The future of human and robotic exploration will mean trips to deep space destinations like the moon, Mars, or asteroids. But getting there and returning home on one tank of gas while carrying a sizable payload is almost impossible. The solution? In-space refueling technology, which enables spacecrafts to tank up in low Earth orbit.
Last year, the Augustine Commission, a blue-ribbon panel charged with reviewing America’s human spaceflight program, emphasized the need for NASA to purse this technology in their final report to the White House. Now NASA has put out a call for a $200 million mission to show how to store and transfer rocket propellants in space.
In-space refueling technology would allow smaller and cheaper rockets to be used for missions that would otherwise be outside their weight class. It will also considerably enhance the capabilities of larger rockets. “Instead of sending the rockets fully fueled to asteroids or to Mars we would launch them partially fueled to get more payload into orbit,” Chris Moore, deputy director of advanced capabilities for NASA told Foxnews.com. “Then we’d top off the propellant by docking with depots in lower Earth orbit.”
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