planet earth
near space
solar system
deep space
terra firma
CEnR
PHRITS
MMO
Ares Acquire
Traveling to other planets (in person) has always been my first love, and is still the primary motivation why I am in the aerospace engineering business. Viewing the Earth from orbit is an awe inspiring sight, but being able to see Saturn rise while standing on Titan would be a whole different thing altogether.
I have been (and still am) involved in interplanetary travel work in a number of ways. My PhD deals with the optimization of interplanetary transportation systems. In addition, I have participated in studies of interplanetary propulsion systems and entire architecture designs throughout my career. Most recently, I have started OpenAerospace.Org as an effort to turn ideas into realities!
Project Constellation / Concept Exploration & Refinement (CEnR)
Project Constellation is the name for the activities NASA has initiated to implement the National Vision for
Space Exploration released by the White House in 2004. One of the first programs under that umbrella was the
Concept Exploration and Refinement (CE&) program. CE& had two components, the first focused on
the development of a System-of-Systems (or Supersystem) that would become the transportation backbone to
enable the new vision. The second area focused on the development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). I
participated in the program in the role of technical lead and projct manager for the Supersystem development
area at Andrews Space.
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Physically Idealized Human-rated Rocket-based Interplanetary Transportation Systems
For the topic of my PhD dissertation I finally got to investigate what has been a burning
question on my mind ever since I started to learn about the various methods and concepts people
propose to visit the other planets in our solar system: what is the best way to get there? Even
barring such exotic methods as Alcubiere warp-drives and Krasnikov tunnels through the space time
continuum and just using good old Newton's third law, the scientific and engineering communities
have put forth an astonishing variety of answers to this simple question. For my PhD work I thus
endeavoured to answer the simple question: If you could built any device that the laws of physics
allow you too, what would be the most effective approach to human interplanetary transport? The
answer is - as always - anything but simple however.
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Mini-MagOrion (MMO)
Human exploration and exploitation of the solar system requires spacecraft with "breakthrough" propulsion
systems capable of generating tens of kilometers per second of delta velocity while carrying large
payloads. The original Project Orion was an effort to develop a rocket propulsion system using successive
explosions of small nuclear bombs. The project was initiated by the Advanced Research Projects Agency in
1958 and cancelled in 1965. In June 2000 Andrews Space concluded a Phase I SBIR on a further
iteration of the Orion concept, termed MagOrion. MagOrion introduced the use of a large (2 km diameter)
superconducting ring to interact with the plasma debris of the nuclear explosive pulses, replacing the
mechanically dampened pusher plate of the original Project Orion concept. Following the completion of
the MagOrion study Andrews Space proposed the Mini-MagOrion concept to address identified short-comings
of the MagOrion concept. I inherited the responsibility for the program from AST's Chief Technology Officer
(and MMO inventor) Dana Andrews, and served as the principal investigator from January 2001-2003. The MMO
design adds two important aspects to the family of Orion concepts: first, the use of magnetic compression
of the fissile targets enables the utilization of much smaller explosions (50-500 GJ yield vs. 20,000 GJ),
which are triggered by an external device, and thus cannot be projected as a potential weapon. Secondly,
utilizing smaller yield explosions allowed for the replacement of the large superconducting ring with a
more sophisticated assembly of several coils, arranged into a nozzle like configuration.
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Ares Acquire / ISRU supported Mars Sample Return
As an undergraduate I spent the two quarters of my capstone design course sequence developing an automated
Mars sample return mission under the name Project Ares Acquire. One of the unique aspects of this mission
is that is uses in situ resources available on Mars to achieve its objectives. Project Ares Acquire has its
own website which continuous to receive a surprising number of visits from all over the world.
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ralph.open-aerospace.org