Space ships of the future: projects, problems, prospects

Humanity masters outer spacemanned ships for more than half a century. Alas, during this time, it is, figuratively speaking, not far swam away. If we compare the Universe with the ocean, we just wander at the edge of the surf ankle-deep in water. Once, however, they decided to swim a little deeper (lunar program "Apollo"), and since then we live with memories of this event as the highest achievement.

Until now, spacecraft mainly servetransport delivery to orbital stations and back to Earth. The maximum duration of an autonomous flight, attainable by the reusable shuttle of the Space Shuttle, is only 30 days, and theoretically. But, perhaps, the future spacecraft will become much more perfect and versatile?

Already the lunar expeditions "Apollo" clearlyshowed that the requirements for future spacecraft may differ dramatically from the tasks for the "space taxi". The Apollo lunar cabin had very little in common with streamlined ships and was not designed to fly in a planetary atmosphere. Some insight into how the future spacecraft will look like, photos of American astronauts give more than visual.

The most serious factor that holds backan episodic human study of the Solar System, not to mention the organization of scientific bases on planets and their satellites, - radiation. Problems even arise with moon missions lasting a week or less. A year and a half flight to Mars, which seemed about to take place, is moving further and further away. Studies with automata have shown lethal radiation levels for humans throughout the entire interplanetary flight route. So the future spacecraft will inevitably acquire a serious anti-radiation protection in combination with special medical and biological measures for the crew.

It is clear that the faster he gets to the placedestination is better. But for fast flight you need powerful engines. And for them, in turn, high-performance fuel, which would not take up much space. Therefore, chemical propulsion engines will give way to nuclear ones in the near future. If scientists succeed in taming antimatter, that is, converting mass into light, the future spacecraft will acquire photon engines. In this case, we will discuss the achievement of relativistic speeds and interstellar expeditions.

Another major obstacle to masteringman of the universe will be a long-term maintenance of his life. In just one day, the human body consumes a lot of oxygen, water and food, releases solid and liquid wastes, exhales carbon dioxide. It’s pointless to take a full supply of oxygen and products with you because of their enormous weight. The problem is solved by the onboard closed life support system. However, so far all the experiments on this topic have not been crowned with success. And without closed LSS, future spaceships flying through space are unthinkable for years; pictures of artists, of course, are amazing, but do not reflect the real situation.

So, all the projects of spaceships and starships arestill far from real incarnation. And mankind will have to accept the study of the universe by astronauts under the cover of the Earth’s magnetic field and receiving information from automated probes. But this, of course, is temporary. Astronautics does not stand still, and indirect signs show that a big breakthrough is maturing in this field of human activity. So, probably, the spacecraft of the future will be built and will make the first flights already in the XXI century.