Steam-Powered Vehicle will Help Mars Colonization

April 10, 2016 By Denise Ehrlich 14 Comments

The steam engine was invented during the industrial revolution.

NASA just announced that a new type of space colonization spacecraft might be used in the future lunar and Martian missions. A couple of think-tanks working for the North-American space agency have put together a plan that can potentially revolutionize the way we look at space travel. A steam-powered vehicle will help Mars and Moon colonization.

The God of Steam Is Not Dead

As unlikely it may seem, NASA is actually planning to use water in order to launch vehicles into space. Remember, the first locomotive or the steam engine tugs on Mississippi? Well, it looks like the space agency is planning on dropping the whole rocket engine design, replacing it with a steam-powered one.

The scientists that are working on this project also called the “Swamp Works,” stated that water is probably the most versatile element found out there. You can drink it; you can use it to power different gizmos, and you can probably use it as a radiation shield. So why not use it for space travel?

According to their plans, NASA engineers are thinking of building steam-powered vehicles that can outmaneuver any spacecraft currently available, without consuming so much fuel. In theory, a steam-powered spacecraft or an exploration rover could bridge distances of over 30 kilometers on a single tank.

Furthermore, considering that the latest research shows that the lunar poles contain water in abundance, the process of colonizing the Moon might get a whole lot easier if we rely on steam-powered engines.

Looking Under the Hood

So, how does such a machine work? If you remember, a steam-powered engine works like this: when water comes to a boil, it produces the pressure required to move up and down the cylinders and pistons. The up and down motion produced by the mechanism is translated further to the machine.

NASA’s project is far simpler than this. Instead of letting the pressure build up inside the machine, the engineers want to use huge nozzles in order to vent out the steam. When the steam is vented from a port, the spacecraft moves forward or changes direction.

The applications of such a device are numerous. For example, if the project proves to be feasible, NASA can stop carrying water from Earth and start mining it on the Moon. Olivier de Weck, a professor of aeronautics, currently teaching at MIT, has stated that if NASA moves ahead with the plan, a ship’s payload will be reduced by 68 percent if it stops carrying water from Earth.

But NASA doesn’t want to stop here. Based on their calculations, a trip to Mars with an Apollo-style spacecraft, which is basically a “pack everything including the kitchen sink” concept, is far-fetched.

A lunar base, on the other hand, might help astronauts reach their designated target in no time. In fact, by 2030, NASA wants to set up a 3D printed village on the Moon, using mostly materials found on its surface. And it would seem that these steam-powered machines will play a crucial role in pulling off this stunt.

Image source: www.wikipedia.org

About the Author

About Denise Ehrlich

Denise would describe herself as one more of an experience witness than a journalist. Soon after graduating, Denise worked as a journalist during the presidential campaign of Senior US Senator John McCain. Since then, much has changed, and Denise found herself gravitating towards world news.

William Forbes

OK, steam power. First, what fuel are you going to use to produce the heat? Second, venting nozzles sound fine when you work in temperature way above freezing, but in space the temperatures vary from barely livable to extremely frigid. There better be some real fine engineering being done to make the engine feasible, or your steam engine will be nothing more than a space based snow machine.
- Vincent
  
  Who cares if snow comes out of the nozzle? The thrust needed is still produced. And solar panels collecting the uninhibited rays of the sun in space would far exceed the energy needed to boil water.
j2saret

Great let’s export water that couldn’t cause any harm to the planet. At least to the planet as we know it.
- Spanky
  
  huh?
  - j2saret
    
    Where does the water come from to get from here to there?
Robb49

Overlooking the absurd amount of risk and the wastefulness of sending humans to Mars, we haven’t even established that the water there is accessible. It will be a long time yet before we send an explorer that can search for water. Even then, it seems like it would be more practical to use it to power fuel cells and to split it for hydrogen rocket fuel.
- mrsatyre
  
  Take the blinders off and look at the big picture. Once upon a time the risk and cost of sending humans across the mountains or the ocean to see what was on the other side was absurd. Now we do it with impunity, and the benefits have far exceeded the risks.
  - Dan Blake
    
    “Benefits” ? like what, mining ? Let’s use all of our resources, turning them into wast, bring more from other planets, and what,…… send our waste to other planets ?
    If we spend the time, to learn to use what we have properly, rather than the time and money spent on the ridiculous scenario, THEN we benefit.
  - Robb49
    
    Had societies of the past had the technology of robotics, much of all that exploration of mountains and jungles and desserts would have been done by machines first to see if those places were safe for human beings and worth further evaluation. If a drone flew into a volcano and found that it was too hot for people, they would stay out of it. Thousands of lives would have been saved and various civilizations would not have been wiped out.
    
    Trying to compare human space exploration to pioneers of the past discovering new lands is a dead end argument because at that time, risking human lives was the only option. We can build machines to explore for us. So, it’s no longer ethical to send human beings. In fact, it’s not even very practical. All this hype we hear from the space industry is just a big sales pitch to get more funding to building bigger gimmicks. There is no real proof that there is anything of value on the Moon or otherwise that can be economically harvested and returned to Earth. Even if there were, it would be harvested by machines.
    - Cameron
      
      The research done by space science has huge spin off value in other areas. Space is a harsh place and systems need to be refined to a much greater degree to function. This leads to pushing our boundaries and advancing technology (eg recycling). Can this be done on Earth? Sure. Will it? Eventually, but to move forward with space exploration it is NECESSARY! This means that it will happen much faster and might actually happen in a time frame that averts disaster on Earth.
      
      Is Space exploration expensive? Definitely! Cost as we get better as technology improves. Are there benefits? Absolutely! This has been proven over and over. If you don’t think so you don’t have to look far. GPS, satellite communication.
      
      As for nothing of use on the moon, it has been proven that there is water on the moon. If it exists in sufficient quantities then that alone would probably make it worth it. Being able to harvest water to split into oxygen to breathe, and for rocket fuel components and for …. water is a huge deal. It would reduce the weight what we need to launch by something like 60% if we could mine it in space.
Terry Collis

It is readily apparent that the author possesses less than a mere passing acquaintanceship with the principals of a steam engine. Steam engines do not operate on steam pressure, but rather, use the steam to fill a cylinder and then inject cold water into said cylinder to cause a vacuum that pulls the piston the length of the cylinder, generating energy used to turn a crank arm connected to a wheel. It is the hot steam being rapidly cooled that causes the variation in the volume of steam atmosphere to be reduced to a fraction of its original volume. Please do your homework before posting your next article. Thank you.
- John Allen
  
  WOW you have obviously never seen a steam engine!
- OpenMinded
  
  Please do some research. That is NOT how a typical steam engine works. A steam engine uses the expansive force of the steam to produce the work. Superheating the steam above the evaporation point increases the efficiency as well. A good place to start is one of the steam car clubs online. They have a wealth of information for those who want to learn about steam engines. Or check out Jay Leno’s garage for the videos on his steam cars. I am by no means as expert as some of the other members of the Steam Automobile Club of America but having spent many years of study on the subject I know a passable amount.
Dan Blake

Steampunk to the rescue ! All hail H.G. Wells !!!!!