Almost 50 years after landing on the moon people are thinking about a manned mission to Mars. Flight to the Moon lasted three days, but the journey to Mars will last more than a year. And not only the difference in time.
It will take a lot more supplies at the time of the flight. Upon arrival on Mars, we'll have to set up camp and spend it for some time. This requires a revolutionary missile technology.
"Saturn-5" was the largest rocket ever built. She used a lot of fuel for an explosive chemical reaction, will bring the "Apollo" in orbit in space. Once in orbit, "Apollo" dumped empty fuel tanks and used their own rocket to burn more fuel and get to the moon. I had to spend nearly a million gallons (3.7 million liters), to send a few people in a one-day journey to the nearest space body.
How can we send settlers to Mars, who is a hundred times more? Complex "Saturn-Apollo" can deliver cargo to the moon only equal weight of wagons. To build a small house on Mars, would require dozens of such missiles. Unfortunately, there is no alternative "chemical" carrier rocket. Only a chemical explosion could provide enough momentum to overcome the Earth's gravity. But in the space can be used more efficient technologies in terms of fuel consumption - plasma rocket.
Plasma rocket - a modern technology of fuel conversion in the hot soup of electrically charged particles, known as plasma, and throw it to create jet thrust. Plasma rockets consume 90% less fuel than conventional chemicals. This means that we can deliver ten times more weight with the same mass of fuel. NASA employees, planning the mission, are already considering the use of transport vehicles Plasma rocket engine for the transport of cargo between Earth and Mars.
The main drawback of the plasma rocket is their low traction. Link is in this case the pulse power, which the missile can pass the spacecraft. The most powerful plasma rocket, flying in space, accelerator "Hull» (Hall thruster), the world would create thrust, just enough to lift a sheet of paper. Believe it or not, but the accelerator "Hull" would have to work for many years in a row, to fly to Mars.
But do not worry, poor traction will not break a deal. Due to the high efficiency of fuel consumption, plasma rocket allow NASA to carry out the mission for which the chemical rockets are not suitable. Just recently Mission Dawn showed the potential of the plasma rocket, the first coming on the orbits of two different extraterrestrial bodies.
Although the future seems bright plasma missiles, number of challenges remain. For example, what will happen with the accelerator, forced to work for years and years to ensure the delivery of cargo to Mars and back to Earth? Most likely, it will break.
It was devoted to my research. I found a way to make a plasma rocket immortal.
Understanding plasma rocket
We need to understand the principle of operation of the plasma rocket. Rocket creates plasma vbrasyvaya electrical energy in the fuel gas, thereby taking the negatively charged electrons from positively charged ions. Then, ions are emitted in the engine nozzle, pushing the spacecraft forward.
Unfortunately, the whole energy of the plasma not only pushes the ship, but also destroys everything that comes her way. Electrical power in the engine negatively charged ions strike the walls make them at a very high speed, smashing atoms in the wall. Gradually, the wall collapses. Inevitably, there will come a time when the ions finally destroy the entire wall, the accelerator will stop working, and your space ship will stop in space.
To withstand the constant bombardment of ions, it is not enough just to use thicker and stronger materials. Damage will always be, no matter what material was used fortress. To avoid damage, it is necessary to find a clever way to manipulate the plasma and the wall material.
Self-healing wall
Would not it be great if the chamber walls are self-healing? It turns out there are two physical phenomena enable it to achieve.
One of them is called ballistic deposition (ballistic deposition). It can be seen on the surface with microscopic irregularities, such as tiny protrusions or teeth. When an ion strikes the wall, some broken-off microparticles can fly off in any direction. Some of them will fall into neighboring irregularities and cleave, leaving intact wall. But there will always be atoms, flying off away and lost forever.
The second phenomenon is less clear and depends on the state of the plasma. Imagine a particle flies away from the wall toward the plasma. But it is not lost forever. Instead, the particles suddenly turns around and flies back to the wall.
This is similar to the way thrown into the air falls back to a baseball in your hand. In the case of the ball, its flight aborts gravity, returning him to the ground. In doing this the accelerator electrical forces arising between the wall and the negatively charged wall particle. First, the particle has a neutral charge, but in the plasma it can lose an electron and become positively charged. As a result, the particle will draw back to the wall. This phenomenon is known as plasma-redeposition. (Plasma redeposition). The process can be controlled by changing the density and temperature of the plasma.
Test different materials
At the University of California in Los Angeles, I created plasma and beat her on the various surfaces of the microparticles to measure the effect of the ballistic deposition and plasma from re-deposition. Remember that the first depends on the state of the surface, and the second - from the state of the plasma. In my first tests, I steered the plasma so that the re-deposition did not occur, and there was only ballistic deposition.
I then turned his attention from the plasma to the wall. The first sample of the microparticles, which I have experienced the damage reduced by 20%. By improving the structure of the microparticles can be done to further reduce damage, possibly up to 50%. Using this material in the accelerator, it is possible to achieve what it will take to Mars and not get stuck halfway. The next step should be added the effects of plasma deposition and re-figure out whether it is possible to create a truly immortal wall.
As the power of plasma accelerators is growing and the force with which they destroy themselves. This further confirms the need to create a wall with a self-healing effect. My ultimate goal is to build an accelerator with the help of advanced materials, able to withstand ten times longer than required for any mission to Mars, which would make it virtually immortal. Immortal wall will allow us to solve the problem and the failure of the accelerator will allow to deliver goods needed to produce the first human outpost on Mars.