Title :
The InterPlanetary Superhighway and the Origins Program
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
The origin of the universe and of life itself have been central to human inquiries since the dawn of consciousness. To develop and use the technologies to answer these timeless and profound questions is the mission of NASA\´s Origins Program. The newly discovered "InterPlanetary Superhighway" (IPS) by Lo and Ross (1997, 2001) is a significant and cost-effective technology that can contribute to both Origins\´ science and technology goals. IPS is a vast network of tunnels providing ultra-low energy transport throughout the entire Solar System, generated by the Lagrangian points of all of the planets and satellites. IPS contributes to Origins by providing: mission-enabling trajectories, human servicing of Origins missions, a new model of the Solar System, new techniques for detecting exo-planets, an important role in the development of life, and other scientific and engineering connections that impact the Origins Program. IPS is a critical technology for the Origins Program.
Keywords :
celestial mechanics; space vehicles; InterPlanetary Superhighway; Lagrangian points; NASA Origins Program; Solar System; cost-effective technology; exoplanets detection; mission-enabling trajectories; planets; ultra-low energy transport; Earth; Humans; Lagrangian functions; Moon; Orbits; Planets; Satellites; Solar power generation; Solar system; Space technology;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference Proceedings, 2002. IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7231-X
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2002.1035332