NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP)

Documentary about NASA's ASTP. The program's primary emphasis is on technologies for 3rd Generation RLVs that could be operational in a 2025 timeframe. The goal is to develop space transportation systems that would be 100 times cheaper and 10,000 times safer than today's launch vehicles. These true spaceliners of the future could take off from aero-space ports that will accommodate both air and space vehicles.

Air-breathing propulsion, magnetic levitation, highly integrated airframe structures that morph in flight, and intelligent vehicle health management systems are some of the technologies being considered for a 3rd Generation RLV.

The ASTP is also investigating technologies for a 4th Generation RLV that could be operational in the 2040 timeframe. The goal is to make space travel 20,000 times safer and 1,000 times cheaper than today's systems. Then, passenger space travel would become routine.

The ASTP is developing technologies to decrease the trip times and reduce the weight of the propulsion systems required for planetary missions - and even bolder missions to the edge of our solar system and beyond. Electrodynamic tethers, space sails, aeroassist and high-power electric propulsion are just a few of the technologies being developed to achieve the goals.

The ASTP is also conducting fundamental research on the cutting edge of modern science and engineering, including fission, fusion and antimatter propulsion, and breakthrough physics theories that might enable thrusting against space-time itself and faster-than-light travel.

Source: NASA

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Space
• ASTP
• propulsion
• aerospace
• rockets
• astronautics
• NASA
• spaceflight
• space propulsion
• science

[granddad2002]

Keeping aerospace innovative is difficult. Building feasible into practical and profitable is the art of engineering. Steam power railways weren't feasible until government funding and private sector steel companies started to get those projects running with the focus on joining the east and west coast as the goal. Space has more resources than anywhere on Earth;it's risky and expensive. But this has been the same for anything we've done in recorded history.

[spark300c]

nasa your so very late. The private sector is already more advanced.

[GalaktikNinjA]

Anti-Gravity or bust

[doverdx]

@johnroach1 Hey there! Thanks for the info. I checked out the patent and there is sufficient difference in my concept than the EM pump. Mine works off the electron fluid compressibility - electron plasma physics mixed with compressible flow. Question: Did you guys pull up my proposals on NSPIRES? Got another advanced concept on the way coming through the NIAC... will f-ing blow you away. :)

[johnroach1]

@doverdx See pat# 6068449 also you might go to approach com and check out my

book. Tell (Dawn, MER, MSL) he or she is right!!!

[johnroach1]

@ryanlitton86 That will be a long time coming!

[doverdx]

Hi ASTP. I have tried to put forth the advanced work you suggested here in 16-month of peer-reviewed work in NASA SBIR 2011 X2.02-9009 & X2.03-9010 proposals. In addition, I wrote a white paper (peer reviewed from Cornell, MIT, Caltech, JPL, HMC) that was "discouraged" due to "appropriateness" for the BAA GCT socilication. One Senior JPL Propulsion Engineer (Dawn, MER, MSL) called the work "groundbreaking". What is going on? Feel free to get in contact... I'll be at NASA HQ in about 6 weeks.

[doceigen]

@doceigen Of course I am not saying anything new, creating an inertial mass is the standard, but most people think you can just get up there and 'push' and that moves you... it doesn't. But also, space is not empty, nearly, but not completely and it's the natural inertial mass that limits travel speed to sub-light.

[doceigen]

Aside from the science fiction that fascinates everyone... the REAL problems are shielding, life support and coming up with a propulsion that is not pure Newtonian. A note to consider, when journeying in space, you can spit out molecules/atoms at any power, speed, forever and go nowhere! What is necessary is to waste some of what you spit out, in order to create an inertial mass to push against. Make a cloud, let it attain a loss in velocity, and then push against it... that's the waste in $.

[Baseshocks]

@johnroach1 who says..... Mixing negative matter into the Einsteins calculation, changes the rules.... 

[Baseshocks]

@ryanlitton86 thats what we should have been researching all these years... fuck the space station and all the shit up their, ok put up satellites etc.. all the allied space agency's should have been researching gravity along wit the top university's, imagine how cheap it would be putting stuff into orbit... or even more advanced anti gravity to move in space....

[zikalify]

To move into space travel I think we must optimise travel and habitability on earth first! Take the venus project for example, they say they can have train lines across the world with maglevs going 4000mph. Oh and in tvp there is no money!