Es gibt mittlerweile einige Stränge, in die ich das einstellen könnte. Aber aufgrund des Themas platziere ich das mal hier.
Zitat von ZRDer nächste Starttermin dieser Art steht im 15 Monaten, vom 31. Oktober bis zum 15. November 2026 an, und Elon Musk hat ja schon Ende des vergangenen Jahres angekündigt, daß seine Firma SpaceX plant, diesen Zeitpunkt zu nutzen, um fünf Schwerlastraketen vom Typ Starship auf die Reise zu schicken. Die regelmäßige Wiederkehr bringt es auch mit sich, daß ein „Reißen“ dieses Termins kein Beinbruch sein würde – anders als etwas im Fall der „Grand Tour,“ bei der die beiden Voyager-Sonden, Ende der 1970er Jahre gestartet, den vier großen Gasplaneten des äußeren Sonnensystems einen Besuch abgestattet haben. Eine dafür geeignete Stellung erreichen Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus und Neptun nur alle 175 Jahre.
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk Slight chance of Starship flight to Mars crewed by Optimus in Nov/Dec next year. A lot needs to go right for that.
More likely, first flight without humans in ~3.5 years, next flight ~5.5 years with humans.
Mars city self-sustaining in 20 to 30 years. 11:39 AM · Aug 6, 2025
Zitat von ZRDer nächste Starttermin dieser Art steht im 15 Monaten, vom 31. Oktober bis zum 15. November 2026 an
Apropos.
Zitat Blue Origin is gearing up for the second-ever launch of its powerful New Glenn rocket, which will loft NASA's ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
The company says it has been working closely with NASA on preparations leading up to New Glenn's next launch, dubbed NG-2, and is targeting no earlier than (NET) Sep. 29. The twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) probes have been awaiting their turn aboard New Glenn, which was originally slated to carry the satellites on its maiden launch in January. However, NASA opted not to risk a costly mission delay due to the debut liftoff of the new rocket.
Now that the mission has been assigned a NET date, Blue Origin posted on social media to expect "some exciting things" buzzing around New Glenn's pad at Space Launch Complex-36, located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.
New Glenn lifted off for the first time in the beginning of 2025. Blue Origin successfully launched a test version of its Blue Ring satellite bus to Earth orbit, but failed in the attempt to land New Glenn's first stage at sea. In addition to launching its NASA payload into an interplanetary trajectory, Blue Origin will once again try to land and recover New Glenn's 188.5-foot-tall (57.5-meter-tall) first stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
ESCAPADE will be New Glenn's first interplanetary mission, an ambitious undertaking for the relatively new launch vehicle. The twin orbiters will study the magnetosphere around the Red Planet as well as analyze the processes that control the interaction of energetic solar wind particles and the Martian atmosphere.
One of NASA’s Key Cameras Orbiting Mars Takes 100,000th Image
After nearly 20 years at the Red Planet, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has snapped its 100,000th image of the surface with its HiRISE camera. Short for High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE is the instrument the mission relies on for high-resolution images of features ranging from impact craters, sand dunes, and ice deposits to potential landing sites. Those images, in turn, help improve our understanding of Mars and prepare for NASA’s future human missions there.
Captured Oct. 7, this milestone image from the spacecraft shows mesas and dunes within Syrtis Major, a region about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Jezero Crater, which NASA’s Perseverance rover is exploring. Scientists are analyzing the image to better understand the source of windblown sand that gets trapped in the region’s landscape, eventually forming dunes.
The subject of the 100,000th image was recommended by a high school student through the HiWish site, where anyone can suggest parts of the planet to study. Team members at University of Arizona in Tucson, which operates the camera, also make 3D models of HiRISE imagery so that viewers can experience virtual flyover videos.
Zitat NASA Continues MAVEN Spacecraft Recontact Efforts
December 15, 2025
NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission team, in partnership with the agency’s Deep Space Network, continues recovery activities after losing contact with the spacecraft on Dec. 6. To date, attempts to reestablish contact with the spacecraft have not been successful.
