The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society Reaching Beyond the Earth

ne of the most dynamic and System is obsolete almost before it starts. again we look forward to seeing more of exciting areas of current human This is just one of the many fascinating areas these showcases in the future. Also, John Oendeavour must surely be the which lie at the very heart of this key area of Silvester completes his review of Britain’s aerospace industry. It represents mankind’s the Society’s remit, and which we hope to be first space rocket and I talk about the latest achievements at their very best, and offers exploring in future issues of Odyssey. I am updates with Mars One. hope for the great enterprise of space travel sure that, like me, you look forward to reading to which the British Interplanetary Society Terry’s future speculations. In the next issue we delve into the strange aspires. and murky world of conspiracy theories, Also in this issue we are very pleased to with a short story and Richard’s Radical For that reason, I am delighted to introduce have a short story entitled “Shadows” from Vectors column devoted to this endlessly a new occasional column of “Aerospace Stephen Baxter, the well known author and fascinating subject. Richard will also be Speculations” to Odyssey which focuses BIS member. We are hoping to have a series telling us more about Alex Storer’s artwork, on this area of activity, written by our of these 500 word short stories from other and is writing an article about Alex’s latest own Assistant Editor Terry Don with his authors in due course. music album entitled ‘Panorama’. John considerable experience in the field. He will Silvester talks about Celestial Songs and be discussing how our imagination can allow In addition, our regular columnist Richard gives us a book review of ‘Freedom at us to see developments yet to come which Hayes gives us an intriguing view of the Feronia’ by Dick Penn, while Terry Don may take us beyond the confines of our possibilities of orbital rings, and also starts a gives us some thoughts on the innovative existence on the surface of this planet. new series of showcases of the imaginative use of green propellants for space flight. science fiction art of Alex Storer, who we Until then we hope you have a very We start off with a special article where Terry interviewed in the previous issue of Odyssey. good summer and we’ll see you again in talks about a major subject of current interest There is no doubt that Alex gives us much to October. – whether NASA’s new Space Launch think about with his impressive artwork, and Terry Henley, FBIS

Richard Hayes FBIS talks about the Impact of the BIS on Interstellar Travel

e almost take it for granted these other stars had been postulated as long ago opera The Skylark of Space, published in days that interstellar travel has as 1686 in de Fontenelle’s Conversations on 1928 but written around ten years earlier, long been a major goal of both the Plurality of Worlds (which also included sees plenty of interstellar travel, and Wcurrent advances in technology and the thoughts on extraterrestrial life), but the idea Laurence Manning’s 1934 story The Living science fiction which may have originally of actually travelling to other stars didn’t Galaxy is an early depiction of a world ship driven them. But it wasn’t always so. really feature. For that, we have to wait until gradually transporting its cargo of people around 1900 when Robert W. Cole wrote to the stars. But bear in mind that all of If we look back to science fiction before the his extraordinary The Struggle for Empire: this, including the writings of Konstantin twentieth century, it’s probably not surprising A Story of the Year 2236 – a tale where Tsiolkovsky in the 1920s which foresaw that most speculation was about travelling the British Empire controls the entire Solar the human race eventually spreading as far as the Moon and planets, at most. For System and beyond, before entering into throughout the Galaxy, was happening less most of that time, the stars were seen as a interstellar war with some very un-British than a century ago. In overall timescales, it’s largely unknown realm at an indeterminate aliens! relatively recent. distance, and therefore probably inaccessible by any means. Even so, it was the arrival of the pulp And this is where we enter the very period magazines around the 1920s which saw the where the BIS have been at the forefront of Admittedly, the possibility of planets orbiting idea really develop. EE “Doc” Smith’s space thinking about space exploration in general.

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 1 Left: The stars within our reach – Project Daedalus 1978. Cover design by David Holmes.

Right: Breaking new ground with the special red cover issue of JBIS on World Ships, June 1984.

Its impact has been widespread – to consider the December 1976 issue, on the possibility Sometimes we can subsequently answer the just a couple of examples, in their 1953 book of converting O’Neill space colonies into questions raised in those early papers. In the Space Travel, Ken Gatland and Anthony interstellar arks. second red cover issue in September 1974, Kunesch referred to the revolutionary impact Tony Martin started a short series of articles of Harry Ross’s Orbital Bases in JBIS of Not surprisingly, Project Daedalus itself is looking at whether there were extrasolar January 1949, and of Ken’s own Rockets in widely referenced – it even gets a mention in planetary systems. We now know that such Circular Orbits in March 1949. Carl Sagan’s 1980 popular classic Cosmos. systems exist in abundance, but asking fundamental questions about spaceflight and So it’s only to be expected that the same But in many ways it must be the famous astronomy, and thinking through possible applies to studies of interstellar travel. You red cover issues of JBIS, which focus on answers, is what the BIS has always been wonder just how much progress would interstellar studies, that should get pride of about. have been made without Les Shepherd’s place. Looking back at the very first such Interstellar Flight in the July 1952 issue issue in April 1974, the first article was We’ve come a long way, in a fairly short of JBIS, where he explored possible Non-Aqueous Biosystems: The Case for time, in speculating about interstellar travel. technologies for deep space journeys. In their Liquid Ammonia as a Solvent, by P Molton Nowadays, of course, it’s everywhere in 1981 analysis of space travel in the Solar of the University of Maryland. Maybe not science fiction, whether it be in books, System and beyond, Bound for the Stars, the most exciting title to begin a new series, films or games. And serious literature on Saul Adelman and Benjamin Adelman gave which continues to this day, but it questioned the subject is growing by the day. But let’s full credit for Tony Martin’s assessment in whether life could develop based on liquid not forget that it was a few pioneers, in the the January 1972 issue of Spaceflight of the ammonia instead of water, and therefore areas of both fact and fiction, that pulled our limitations of the Bussard ramjet. Yet they whether we’re always right to look for vision away from just our near neighbours also recognised the more upbeat approach evidence of water on a planet to conclude in space to the wider cosmos beyond. They of Gregory Matloff on the same subject in that it may harbour life. They’re still valid set us on the right path, and it wasn’t so very the September 1974 issue of JBIS and, in questions now. long ago.

