This paper demonstrates that,barring breakthroughs, co-related progress in the fields of in-space propulsion, fabrication and repair will ultimately lead to the capability of expanding human exploration and civilization towards the nearest extra-solar star system. The major focus of this paper is the connectivity of on-going in-space propulsion research performed by the In-Space Propulsion (ISP) Technology Project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to in-space fabrication and repair prospects. ISP is an outgrowth of the NASA Interstellar Initiative of the late 1990's. It has broadened its initial focus from a concentration on the solar-photon sail to include aerocapture, advanced solar-electric propulsion (SEP), solar-thermal propulsion (STP), advanced chemical propulsion and tethers, as well as the solar sail.
Strategic Roadmap to Centauri
2005
46 pages
Report
No indication
English
A Strategic Roadmap to Centauri
NTRS | 2005
|INTERSTELLAR STUDIES - A Strategic Roadmap to Centauri
Online Contents | 2005
|NASA Strategic Roadmap Summary Report
NTIS | 2005
|NASA Strategic Roadmap Summary Report
NTRS | 2005
|