Although no spacecraft telemetry has been received since Dec. 4, the team recovered a brief fragment of tracking data from Dec. 6 as part of an ongoing radio science campaign. Analysis of that signal suggests that the MAVEN spacecraft was rotating in an unexpected manner when it emerged from behind Mars. Further, the frequency of the tracking signal suggests MAVEN’s orbit trajectory may have changed. The team continues to analyze tracking data to understand the most likely scenarios leading to the loss of signal. Efforts to reestablish contact with MAVEN also continue.
NASA is also working to mitigate the effect of the MAVEN anomaly on surface operations for NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers. Four orbiters at Mars, including MAVEN, relay communications to and from the surface to support rover operations. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter all remain operational. For the next two weeks of scheduled surface operations, NASA is arranging additional passes from the remaining orbiters, and the Perseverance and Curiosity teams have adjusted their daily planning activities to continue their science missions.
Zitat MAVEN launched in November 2013 and arrived in Mars orbit 10 months later, tasked with studying Mars' atmosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing from the sun.
MAVEN's prime mission lasted one Earth year, and the spacecraft delivered in that time. Its data helped scientists understand how (and when) the Red Planet lost its once-thick atmosphere, which allowed liquid water to flow on Mars billions of years ago.
The orbiter just kept going after that, gathering loads of information about the Red Planet — for example, its dust storms, winds and auroras, for example.
MAVEN also serves as a communications link between mission control and NASA robots on the Martian surface — at the moment, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
But MAVEN isn't the only orbiter that plays this relay role; NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey do as well, along with the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. And those four other spacecraft are still going strong.
"For the next two weeks of scheduled surface operations, NASA is arranging additional passes from the remaining orbiters, and the Perseverance and Curiosity teams have adjusted their daily planning activities to continue their science missions," NASA officials wrote in the update.
Etwas tangential, aber weil das Stichwort "Mars" fällt...
Zitat NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman@NASAAdmin Before the end of @POTUS' term, @NASA will lay the foundation of a "transcontinental railroad" to Mars.
By utilizing nuclear electric propulsion, our nation will have the tools necessary to establish a Martian outpost and maintain American superiority in deep space. 3:34 PM · Jan 30, 2026
Zitat Fox News: So what's next? After the moon? Because we're going to the moon two years from now. Will NASA send astronauts to Mars eventually in our lifetime?
Jared Isaacman: We absolutely will. And again, President Trump did account for this in his National Space Policy. He said: make the investments in the next giant leap capabilities - that's nuclear powered propulsion. It won't be long before we are going to have the capability to send American astronauts to Mars. The trick, the hard part, is bringing them back. That's where nuclear powered propulsion comes in. So, before the end of President Trump's term, we will launch our first nuclear-electric, nuclear-powered rocket. That's going to esentially establish a 'transcontinental railroad' to Mars. It's how you efficiently move LOTS of mass to Mars. It's not necesarily the fastest way to get there, but it gives you the tools to build that potential Martian outpost. Certainly find and mine propellant on Mars, which is what you are gong to need to bring our astronauts home.
Gemeint ist entweder folgendes:
Zitat The FRC Acceleration Space Thruster (FAST) Experiment The objective of the FRC (Field Reversed Configuration) Acceleration Space Thruster (FAST) Experiment is to investigate the use of a repetitive FRC source as a thruster, specifically for an NEP (nuclear electric propulsion) system. The Field Reversed Configuration is a plasmoid with a closed poloidal field line structure, and has been extensively studied as a fusion reactor core. An FRC thruster works by repetitively producing FRCs and accelerating them to high velocity. An FRC thruster should be capable of I(sub sp)'s in the range of 5,000 - 25,000 seconds and efficiencies in the range of 60 - 80 %. In addition, they can have thrust densities as high as 10(exp 6) N/m2, and as they are inductively formed, they do not suffer from electrode erosion. The jet-power should be scalable from the low to the high power regime. The FAST experiment consists of a theta-pinch formation chamber, followed by an acceleration stage. Initially, we will produce and accelerate single FRCs. The initial focus of the experiment will be on the ionization, formation and acceleration of a single plasmoid, so as to determine the likely efficiency and I(sub sp). Subsequently, we will modify the device for repetitive burst-mode operation (5-10 shots). A variety of diagnostics are or will be available for this work, including a HeNe interferometer, high-speed cameras, and a Thomson-scattering system. The status of the experiment will be described.