What’s On

70th Annual General Meeting Britain’s First Space Rocket – The Story of the Skylark

25 July 2015, 1 pm 16 September 2015, 7 - 8.30 pm

Venue: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ Speaker: Robin H. Brand, BSc CEng MIET

Venue: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ Exoplanets: Where are our Alien Neighbours?

5 August 2015, 7 - 8.30 pm A full list of events, with details and registration information can be found online: Speaker: Don Pollacco Venue: 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ www.bis-space.com/whats-on

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 2 John Silvester FBIS talks about BBC Radio 4’s play Far Side of the Moore

was fortunate enough to get to listen to this play, which was broadcast on IRadio 4 on 30 March. Set in 1956-7, its subject matter is the life of Patrick Moore just prior to his recruitment by the BBC as the presenter of The Sky at Night. The play is essentially a light comedy with some pathos. It was written by Sean Grundy, and PM is played by Tom Hollander, who excels in the role. In fact he captures the great man’s mannerisms and eccentricities to such perfection; it almost seems as if he is still alive. The author clearly did his research, but I’m not sure about the initial Sir Patrick Moore photographed at his home. Paul Grover suggestion that the programme should be The bête noire of the story is Dr Henry King Thus The Sky at Night was born. Interestingly presented by Frankie Howard and Sabrina! of the BAA who later became the first head it is suggested that it was originally to be of the London Planetarium (PM always refers called “Star Map”, and the introductory theme The play is narrated by PM, but with to him as “the serpent”). King is portrayed was to be “You Are My Lucky Star”. PM curtly flashbacks, particularly to his war-time as strongly opposed to PM’s recruitment as dismisses this idea from the start, saying that relationship with the love of his life Lorna. the Sky at Night presenter because of his he “never listens to any music composed Surprisingly perhaps, another woman `amateur’ status as an astronomer. This is after 1848”. later enters onto the scene in the shape essentially the theme of the play. Arthur C. of the daughter of a British Astronomical Clarke makes an appearance (played by As we know, it was hastily changed. I loved Association astronomer friend Percy Wilkins Simon Treves), and the British Interplanetary the closing words of the play by PM. “I may (but she turns out to be in a relationship with Society also features in one scene. This is be accused of being a dinosaur, but may I a diplomat). The play begins in 1956 and during the last moments of a lecture given by remind you that the dinosaurs ruled the Earth the little known amateur astronomer is living Patrick Moore about the far side of the Moon, for a very long time”. This is a play well worth with his mother (played by Patricia Hodge) and we hear him describing the BIS as “more listening to if you get the chance. I have no in East Grinstead. forgiving than the BAA”. doubt it will be repeated.

Summerfield The History of a Rocket Research Establishment Members £10.00 Non-Members £12.00 P&P: UK £3.50, EU £5.50, RoW £9.00

RAE Farnborough Space Department A History Members (Paperback) £10.00 Non-Members (Paperback) £12.00 P&P: UK £3.50, EU £5.50, RoW £9.00 Order these and other BIS merchandise online from www.bis-space.com/eshop

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 3 Shadows by Stephen Baxter

