hydrogen burner? Yes, this can be done with scientific precision! For example, current price per lb. of a payload delivered to low earth orbit is $10,000. Calculations (repeated many time by independent researchers worldwide) show that with the laser propulsion space delivery price will be reduced to $100 per pound of a payload! It is a hundredfold profit! The most developed today branch of BEP is called laser propulsion, it is based on energy transfer with high-power laser beams. The next in development is microwave propulsion, followed by barely explored BEP with x-rays and particles. The number of in-lab demonstrations of BEP grows every year, and the time of actual demonstration of beam-driven space rocket is getting closer. No question, there is still a lot of work ahead on development of BEP systems, but one thing is clear, they have a great future.
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Andrew V. Pakhomov has sinced written about articles on various topics from Science, Information Technology. Andrew Pakhomov is founder and president of American Institute of Beamed Energy Propulsion, a nonprofit scientific organization serving to development and popularization of this space technology of the future. Andrew V. Pakhomov's top article generates over 880 views. to your Favourites.