Enabling Interplanetary Transport
Developing a modern spacecraft for human and cargo transport, interplentary and interstellar.
Astrum is an interplanetary-class spacecraft proposed by Sol Space, powered by conventional spacecraft technologies (combustion engines, ion thrusters, solar energy, and similar). Astrum is designed to remain operational for a period of months, and eventually years, during its coast phases to other celestial bodies in our solar system, such as Mars, the Moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and eventually beyond.
To mitigate the effects of microgravity, such as bone and muscle loss, as well as general discomfort, Astrum would eventually have its own artifical gravity systems, using centrifugal forces.
Astrum would feature various docking ports, to dock to tankers, space stations, other spacecraft, and more, for in-orbit propellant refilling, crew transfer, and similar.
It is also planned for Astrum to feature its own mechanisms for generating fuel and propellant on the surface of Mars, using the Sabatier process, and by mining water ice, to create Methane and Oxygen (Astrum’s propellant). This is possible because Mars has plenty of CO2 in its atmosphere, and plenty of water ice to be mined on its surface.
Astrum vehicles will be able to make complex physics, astrophysics, and spacecraft trajectory calculations on its own, using its onboard computing cluster powered by x86_64 and ARM processors, without needing to utilize computers at ground stations.
Astrum is currently in the planning stage, and more information is to come soon.
Astrum Reusability
Reusability is a fundamental part of Astrum. It is, or at least should be, an core part of all modern space launch vehicles.
Provided is a video, using KSP2, of how Astrum’s reusable first-stage booster would behave.
Spaceflight is necessary for our continued existence
It is best that we colonize the solar system ASAP – otherwise we risk awaiting a catastrophic event to destroy humanity’s only place of existence: Earth.