Zitat A field-reversed configuration (FRC) is a type of plasma device studied as a means of producing nuclear fusion. It confines a plasma on closed magnetic field lines without a central penetration.[1][2] In an FRC, the plasma has the form of a self-stable torus, similar to a smoke ring.
FRCs were a major area of research in the 1960s and into the 1970s, but had problems scaling up into practical fusion triple products (target combinations of density, temperature and confinement time). Interest returned in the 1990s and as of 2019, FRCs were an active research area. ... Field-reversed configuration devices have been considered for spacecraft propulsion. By angling the walls of the device outward, the plasmoid can be accelerated in the axial direction and out of the device, generating thrust.
NEP is an open-ended project focused on developing critical and enabling technologies for nuclear electric propulsion leading to an integrated NEP vehicle system. NEP systems have capabilities that can be directly leveraged, or readily evolved, for future NASA missions that include cis-lunar operating systems and deep-space human and science systems. Electric thruster technology offers much higher propellant mass efficiencies when compared chemical and nuclear thermal options. Combining a nuclear energy source with electric thrusters can enable both human and science missions to the outer planets providing for more payload, faster transit, and increased power for sensors and communication.
Nuclear electric propulsion relies on electric power sourced from a nuclear fission reactor which is functionally like terrestrial nuclear power plants. Requiring operating temperatures less than nuclear thermal propulsion, the thermal energy produced by the reactor generates electricity which is then used to power highly efficient electric thrusters. The many challenges addressed within NEP include (1) advancing shielding materials, fission fuels, and designs that can enable a reliable space-rated reactor; (2) production of lightweight, high efficiency technologies for a closed-cycle Brayton power conversion engine; (3) high-temperature thermal management technologies; and radiation hard electronics that enable autonomous operations. The five major subsystems enveloping a NEP capability are power management and distribution, electric thrusters, waste heat rejection, power conversion and the power reactor. The technology readiness of most specific technology drivers includes higher operating temperatures for the power reactor, power conversion, and thermal management systems, higher power electric thrusters, and an overall reduction in the subsystem design weight requirements.
Zitat One option NASA is exploring is nuclear electric propulsion, which employs a nuclear reactor to generate electricity that ionizes, or positively charges, and electrically accelerates gaseous propellants to provide thrust to a spacecraft.
Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, are working on a system that could help bring nuclear electric propulsion one significant, technology-defining step closer to reality.
Modular Assembled Radiators for Nuclear Electric Propulsion Vehicles, or MARVL, aims to take a critical element of nuclear electric propulsion, its heat dissipation system, and divide it into smaller components that can be assembled robotically and autonomously in space.
Loosening up the design is key, because as Stark mentioned, previous ideas called for fitting the entire nuclear electric radiator system under a rocket fairing, or nose cone, which covers and protects a payload. Fully deployed, the heat dissipating radiator array would be roughly the size of a football field. You can imagine the challenge engineers would face in getting such a massive system folded up neatly inside the tip of a rocket.
The MARVL technology opens a world of possibilities. Rather than cram the whole system into an existing rocket, this would allow researchers the flexibility to send pieces of the system to space in whatever way would make the most sense, then have it all assembled off the planet.
Once in space, robots would connect the nuclear electric propulsion system’s radiator panels, through which a liquid metal coolant, such as a sodium-potassium alloy, would flow.