he comet core was a lump of dust serious one. With a reluctant beat of her ‘Huh. A one-year-old wouldn’t have made that and ice and rock bits. Or more like wings, a mist of reaction gases from the mistake.’ Paley considered. two lumps jammed together, thought pores on her silvered skin, Paley swooped TPaley, when she and Rixx were shooed out down to see. ‘It’s kind of cute though. Some of to go play in the sunlight while the adults those organs inside might make good got on with refilling the water tanks of the ‘Well, it does look dead,’ Paley said dubiously. pendants.’ Integrality’s Constancy. ‘Lying on its side in the shade like that.’ Rixx looked shocked. ‘You’re not thinking of Paley was happy to get out of the ship at ‘It’s got lightskin as we have,’ Rixx said. ‘On breaking it up?’ last. To get away for a while from her parents those boxy sides, under the dust.’ She held ‘What else are we going to do with it?’ with their endless talk of the world they had out a hand. ‘It’s quite complicated inside. come to visit – supposedly a candidate for Internal organs, I suppose.’ ‘Maybe we can help it.’ the original home of mankind, a soggy ball Paley took a deep-look for herself. ‘Organs? called Urth or Erdd or Tera depending on ‘It’s been dead a million years!’ Like a person’s? I don’t think so.’ which dubious source you consulted. And to emerge, not into the huge emptiness ‘Maybe it’s just sleeping . . .’ Gently Rixx lifted ‘It’s got legs -’ of interstellar space, but into the delicious the boxy structure out of the shadow and set streaming light of that big nearby sun, light ‘Three! Not two!’ it up in full sunlight. Then she listened closely. that made Paley’s lightskin wings spread in ‘I think it’s working. Its lightskin – I can sense pleasure. Rixx said solemnly, ‘You know what Mother mechanisms inside, stirring -’ and Father say. This system might be the And to chase her sister around this battered home of mankind. Nobody knows even what ‘Mechanisms now? Oh, I’m bored with this.’ comet core - to fling herself through the original humans looked like . . . Nothing like With an impulsive flap of her wings Paley sparkling chill of the shadows cast by this us.’ rose into sunlight. worldlet’s cliffs and mounds and craters, and While her sister sat with the little tripod, back into the light again. ‘You think this is an original human?’ interrogating its systems, speaking to it But then Rixx said she’d found a dead ‘Maybe it came here to explore. That’s pretty calmly. ‘You’re safe now. Tell me your name. person. brave for something so primitive, human or I’ll help you finish the job you started . . . not. And it got stuck. Look how it’s lying in the Philae. That’s a pretty name . . .’ Rixx, though younger, was always the shade.’

Terry Henley FBIS looks at Pluto

he mystery of what lies beyond the redefined the word “planet” and Pluto was edge of our known Solar System has reclassified as a “dwarf planet”. long been a source of fascination for Tmankind. We have a deep desire to see and Pluto has an eccentric and highly inclined understand what is out there. Richard Hayes orbit which takes it from 30 to 49 AUs from touched on this back in Odyssey 29 when the Sun (4.4–7.4 billion km), and has a he talked about rogue planets wandering in diameter of 2302 kilometres. It takes light space, and that intriguing science fiction story from the sun 5.5 hours to reach Pluto yet Infra Draconis by the Soviet writer Georgy NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft which was Gunevich. launched in 2006 will not arrive at Pluto until July 14th 2015 taking over 9 years to travel Pluto was discovered by the American the distance. astronomer Clyde Tombaugh on February 18th 1930 after nearly a year of searching At the time of writing, the New Horizons at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, shows the spacecraft is about 70 million miles from Arizona. It was discovered by systematically dwarf planet Pluto. NASA, ESA, and M. Buie Pluto and it has already taken 13 long range taking images of the night sky in pairs of photos of the planet. When they were stitched photographs, then examining each pair to Pluto has five known moons, Charon, the together, it appears Pluto may have a highly see if any objects had shifted position. To largest moon with a diameter just over half reflective snow cap, which could be made up do this he used a machine called a “blink that of Pluto, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. from molecular nitrogen ice. By the time this comparator”. Pluto was finally named on Pluto is only one of many large icy bodies edition of Odyssey is published in July, we March 24th 1930 and was officially the 9th in the outer solar system and in 2006, the may already know if this observation is right planet in our solar system. International Astronomical Union formally or wrong.

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 4 Pluto lies within what is called the Kuiper Belt named after the Dutch-American astronomer Gerald Kuiper which he discovered in 1992. The number of known Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) number more than 100,000 over 100 km (62 mi) in diameter. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger, 20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.

Although many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most KBOs are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed “ices”), such as methane, ammonia and water. The Kuiper Belt is home to four officially recognised dwarf planets: Pluto, Haumea, Eris and Makemake.

The New Horizons spacecraft will have sent hundreds of pictures to us, as it approaches Pluto and its satellites in July 2015. Who knows what we will discover and hopefully through this one craft we will learn much Right: Artist’s concept more about this distant dwarf planet in our of the New Horizons solar system. This will give us guidelines as spacecraft as it approaches to what other dwarf planets within the Kuiper Pluto and its largest moon, Belt look like and are composed of. Charon, in July 2015. NASA

