In 2006, NASA plans to send in space the first prototypes of a 'black box' named Re-entry Breakup Recorder (REBR). These black boxes, conceptually similar to commercial aviation black boxes, are expendable and weigh about one kilogram according to Small Times. These micro spacecrafts will be attached to a main spacecraft and will separate from it when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. The nanosensors, which will weigh only a few grams, will collect data, such as temperature or pressure and other data, and validate thermal protection systems for human missions. NASA plans to put similar nanosensors in the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), NASA's future replacement for the shuttle. And if everything goes fine, nanosensors will be used for explorations of the moon and might go to Mars around 2025. Read more...
Here is the introduction from Small Times.
A joint project of NASA and El Segundo, Calif.-based Aerospace Corp. will develop a "black box" that uses nanosensors weighing a few grams. The nanosensors will be used to gather data about flight vehicles re-entering the earth's atmosphere from space. After the perilous high-speed part of re-entry, the black box will "phone home" and relay data by satellite prior to impact with land or sea. The black box will be especially useful in the event of what NASA scientists call an "uncontrolled re-entry."
And here are some of the reasons why NASA is looking at nanotechnology.
"The black box is a companion spacecraft that is attached to the main spacecraft and there could be more than one," said Dan Rasky, a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. "It's designed with a heat shield to be able to survive a re-entry and take data of interest at re-entry, such as vehicle position or temperature."
Nanotechnology offers advantages critical to next-generation space travel, Rasky said. "The challenges we have with a small spacecraft are power and mass," Rasky explained. Nanotechnology solutions are lightweight and low power. "There are a number of nanotechnology uses involving batteries with greatly improved performance and duty cycles."
Below is a diagram of the Reentry Breakup Recorder, also known as the Black box. (Credit: The Aerospace Corporation)
And below is another diagram showing the packaging concept of the Black box. (Credit: The Aerospace Corporation)
You'll find larger images of these diagrams (in Powerpoint format) on this page.
At the end of April 2005, NASA issued a press release which contains many more details, "Micro Spacecraft to Pave the Way for Future Space Exploration."
NASA and its partner [, The Aerospace Corporation,] recently agreed to develop the first 'black box' for spacecraft and test a prototype of this device that will be based on technology that Aerospace has been working on for several years. The 'black box' is actually a very small 'micro spacecraft' that would be attached to larger space vehicles. A joint program between NASA and Aerospace will develop the black box micro spacecraft, among many other low-cost, miniature space systems, under the terms of a NASA-Aerospace agreement.
NASA also looks at the future of these micro spacecrafts.
Scientists additionally envision using micro spacecraft to do systematic studies of Mars, and sample returns from the moon, Mercury and Venus. Micro spacecraft may also conduct "on location" studies of Venus. Because they can be less expensive than other, more complicated spacecraft, a great number of micro probes could be sent to many more places in the solar system to gather data, researchers suggest. The gas giant planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune offer countless opportunities for micro spacecraft to study 'volatiles' - water vapor, ammonia, various isotopes and winds.
Small Times, as well as NASA, are using extensively the word 'nanotechnology.' But here is the first paragraph of this news release from the Aerospace Corporation from February 2005.
The Aerospace Corporation and NASA Ames Research Center have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the development of new small, lightweight, low-cost reentry systems and related nano and pico spacecraft technologies, including miniature sensor systems.
Pico spacecraft technologies? WOW!!!
Anyway, without more details from NASA, it seems to me that these nanosensors belong more to the microscale than to the nanoscale dimension.
Sources: Richard Acello, Small Times, May 23, 2005; and various websites
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