Related papers: World ships: Feasibility and Rationale
As part of a national scientific network 'Pathways to Habitability' the formation of planets and the delivery of water onto these planets is a key question as water is essential for the development of life. In the first part of the paper we…
The miniaturization of electronics, sensors and actuators has enabled the growing use of CubeSats and sub-20 kg spacecraft. Their reduced mass and volume has the potential to translate into significant reductions in required propellant and…
The existence of intelligent, interstellar traveling and colonising life is a key assumption behind the Fermi Paradox. Until recently, detecting signs of life elsewhere has been so technically challenging as to seem almost impossible.…
The integration of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) into global maritime operations represents a transformative shift in the shipping industry, promising enhanced safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. However, the widespread…
Close planetary flybys are frequently employed as a technique to place spacecraft on extreme solar system trajectories that would otherwise require much larger booster vehicles or may not even be feasible when relying solely on chemical…
Due to the unprecedented advances in satellite fabrication and deployment, innovative communications and networking technologies, ambitious space projects and programs, and the resurgence of interest in satellite networks, there is a need…
Whereas the Solar System has Mars and Europa as the best candidates for finding fossil/extant life as we know it - based on complex carbon compounds and liquid water - the 263 (non-pulsar) planetary systems around other stars as known at 15…
Autonomous ships (AS) used for cargo transport have gained a considerable amount of attention in recent years. They promise benefits such as reduced crew costs, increased safety and increased flexibility. This paper explores the effects of…
Autonomous agents are increasingly expected to operate in complex, dynamic, and uncertain environments, performing tasks such as manipulation, navigation, and decision-making. Achieving these capabilities requires agents to understand the…
In a multiverse setting, we expect to be situated in a universe that is exceptionally good at producing life. Though the conditions for what life needs to arise and thrive are currently unknown, many will be tested in the coming decades.…
In the rapidly evolving landscape of autonomous driving, the capability to accurately predict future events and assess their implications is paramount for both safety and efficiency, critically aiding the decision-making process. World…
Navigation satellites are a core component of navigation satellite based systems such as GPS, GLONASS and Galileo which provide location and timing information for a variety of uses. Such satellites are designed for operating on orbit to…
As autonomous systems are being developed in multiple industries it has been recognized that a phased approach is needed both for technical development and user acceptance. Partially in response, the automotive and aircraft industries have…
The serious study of such science fiction staples as wormholes, time travel, and the warp drive, as a means of understanding and constraining possible realistic solutions within General Relativity is reviewed.
We discuss the in-flight autonomous assembly as the means to build advanced planetary science payloads to explore the outer regions of the solar system. These payloads are robotically constructed from modular parts delivered by a group of…
Despite the increase in observational data on exoplanets, the processes that lead to the formation of planets are still not well understood. But thanks to the high number of known exoplanets, it is now possible to look at them as a…
The successes of previous and current Mars rovers have encouraged space agencies worldwide to pursue additional planetary exploration missions with more ambitious navigation goals. For example, NASA's planned Mars Sample Return mission will…
Since the launch of Kepler and Hubble more than a decade ago, we have come a long way in the quest to find a potentially habitable exoplanet. To date, we have already discovered more than 4000 exoplanets most of which are not suitable for…
More than 30 years have passed since the Voyager 2 fly-bys of Uranus and Neptune. I discuss a range of lessons learned from Voyager, broadly grouped into process, planning, and people. In terms of process, we must be open to new concepts:…
Interstellar objects (ISOs) are small bodies that can travel through our solar system from other star systems. When present in our solar system, they represent an opportunity to study the properties and origins of these objects, as well as…