Radical Vectors Richards Hayes FBIS looks up at Orbital Rings

recently saw a suggestion, which was (sometimes referred to as “Jacob’s Ladders”), Doomsday scenario – if Earth simply cannot perhaps not meant to be taken too which enable transport between the ring and be inhabited, then the future of humanity (if it seriously, that if we continue to make a the surface. is to have one at all) must, in the long term, Imess of the Earth’s surface in the way we be in space, and an orbital ring system would are, it might always be possible to take the The thought of transferring large parts of provide a perfect first stage in achieving that. human race, or perhaps just a large part of it, humanity into an orbital ring is actually no into an orbital ring system. If you think about more ridiculous than moving them into the The great advantage of an orbital ring is that it, it may not be quite as stupid as it sounds. sort of colonies which Gerard K O’Neill payloads can be raised into orbit using the envisaged in his seminal 1976 book The space elevators, and thus avoid the current The idea of orbital rings has been around for High Frontier. The space habitats that he very expensive use of rockets to achieve the some time – it actually goes back at least as described, possibly located at the Lagrange same result. On-going space travel from the far as the physicist Nikola Tesla in the late points, would be solar powered and spun ring outwards doesn’t require the high cost nineteenth century. A structure, or series of so as to maintain artificial gravity, and could of transport from the Earth’s surface to orbit, linked structures, in equatorial Earth orbit house many tens of thousands of people, if and is therefore vastly more cost-effective in could form a ring around the planet. If in Low not more. But, if the purpose is simply to get the long run. Humanity’s colonisation of the Earth Orbit, it might rotate faster than orbital people away from the Earth’s surface, it might planets, and ultimately the galaxy, gets an speed to keep it stable, though potentially be easier to use an orbital ring given that it enormous kick-start. it could even be in geosynchronous orbit would be so much closer. (though that is, of course, a very long way The only example of a reasonably realistic away at a height of some 36,000 kilometres, Of course, almost anyone’s immediate portrayal of an orbital ring in science fiction requiring a very, very long ring). reaction is likely to be that the colossal movies which I can think of is the brief amounts of money needed to build such a glimpse of a ring around the Moon in the The important thing is that at least part system would be better spent sorting out 1997 film Starship Troopers, though I suspect of the ring, or some structure connected the problems which are making the Earth it’s rather too close to the lunar surface to be to it (perhaps a “sky-hook” riding along it uninhabitable in the first place. I couldn’t feasible. Whether the daring exploits of our and supported by magnetic levitation), is argue with that. Even then, if that proved brave young heroes when fighting the Bugs maintained at the same point above the impossible, building habitats on Earth itself of Klendathu are equally realistic is entirely surface of the Earth. This enables the ring to allow people to continue to live on the another story. to be connected permanently to points on planet would be much cheaper and easier. the planetary surface by space elevators But just think for a moment about the Undoubtedly one of the more serious

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 5 equatorial towers which are effectively thirty- six thousand kilometre high skyscrapers.

His description has the detailed realism we come to expect from Clarke, from the ease with which spacecraft leave the outer rim of the orbital ring, down to the fact that inhabitants living permanently at lower gravity levels on the ring would be unlikely to ever return to the surface of the Earth.

However, if you’re looking for a serious technical evaluation of the concept, you can do no better than the series of three articles on Orbital Ring Systems and Jacob’s Ladders by Paul Birch in JBIS between November 1982 and May 1983. He takes us from the concept of space elevators up to geosynchronous orbit (much on the lines Clarke described in his 1979 novel) through to orbital rings in LEO. He recognises the massive cost of construction, but at least the The future of orbital rings in the final part of the The beginnings of orbital rings. Published by technology is feasible by today’s standards. Space Odyssey saga. Published by Voyager Pan Books 1980. Cover art by Chris Moore One of the advantages of Jacob’s Ladders 1997. Cover art by Chris Moore. “only” going to LEO is that the strength of attempts in science fiction to explain the material required is vastly less than that Earth, as well as act as a platform for space concept appears in Arthur C Clarke’s 1979 needed for an elevator to a geosynchronous developments. It might not be all good, masterpiece The Fountains of Paradise, orbit, and more within current capabilities. though. The night sky on Earth would be which won both the Hugo and Nebula changed – a huge Ring permanently across awards. He foresees a tower linked to a Paul actually shows how an orbital ring could our field of view. It would be beaming out structure in geostationary orbit, and the space be accelerated so as to precess around the light, heat and all sorts of transmissions, elevator which provides the basis of his story Earth and made to remain above any fixed which would wreck the viewing of much of the is seen to develop one day into an orbital ring circumference of the planet – it wouldn’t even sky for ground-based astronomers! But then, system. need to be equatorial, so space elevators could all the “real” astronomers would be up on the be placed anywhere. There could also be more Ring, wouldn’t they? More recently, Ken Macleod memorably than one ring, creating an entire network of describes space elevators and the early orbiting structures and, ultimately, even what And here’s where the consequences of stages of an orbital ring in his 2008 novel would effectively be an artificial planet. human nature would be unavoidable. We The Night Sessions – although set in only the riff-raff down here on the surface would be near future, the benefits of such structures Before we get to such a dramatic conclusion, looking “up” at them looking “down” on us. are already becoming apparent. though, we can still imagine a world with Well, we’ll soon wipe the smug smiles off their an established orbital ring system - entire faces, won’t we? Just wait till we take over Clarke developed the idea even further in his populations living in a “sky city” which gives the ground stations for the space elevators 1997 novel 3001: the Final Odyssey, which them unparalleled access to the Solar – see how they like it then. They won’t be so includes probably one of the most detailed System and its resources. Paul described superior when we cut off their supplies from accounts of life on such a structure, including how an orbital ring might supply power to the surface.... John Silvester FBIS Review of Britain’s First Space Rocket – Part 2

n my last article Skylark still had 264 Kiruna in Sweden. Kiruna of course was very In January 1969 flight SLT781 broke up in launches in front of it. In 1967 the different to the other two since it was within flight and pieces showered back onto the Australians moved beyond just providing the Arctic Circle, but it had the advantage launch area. It was later found to have been Ilaunch facilities, and got involved in their that it could be used to investigate the the fault of the launch crew; the payload own right. The first purely Australian northern lights. had been incorrectly connected to the scientific experiments were flown on flight rocket. This was a rare instance of a lack of SL426. That same year also saw four In 1968 Skylark was launched on 17 success. Skylark was a singularly fortunate sequential flights take place from Sardinia occasions, but in 1969 this figure almost rocket, in that there were only a modest which were concerned with ionospheric doubled to 28. But those heady days were number of vehicle failures during the entire research. In 1968 a third launch site joined sadly never achieved again. The numbers 441 launches, About 29 in fact, which is a those of Woomera and Sardinia, namely of annual launches fell steadily thereafter. 93.2% success rate for the programme as

