Related papers: Propelling Interplanetary Spacecraft Utilizing Wat…
A technologically mature colony on Mars can produce and deliver at least 1 million tons of liquid hydrogen per year to one or more propellant depots at Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Production of 1 $kg$ of hydrogen at Marian colony and its…
Experience in exploring our own solar system has shown that direct investigation of planetary bodies using space probes invariably yields scientific knowledge not otherwise obtainable. In the case of exoplanets, such direct investigation…
We show that sustainably harvesting 'blue' energy from the spontaneous mixing process of fresh and salty water can be boosted by varying the water temperature during a capacitive mixing process. Our modified Poisson-Boltzmann calculations…
According to current evidence the water inventory of Earth (and perhaps similar exoplanets) was transported inwards via (giant) collisions during the chaotic final phase of planet formation. In dynamical simulations water delivery is still…
The Earth possesses many environmental extremes that mimic conditions on extraterrestrial worlds. The stratosphere at 30-40 km altitude closely resembles the surface of Mars in terms of pressure, temperature, and radiation levels (UV,…
Irradiation by energetic ions, electrons, and UV photons induces sputtering and chemical processes (radiolysis) in the surfaces of icy moons, comets, and icy grains. Laboratory experiments, both of ideal surfaces and of more complex and…
Habitable planets are often defined as terrestrial worlds capable of maintaining surface liquid water. As a result, atmospheric water vapor can be a critical indicator of habitability. Thus, habitability-themed exoplanet investigations…
Solar sails enable missions to observe the solar environment from unique vantage points, such as sustained observations away from the Sun-Earth line; sub-L1 station keeping; high inclination solar orbits; Earth polar-sitting and…
Laser sails propelled by gigawatt-scale ground-based laser arrays have the potential to reach relativistic speeds, traversing the solar system in hours and reaching nearby stars in years. Here, we describe the danger interplanetary dust…
Exoplanet science is booming. In 20 years our knowledge has expanded considerably, from the first discovery of a Hot Jupiter, to the detection of a large population of Neptunes and super-Earths, to the first steps toward the…
Lightsail spacecraft, propelled to relativistic velocities via photon pressure using high power density laser radiation, offer a potentially new route to space exploration within and beyond the solar system, extending to interstellar…
Even though water is the main constituent in interstellar icy mantles, its chemical origin is not well understood. Three different formation routes have been proposed following hydrogenation of O, O2, or O3, but experimental evidence is…
As humans venture deeper into space, the need for a lunar settlement, housing the first group of settlers, grows steadily. By means of new technologies such as in situ resource utilisation (ISRU) as well as computational design, this goal…
In Part I we recount the history of observation and laboratory measurement culminating with the excavation of water from a permanently shadowed region near the lunar South Pole by the impact of the LCROSS mission in 2009. In this…
We present a three-species multi-fluid MHD model (H$^+$, H$_2$O$^+$ and e$^-$), endowed with the requisite atmospheric chemistry, that is capable of accurately quantifying the magnitude of water ion losses from exoplanets. We apply this…
Laser propulsion has been proposed for relativistic interstellar flights, but it faces the significant challenge of requiring extremely powerful laser radiation due to the inherently low momentum transfer between the beam and the sail. The…
The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) propellantless propulsion device uses long, charged metallic tethers to tap momentum from the solar wind to produce spacecraft propulsion. If flying through planetary or moon eclipse, the long E-sail…
Spectral retrieval has long been a powerful tool for interpreting planetary remote sensing observations. Flexible, parameterised, agnostic models are coupled with inversion algorithms in order to infer atmospheric properties directly from…
We describe and demonstrate a new energy harvesting technology based on a microfluidic realization of a Wimshurst influence machine. The prototype device converts the mechanical energy of a pressure-driven flow into electrical energy, using…
Sub-Neptunes occupy an intriguing region of planetary mass-radius space, where theoretical models of interior structure predict that they could be water-rich, where water is in steam and supercritical state. Such planets are expected to…