what attributes would aspace craft have in 2100?

Question

what propulsion,weopondry,life support,communication,crew#
do you think a 2100 space craft would have and how far could it go?

This is for a science fiction book so it doesnt have to be
perfect.just guess

Answer 1

It would probably be a whole lot like the Apollo or Orion Spacecraft. The craft would be improved and they would be larger but we wouldn't have very many improvements in just 100 years unless someone makes a fundamental break through in physics and discovers a better reaction drive or a FTL (faster than light drive).

Currently, manned spacecraft have a crew support module, with a service module that supplies most of the needs. It still uses a fuel and oxidizer reaction thruster for propulsion. Fuel Cells will be carried to create extra water, electricity and oxygen and it probably will use next generation solar cells which will be more efficient.

Since NASA is giving up on the Space Shuttle we will probably lose the capability to make them; just like we did with the Apollo. That is why the Orion project is a complete redesign. If we are lucky we may have second generation shuttles. Private enterprise may pick up the slack and improve the existing one. A lot of ships will be launched into orbit and then meet up at a space station to board a space only spacecraft.

Von Braum original idea (dating from post WW2) was to build a space station first and use that to stage Mars and Moon missions from. We could create a space bus that would haul cargo between a space station and the moon. It would use lunar Landers to ferry that cargo down; probably with de-orbital pods that would use a balloon landing capability so they can just be dropped and an actual spacecraft to ferry down the passengers and delicate cargo.

We might be using Ion Drive engines if we have a Mars base, but with lack of water it is more likely that we will visit Mars once or twice and return. There will be no manned missions to the inner planets and a manned mission to the Jovian moons would be difficult. The ion engine works best over a long period of time so a moon and back trip wouldn't be long enough. We might try an put a base on the asteroid Ceres, but it is more likely we will try to catch a Near Earth Orbiting asteroid and put it into an L-5 orbit where it won't threaten the earth. We can then mine the asteroid and hollow it out to live in.

The fusion reactor has some promise to it and we are getting close to creating one; but making one that is space portable will be very difficult.

The hardest part of any space journey is the flight from the ground to orbit. If we can get around that then we can vastly decrease the cost of space travel and make it practical. Their are a few ways to do it; use a magnetic slingshot which would subject the crew to a huge G load so it wouldn't be good for manned flights, but great for cargo. A laser lifter could be a spaceship that leaves most of its engine on the ground. The spacecraft would get lift from a laser that vaporizes the air underneath the spaceship. That would create a vacuum with the incoming air providing upward propulsion. This is an experimental idea and hasn't been tried in anything except for small scale testing.

The space bridge would be a great idea if we can find a material that is strong enough to hold itself up. Carbon Nano Tubes are promising, but joining them is difficult. Creating a stable ribbon that reaches into low orbit would be hard to do. Even synthetic diamond wouldn't be tough enough to resist the pull and weight of the material itself. Spider silk is promising, but except for genetically altering goats to give 20% spider silk in there milk little research has been done on trying to create anything out of spider silk.

The space bridge would require a huge counterweight in orbit. We could try and launch that mass a piece at a time and create a large space station or we could try to capture an asteroid and put it into an earth orbit. That would be a little dangerous if our orbital mechanics are off and we don't include reaction thrusters on it to keep it in a stable orbit, but the most difficult task would be catapulting it in the first place. The best way would be to send a mission to the asteroid when it is far away and use a method to alter the course just a little over a long period of time. There are a lot of NEO (Near Earth Orbiting) Objects and they will be the only new source of raw materials. So the drive to get to them may be enough to force private business to try.

If you are looking for a major change in space craft design and power systems you won’t find it. We will have orbital habitats, but the dangers of living permanently in space are too great to allow that so we will have similar versions of the current International Space Station. Private enterprise will be the principle supplier for space stations and any rich country will have their own space station or a major piece of a larger project. There will be many missions to and from earth orbit, but unless we do something radical the same method we used on Friendship 7 and to launch the Russian Soyuz will still be the major systems. The White Knight Launching system with a ferry vehicle to carry the spacecraft into orbit is an excellent system, cheaper and more reliable than rockets; but Burt Rutan holds the patent on that idea and will so for a while. Other nations may try to copy his design, but any business that does so faces a law suit that they will most likely lose.

What you would like to see would be a fusion reactor, an ion drive for runs to Mars or the asteroid zone, but I don’t see those systems coming into operation for another 200 years. The Russians are using the same thruster rocket they have been using for most of their manned space program. The US couldn’t create a Saturn 5 rocket if they wanted to, without a major research project. The Orion craft will be launched using old space shuttle boosters; nothing new there. The Orion will be an improved spacecraft compared to the Apollo spacecraft; the astronauts’ digital watch’s will have more computing power than the entire Apollo spacecraft did. But, you won’t see any major changes. Just like if you were suddenly transported from the 1950s you would be looking for flying cars and quite disappointed in not seeing them. The cars have gotten more aerodynamic, but the gross changes are only minor ones. A modern car is much more complex and powerful; with more safety features, but they are basically the same car. I predict the same thing will happen with spacecraft.

Laser would work pretty well in space, but then so would automatic cannon. They take less electricity to operate and the technology has been in use for many years. A bullet may not sound exotic or exciting, but most will be able to outrun a manned spacecraft and do a lot of damage if they hit; more damage than a laser.

The chances of orbiting a nuclear reactor will be pretty slim; no nation would trust another nation to not turn it into a weapon or a weapons factory. There will always be places for mad scientists in the space program and in any scientific program at that. I discussed a fusion reactor and the only other reactor we have is a thermonuclear reactor that uses a radioactive material to provide heat to operate the spacecraft via thermocouples. The US doesn’t want to discuss it but most of their major space probes use that power source, and often they use plutonium. In fact there have been attempts to stage protests at launching weapons grade nuclear material into space; but none have gotten much notice and they have all been sent far away. The idea of having one in earth orbit; one that could possibly fall or be stolen wouldn’t be a very popular idea.

Answer 2

antimatter reactors for energy.
life support- artificial gravity, recycled water, recycled air, artificial food synthesized from the sunlight. (like plants)

Crew- Captain, vice captain, biologist, chemist,(to see if somewhere can sustain life), admiral, chewbacca, some jedis, crew, aliens??

weaponry-lasers, bombs? maybe our philosophy wuold have developed further and made us pacifists.

Answer 3

nuclear reactor engines. 1 master bedroom.

Crew= Mad scientist

Answer 4

at the rate were goin it will have a 52" plasma TV!

Answer 5

it will run on nuclear/saltwater powerplant
cheers!