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 6 Also in the same year Andøya in Norway was Looking at the programme in retrospect, there added to the list of launch sites, followed in is clearly something very British about it. A 1973 by Villa Mercedes in Argentina and El modest but successful rocket programme in a Arensillo in Spain. country that at the time was becoming averse to such ventures. It was the first single-stage There were some occasions when Skylark high performance solid propellant sounding was used for military purposes. In July 1972, rocket in the world. it was utilised to test design aspects of the `Chevaline’ upgrade to the British Polaris It would be too easy to say that its demise nuclear weapons system. A further eight was due to the British `establishment’ and its flights for this purpose followed, with the last negative view of science programmes of this one taking place in March 1979. nature. The author takes a more prosaic view. He says that having lasted some fifty years, it The winding down of the Skylark project simply became a victim of progress, namely gradually became more pronounced, the arrival of the new satellite age. although it had actually been in progress since 1974. The author tells us that Nevertheless, its legacy was huge and wide the payloads had become much more ranging, and over its lifetime it provided a sophisticated and expensive compared with substantial training ground for scientists, the early days. One of the reasons for this engineers and technicians. Perhaps the most Britain’s First Space Rocket was that satellites had become cheaper. poignant of the vast array of photographs - The Story of the Skylark Moreover, management had been transferred in this book is to be found on page 659. by Robin H. Brand to the Science Research Council, which This is of a long lost Skylark rocket standing ISBN 978-0-9929896-0-6 seemed unable to afford it. upside down but upright in a claypan in South a whole. This compares quite favourably Australia. The Australians made the decision with the American Aerobee sounding rocket The last Skylark launch naturally attracted to leave it where it was found, and it can success rate of 97.8%. the close attention of the media. It took place apparently be seen to this day, somewhere on the 2nd May 2005. Maser 10 was funded in the vastness of South Australia. Perhaps The years 1969-70 were perhaps the best by ESA, and used the very last remaining someone from the BIS will visit it on some years for Skylark, which also saw an increase Skylark 7 motor. The launch was satisfactory, occasion. in the number of astronomy missions. One but the main parachute did not deploy, and the of its successes was the discovery of many payload crashed onto a frozen lake. Amazingly If you want to know more about this great x-ray sources. In 1971 another first took however the experiments survived intact. British success story, get hold of this most place, the launch of a Skylark from the United excellent book. It can be obtained from www. Kingdom, namely the RAE’s establishment And so the life of this British rocket came ypdbooks.com or any good bookshop. If you at Aberporth in Wales. A second and final UK to an end, and the small brown British bird want to know more about the author, visit his launch took place from there in July 1972. regained exclusive use of the Skylark name. website at www.nfel.co.uk/skylark-book.htm. Is SLS Obsolete? Aerospace Speculations by Terry Don

eginning in 1987, NASA studied available for a SDLV development in the Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles shape of Ares 5 as part of the Constellation (SDLVs) which, by using Space programme. BShuttle components, would have been the simplest and cheapest way for them to obtain Constellation was subsequently cancelled heavy lift into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). A and replaced by the existing Space Launch Side-mount version or Shuttle-C, would have System (SLS) as NASA’s future heavy lift replaced the shuttle orbiter with a large, side launch vehicle, with the eventual goal of mounted cargo pod, capable of putting up to using it for manned Mars missions. However 68 tonnes into LEO. SLS has many critics of its cost and lengthy development timescales and reliance on In the 1990s and early 2000s derivations of technology that dates from the 1970s. the Space Shuttle, such as Shuttle-C, were the only game in town and no one seriously The Problem with SLS challenged the concept. There was no The design of SLS leans heavily on Space competition to challenge the assumption that Shuttle architecture, and uses similar main The boosters of the Block II version of the SLS, a Shuttle Based Launcher was the way ahead engines, solid rocket boosters and external capable of placing up to 130 metric tons into for heavy lift. It was only when the Shuttle tank. However, all these components have low Earth orbit, could potentially be powered by was cancelled in 2005 and the Constellation been the subject of much revision during the derivatives of the F-1 used on the Saturn V. programme started, that funds became development programme. The main engines NASA

