Spacecraft: the facts
All the spacecraft in the series were designed in a collaboration
between the production's art department, specialist consultant Dr David
Baker and engineers at EADS Astrium, a world-class spacecraft manufacturer.
Commenting on the authenticity of the technology used, series consultant
Dr David Baker explains: "The spacecraft and landing vehicles depicted
throughout the series adhere to strict principles of spacecraft engineering.
"They are based on genuine designs and technologies currently
being researched and developed at Nasa's field centre studies on advanced
missions."
Adrian Russell, Head of Future Concepts at EADS Astrium, adds: "We
were extremely pleased to be invited to participate in this exciting
programme.
"The spacecraft were an exhilarating and challenging design task
for us - ensuring they were based on credible materials and engineering
concepts, whilst still being capable of completing the mission that
the story demanded."
One of the more innovative technologies featured in the series is the
magnetic shield Pegasus generates to protect the crew from intense radiation
environments around the Sun and Jupiter.
Magnetic fields like this are already being used to conduct experiments,
for example, in areas where electrical forces are deflected for scientific
and safety purposes.
The generation of artificial magnetospheres for use on spacecraft is
something that is being further researched at the University of Washington
in Seattle, who were also consulted by the programme-makers.
Their use on Pegasus, therefore, is an extension of existing scientific
practices, but on a grander scale.
Pegasus: the mothership
Length: 1.3 km
Weight: just over 400 tonnes
Aeroshield is constructed from steel, carbon fibre and beryllium
Powered by a mighty nuclear fusion reactor with a core temperature of
100 million degrees that explosively vaporises the chilled liquid hydrogen
propellant
Can withstand temperatures of over 5,000 degrees centigrade
The main engine can generate over 158 million horse power of acceleration
Top engine speed of 288,000 kmph, although Pegasus is designed to withstand
speeds of a million kmph which it's hurled to as it passes the Sun
Has the same internal space as 10 jumbo jets
Carries 57 tonnes of food, 80 tonnes of oxygen
During the 2,246 days of the mission, it will travel 8.3 billion miles
Pegasus is named after the winged horse from Greek mythology and the
constellation where extra-solar planets were first discovered
Orpheus: Venus lander
Height: 12 metres
Weight: 35 tonnes
Constructed from toughened titanium alloy to withstand high-speed entry
through sulphuric acid clouds
Designed to withstand 900 tonnes of air pressure per square metre of
its surface and temperatures of 500 degrees centigrade (hot enough to
melt lead and zinc)
Launch engine - a toroidal aerospike - capable of reaching the Venus
escape velocity of over 10km/second in just under eight minutes
Only one window cut from a single diamond to withstand the strongly
acidic upper atmosphere
Drag Chute made of acid-resistant zirconium alloy
Glide Chute made of 30-metre wide zirconium and carbon-fibre canopy
Orpheus is named after the poet and musician of Greek myth who visited
the underworld to try to rescue his wife
Ares: the Mars lander
Height: 25 metres
Weight: 45 tonnes
Capable of sustaining a crew of three on the surface of Mars for up
to a month
Launch Engine - toroidal aerospike - capable of reaching the Mars escape
velocity of five km/second within five minutes
Three windows made of toughened high-strength polycarbonate
Carries electrically powered Martian Rover vehicle for surface exploration
Radiation shielding - inner core storm shelter formed from multi-laminate
polythene
Glide Chute is rip-resistant triple laminate nylon and is larger than
a football pitch to enable it to glide in the low air pressure
Named after Ares, the Greek god of war and the equivalent of the Roman
God Mars
Hermes: the Io (Jupiter's most volcanic
moon) lander
Height: 10 metres
Mass: 15 tonnes (2.7 tonnes on Io)
Carries enough air and water supplies to sustain an astronaut for 36
hours
Designed entirely to shield occupant from the harshest effects of Jupiter's
radiation belts
Special properties: radiation-hardened electronics with physical and
active radiation shielding guaranteed to protect up to levels of 2000
RADs
Two triangular windows made of aluminised 12-layer glass-polythene laminate
with 10cm thick hydrogen-rich radiation shield shutters
Five legs which are only strong enough to support it on the 1/6th gravity
environment on surface of Io
Powerful flood lights to illuminate the landing site during an Ionian
night
Named after Hermes, the Greek messenger God
Clyde: the Pluto lander
Height: 15 metres
Weight: 28 tonnes (1.87 tonnes on Pluto)
Special properties: ultra-thin titanium skin with thick aerogel on the
interior to insulate against numbing chill of the planet
Powerful floodlights to illuminate the telescope construction site during
the 26-hour Plutonian nights
Capable of sustaining a crew of two for up to three weeks
Powered by a hatbox-sized nuclear reactor set up on the surface and
powered up remotely. This also supplies the power to the telescopes
once the mission has left
Named after the American astronomer who discovered Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh
Messier: the comet lander
Height: 12 metres
Mass: 29 tonnes
Rocket Engine: multiple motors positioned above and below the spacecraft
to push it towards the ultra-low gravity environment of the comet's
surface
Rocket-propelled harpoon tethers to capture the landing site on the
comet with heated tips to penetrate the deeply frozen comet floor
Chilled landing pads to stop the legs melting the surface and then refreezing
and getting stuck to it
Bulletproof 'Whipple-shield', a multi-laminated impact shield nose canopy
to protect the spacecraft from the high-speed debris cloud impacts,
which could be encountered around a comet
Multi-laminate self-repairing fuselage to offer extra protection against
cometary debris
Ultra-maneuverable lander capable of the delicate rendezvous it needs
to make with the comet
Named after the French astronomer who surveyed many comets during the
18th century
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