While this is still an engineering challenge, it is exactly the kind of engineering challenge in-space-assembly experts at NASA Langley have been working on for decades. The MARVL technology could mark a significant first milestone. Rather than being an add-on to an existing technology, the in-space assembly component will benefit and influence the design of the very spacecraft it would serve.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate awarded the MARVL project through the Early Career Initiative, giving the team two years to advance the concept. Stark and her teammates are working with an external partner, Boyd Lancaster, Inc., to develop the thermal management system. The team also includes radiator design engineers from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and fluid engineers from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After two years, the team hopes to move the MARVL design to a small-scale ground demonstration.
The idea of robotically building a nuclear propulsion system in space is sparking imaginations.
Zitat Ozan Bellik@BellikOzan Four things to realize:
1. Nuclear electric propulsion does nothing for Mars ascent.
2. Low Mars orbit to Earth transfer needs only ~2.5km/s, which you can do easily with chemical propulsion (with methalox it's only half propellant, with hydrolox, even less).
3. PICA-X is good enough for direct entry from Mars return.
4. Low twr NEP spiraling out of Mars orbit, trying to do a quick run to Earth, and then spiraling into Earth orbit explodes the delta v budget. Combined with its higher dry mass, the performance advantage gets just about wiped out.
All you're left with is a more expensive, lower TRL solution that takes longer to develop. 4:07 AM · Jan 31, 2026
Zitat Ozan Bellik@BellikOzan Nuclear propulsion bros in 2026: "Okay, okay, fine, we admit you don't need it for getting to Mars... But getting back! That's the hard part! You need nuclear for that! Also... efficiency!"
Honestly I'm not even going to try to fight it. It's a far better thing to throw money at than SLS. 2:29 AM · Jan 31, 2026
Tangential, ergibt aber eine Ahnung von den Größenordnungen.
Zitat Curiosity@MAstronomers 🚨: Voyager 1 just said Hello from interstellar space. That's 15.8 billion miles away 7:14 PM · Feb 3, 2026
Curiosity@MAstronomers·16h 1 AU = 8.31675 Light-Minutes 170 AU = 1413.8475 Light-Minutes 170 AU = 23.564125 Light-Hours So Voyager 1 is almost 1 Light-Day away. It was launched in 1977. It took 49 years to travel almost 1 light day. It will take 17,836 years to travel 1 Light-Year.
Zitat Aakash Gupta@aakashgupta·7h The signal strength hitting Earth from Voyager 1 is less than one trillionth of a watt.
To put that in perspective, your phone’s WiFi signal is roughly 100 billion times stronger, and it drops a connection walking between rooms.
NASA picks up Voyager’s whisper using arrays of 70-meter antennas, then reconstructs coherent data from it at 160 bits per second. That’s slower than a 1990s modem. Downloading a single photograph at that rate would take weeks.
The spacecraft itself runs on 8.8 kg of decaying plutonium-238 that generated 470 watts at launch in 1977. Today it produces roughly 200 watts, losing about 4 watts per year. NASA has been shutting down instruments one by one since the 1980s to keep the math working. They turned off the cosmic ray sensor just this year.
And here’s the part nobody’s talking about: there is exactly one antenna on Earth that can send commands to Voyager. Deep Space Station 43 in Canberra. It went offline for major upgrades from May 2025 through early 2026. During that window, if Voyager had a critical fault, the team would have had to wait months to respond.
A 48-year-old spacecraft built on 1970s computing, running on a plutonium battery that’s lost 60% of its output, transmitting at a power level that barely qualifies as existing, from a distance where light itself takes 23 hours to arrive. And a German observatory just casually picked up its carrier signal on a live stream.
The engineering margin NASA built into this mission was designed for 4 years to Saturn. Everything after that is borrowed time the engineers keep extending by doing math with 200 watts. 7:42 AM · Feb 4, 2026
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