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 7 are modified to make them cheaper and be capable of being used as a fuel depot, and relocated to the bottom of the external tank hence be able to support heavy lift missions in a cluster of 4 engines not 3; each solid using orbital rendezvous. booster has 5 instead of 4 segments, new insulation to replace asbestos and a revised This raises the possibility of 2 or more nozzle. Vulcans being able to support heavy lift type missions at a greatly reduced cost. To The external tank is heavily modified to speculate further, Vulcan will utilise the body support repositioning of the main engines of the existing Delta 4 launcher, which in its and to carry supporting structure for a second Heavy version is composed of 3 parallel Delta stage and the Orion capsule on top. 4 bodies. Is it possible that a Vulcan Heavy, using 3 core bodies, could be developed, to The result is that the Block 1A version of compete with Falcon X and launch more than SLS, capable of lifting 70 tonnes, will not SLS? fly till 2018 with the first manned launch not scheduled until 2021. The more advanced Another possible entrant is Lockheed Martin Block 2 version, capable of orbiting 105 (LM) who is proposing a new type of vehicle tonnes, will not be available until the late to re-supply the International Space Station 2020s. The development cost of SLS to (ISS) under the 2nd NASA Commercial first launch in 2018 will be $10 billion and, Orbital Transportation Services (COTS2) although the official NASA cost estimate is programme. Called Jupiter, it is composed of Falcon 9 Heavy. SpaceX $500 million per launch, other estimates for the Jupiter spacecraft itself together with a the Block 1 version are over $1.5 billion, Block 1A version of the SLS, 105 tonnes. cargo container and a robotic arm. including amortisation of development costs. SpaceX have also been quite rapid in fielding new versions of Falcon 9 since the first The spacecraft, which contains all the This cost per launch is not expected to one flew and can be expected to continue expensive components such as engines reduce as with only a launch every 2 years, improving its performance. and electronics, would remain in orbit and there will be little, if any, learning curve to rendezvous with cargo containers which are reduce recurring costs. Another factor is It is also developing a new main engine, relatively cheap. This again facilitates orbital the obsolescence of parts from when there Raptor, which uses liquid methane/liquid assembly of larger structures at a competitive is a very long development and production price. If LM wins a share of the COTS2 oxygen (NH4/LOX) to produce more than programme. Since the Space Shuttle 3 times the thrust of the existing engines programme they will become another source was cancelled and Constellation, and in Falcon 9. Raptor is expected to power a of orbital supply technology. subsequently SLS started development, other future Falcon X launcher that will be capable ways to accomplish heavy lift have started of lifting much more than 50 tonnes, although The Future to become available and may make SLS timescales for this have not yet been There will therefore be two new launchers redundant for many missions that require it. published. and two possible means of orbital rendezvous and assembly by 2022 to compete with SLS The Alternatives The United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced for heavy lift missions, such as a Europa At the beginning of 2010 SpaceX had not yet in April that it is to develop Vulcan, a orbiter, at much lower cost. Has the time for a launched Falcon 9 which, up to April 2015, replacement for Atlas 5 using new engines Shuttle derived architecture passed?

has now flown 18 missions successfully. It from Blue Origin, also using NH4/LOX. is trying out a technique to re-use the first Although, initially, it will not be capable of SLS still has powerful support from politicians stage which, if successful, will further reduce heavy lift, ULA intend to also develop a new in districts where it is manufactured, the costs. upper stage, called ACES, that will enable various NASA Centres involved and the US it to lift 30% more than the existing Delta military who wish to retain their solid rocket The first Falcon 9 Heavy will be launched 4 Heavy, i.e. over 32 tonnes, by 2023, at a technology base for long range missiles. A later this year and is projected to lift 50 cost comparable to SpaceX. ULA also intend new US President may also have different tonnes, at a unit cost of $160 million. Two to recover the engines of Vulcan to reduce ideas on whether to continue support for SLS. Falcon 9 Heavies will launch as much as the costs. ULA have also stated that ACES will Only time will tell. Richard Hayes FBIS talks about Sailing to the Stars and Project Dragonfly – Beaming Up!

n the 1974 science fiction novel The Mote which is consistent with a laser beam – planet, it has taken many years to cross in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry emanating from the region of another star. It the immense distance between the stars Pournelle, humanity is spreading steadily ends abruptly after forty years. at sublight speed. But although this exotic Ithroughout the Galaxy but has yet to make race has not developed the protective fields contact with any advanced alien species. An alien spacecraft has been detected. which allow humans to travel at superluminal Then the colonists on a remote, recently Propelled by a sail where the propulsive force speeds between different points in the settled planet observe coherent light – light comes from laser light directed from its home cosmos, and has to rely on this method for

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 8 large sail attached to a spacecraft could be wavelengths, and nanotechnology slowly accelerated by a laser beam so as engineering would permit most, if not all, of to eventually reach a significant percentage the necessary circuitry to be built within the of light speed. There’s no need for the vast sail itself. spaceships, complex on-board propulsion systems, and tanks of propellant that usually Unfortunately, as is so often the case, there feature in feasibility studies for interstellar are technical problems with such a probe, travel. not least the destructive effect of a powerful microwave beam on the lightweight materials Solar sails, using light from the Sun as motive used in the craft’s construction, and the power for a spacecraft, have appeared in colossal size of the lens required to focus science fiction stories such as Cordwainer the microwave beam. However, the Starwisp Smith’s 1960 tale The Lady Who Sailed concept grips the imagination – Greg Bear the Soul. He envisaged sails thousands of used it in his 1990 novel Queen of Angels square miles in area being used for journeys as the basis for probes returning information lasting centuries. And in Sunjammer, Arthur C about exoplanets. Clarke’s 1963 story, sun-yachts move gently out from Earth orbit to achieve speeds of Sailing to the stars on a laser beam remains thousands of mile per hour in races through an evocative ideal for any proposal using space. low-mass spacecraft where the motive power is provided by an external source. But we see light sails powered by a laser Project Dragonfly is an exciting new beam as a means of travelling to the stars in venture, currently looking at designing a Being prepared for those who may take the physicist Robert L Forward’s 1984 novel The small laser-propelled interstellar spacecraft, slower road to the stars. This edition published Flight of the Dragonfly. The power comes and organised within the framework of by Macdonald Futura Publishers Ltd 1980. from an array of laser generators, focused the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. The interstellar travel, it still poses a significant through lenses, to drive the vessel on a 40- British Interplanetary Society is pleased to threat in its own right. year voyage to Barnard’s Star. support it. Find out more about the project and the positive response to its Kickstarter The idea of long distance space travel using In 1985, Dr Forward also proposed the Campaign at Project Dragonfly where Rob laser propulsion is enticing. In Odyssey 32, concept of the Starwisp interstellar probe, Swinney of I4IS gives his own analysis of this we touched on the thought of laser cannons, a small unmanned spacecraft propelled extraordinary enterprise. located on planetary surfaces and powered by a microwave beam. The probe’s sail by nuclear fusion reactors, propelling would be built using wires spaced at the Beaming up to the stars could be closer than vehicles into orbit and beyond. A sufficiently correct distance compatible with microwave we think! Terry Henley FBIS gives an update on MARS ONE

n December 18th 2014, everything appeared to be fine with MARS ONE for an unmanned launch in 2018 to Otake the first payload to Mars so that the first four astronauts to leave Earth and travel on a one way trip to Mars would follow in 2020 and again every 2 years after that.

However, one reporter Elmo Keep who writes for Matter.com has painted a completely different picture about the goings on behind MARS ONE. Keep interviewed Dr. Joseph Roche, an assistant professor at Trinity College’s School of Education in Dublin, with a Ph.D. in physics and astrophysics, who signed up for the MARS ONE trip. Artist’s impression of Mars One Settlement. Bryan Versteeg & Mars One

I would assume by the content of the article from one of the insiders. mission is a publicity stunt to raise revenue interview that this was done without MARS for a reality television series produced by Big ONE’s approval. It was only when Roche There was much talk about how the Brother producer Endemol. was in the top 100 applicants that he gave astronauts were picked and the money they his interview with Keep and it is suggested by had donated to MARS ONE which got their It is true that should a live television MARS ONE that the reporter did not want to positions in the first place. On the back of programme from Mars follow, what the listen to MARS ONE but wrote a sensational Keep’s article, suspicious critics believe the settlers are doing on Mars, could be sold to

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 9 every country around the world and bring will need to keep replenishing materials, food The article from Matter.com and other reports millions if not billions in revenue. There was and water as well as sending more people to have caused for some reason an update of also talk through reports that only 2,700 Mars every two years, and they will need to the Mission Timeline. They are now planning applicants signed up to MARS ONE whereas build these Transit Vehicles for each trip. to send the first humans to Mars in 2026, yet according to Bas Lansdorp, CEO and Co- this time last year they were hoping to have founder of MARS ONE, there were 200,000 Apparently once the Transit Vehicle arrives at least 8 people on Mars with another trip on applicants and this article has thrown MARS at Mars, it is left to orbit the planet. Why the way by 2026 and the first supply drop by ONE into chaos. they do not just return the unit to Earth orbit 2018. and reuse it is a mystery. It was hoped by The television company who were going to the 2030’s that Mars would have at least 30 You can see the new updated time line at follow the crew on Mars like a live reality settlers on the planet. http://www.mars-one.com/mission/roadmap show has dropped out and now they are looking for another company to do the job. NASA will not be sending people to Mars There is also a trailer you may like to see: The other problem that was not discussed until nearly 2045 due to the costs and the The Mars 100 - Mars One Astronaut Selection was how the four first astronauts were going technology needed to return the astronauts Round Three Trailer https://www.youtube. to get to Mars, which is probably the most to Earth alive after remaining on Mars for one com/watch?v=xxS7dCMBvSI&feature=youtu. significant subject anyway. It was suggested year. Not the least of the problems, though, be by Lansdorp that they were going to use a is that there is still speculation from scientists redesigned Dragon capsule and put it on top that if MARS ONE sends their astronauts to Read the articles and make up your own a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to get it into orbit Mars with their current technology, they will mind and let us know what you think. It and send it on its way to Mars. You should be dead after 68 days due to carbon dioxide appears there are still a great many questions make up your own minds how realistic that poisoning. to be answered, especially the costs for is! building the Transit Vehicle which appears in They are saying that the current oxygen the image shown below, and is not yet built MARS ONE say that it will dramatically cut replenishing systems for Mars will not be able or tested. their costs down and they have allocated a $6 to cope. Whether this is just speculation or billion budget for this mission whereas NASA the truth we will not know until someone goes According to MARS ONE, they plan to get has allocated a minimum of $43 billion dollars to Mars by which time, needless to say, it may water through the heating of water ice in the for their return journey and it could be as be too late. local ground soil, yet NASA’s Opportunity high as $100 billion, depending on when they rover has travelled over 26 miles in 11 attempt the journey to Mars. For those of you who wish to read the entire years and not once has it discovered water interview with Dr. Joseph Roche, please go in any usable form and neither has Spirit The argument is that NASA have to build a to this link and make up your own minds as to or Curiosity. So what is happening and will bigger ship to get their astronauts to Mars who is telling the truth. MARS ONE get humans to Mars? stay there for a year and then return them to https://medium.com/matter/mars-one- Earth. MARS ONE has not got to plan for or insider-quits-dangerously-flawed-project- You can contact us at Odyssey@bis-space. pay for the return journey, which dramatically 2dfef95217d3#44eb com cuts their costs. Now MARS ONE say they Right: An artist’s impression of are having a four stage Transit Vehicle built. the Transit Vehicle. Bryan Versteeg and Mars One It is a compact space station that will carry the astronauts from Earth orbit to Mars. It is comprised of four parts which are docked in Earth orbit: two propellant stages, a Transit Habitat and a Lander. However, MARS ONE

Richard Hayes FBIS thinks about the Love of life

he Biophilia Hypothesis is something for other life forms, and expressed concern that’s quite an appealing thought – we that can’t be ignored by anyone with over the consequences of indefinite human have a deepening relationship, either an interest in the future of space progress and our ever-reducing dependence conscious or subconscious, with the living Tflight. It was first identified by the German on nature. Each technological advance is, in world around us. And you can see the psychologist Erich Fromm to suggest that effect, an artificial device which substitutes truth in that. Most of us nowadays, walking human beings have an attraction to other for part of our natural environment and “adds through a city, will find a certain happiness, living things, but was widely popularised by its own, long-term risk”. And the natural no matter how fleeting, on encountering the biologist Professor E O Wilson in his 1984 environment itself, which is increasingly a park or other green open space. Our book Biophilia. rigged to meet new demands, becomes ever ancestors, who did not live in cities, would more delicate. probably not have felt quite the same on In this, and his later 1998 book Consilience: encountering trees and plants. the Unity of Knowledge, Professor Wilson So our attraction to other life may be described it as the affinity that humans have increasingly important to us and, in a way, But there’s a downside to this, as Professor

Odyssey: The e-Magazine of the British Interplanetary Society: July 2015 www.bis-space.com 10 Wilson points out. This is an embedded memorable images of this concept – recall “holodeck” out of Star Trek, which can part of our psychology which has evolved how the astronauts in the original Planet of simulate reality to give its users a sense of to make us what we are, and we can’t just the Apes film of 1968 treated the first sign of being elsewhere, would compensate, with the shake it off. Space travel, though, will take life they encountered – a solitary plant – with certain knowledge that it’s only a fake. human beings far away, perhaps forever, such reverence when they believed that they from the biological environment which is were stranded on a lifeless world. No doubt we could, through psychological essential to their well-being, and they may conditioning or genetic manipulation, change end up yearning for their fellow life-forms on Future space travellers may face a sense astronauts so that they no longer have this Earth. of loss which we can barely imagine when yearning. But how far does this go before the parted permanently from our natural subject ceases to be human in a sense that Science fiction has produced some environment. It’s doubtful whether a really matters?

Discovery Richard Hayes FBIS examines the Art of Alex Storer

mages of what humanity may find on other worlds, once it ventures out among the stars, are a major source of inspiration for those who await the challenge. We can Iimagine being the first humans to stand on the surface of a new planet, where the unexpected may amaze, or even shock us as we attempt to understand the universe in which we live. There will be wonders in store.

So it is not surprising that Alex’s artwork sometimes gives us glimpses of strange planets, where landscapes offer views which we may find amazing.

In this picture, a voyage of discovery has led two astronauts to an alien world where they look out from a high ledge at the view beyond. A planet and its moon hang in a pale blue sky, though the visitors still wear their spacesuits so this is not an atmosphere that we could breathe.

We may be standing on another moon of the same planet, though this one is clearly rich in verdure. Plant life seems to cover every inch of the jagged rocks and hangs in trails below the ledge on which these explorers stand.

Most stunning, though, are the enormous mushrooms which spread along this slope – they clearly thrive in this place, exposed to the elements. Is a fungus, well-known for its rapid growth, a common sight here, and what has encouraged it to develop to such a size?

But there may be even stranger things. One of the astronauts points in what seems to be amazement at some sight beyond our view. We can’t help wondering – just what is it that has caught their attention in this weird, alien location?

The art of Alex Storer provides us with a stream of images which enable us to reflect on the spectacle and drama of Discovery by Alex Storer; www.thelightdream.net. space travel in the future, and to be inspired by what may be Editor: Terry J. Henley found beyond the Earth. We look forward to showcasing more of his artwork in future issues of Odyssey. Assistant Editors: John Silvester, Terry Don and Richard Hayes

Distribution and web support: Ralph Timberlake and Andrew Correction Vaudin The caption for the picture of Alex Storer’s art on page 5 of Odyssey Odyssey is published quarterly by the BIS and circulated by email. 35 should have named the musician who inspired the work as Peter Feedback on the e-magazine is welcome, including suggestions for Gabriel. future issues, via [email protected]

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