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CNN Live At Daybreak

NASA Looks To Electromagnetic Power For Cheaper Launch Options

Aired January 03, 2002 - 05:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And in Australia, firefighters are trying to keep up with fast moving brush fires. A 37 mile long wall of flame chased hundreds of people out of the Blue Mountains near Sydney. In nearby Sussex Inlet, fires chased thousands of vacationers and residents out of their homes. They were forced to spend the night on the beach.

Those fires can be seen from space, as well. NASA released these satellite photos and you can see those distinctive plumes of smoke handing over Sydney. It's amazing.

NASA is hoping to use new technology to put more hardware in space.

As CNN's Fred Katayama reports, engineers are hoping to put the phrase "less is more" to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Spacecraft burn hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel to reach orbit. Now, NASA researchers are looking into a much cleaner, safer way of launching vehicles -- electromagnetic power. That would make launches a lot cheaper. NASA aims to drive down the cost of launches from $10,000 a pound to $1,000.

KENNETH HOUSE, NASA ROCKET SCIENTIST: Hopefully, we can reduce the weight of the fuel and oxidizer that's needed to be carried on board the vehicle and that will decrease the size of the vehicle. So hopefully we could get more payload into space with less of the fuel.

KATAYAMA: Magnetic levitation, or maglev for short, works like this. It uses opposing magnetic polarities to lift the metal sled carrying the plane off the tracks. For propulsion, the magnetic fields in the sled and in the rails repel each other, pushing the vehicle forward.

Last spring, NASA succeeded in magnetically launching this model plane, which accelerated to 60 miles an hour in less than half a second.

(on camera): NASA researchers have set lofty goals for this project, but they face a big bottleneck -- money. All they have is $30,000 for the next phase of this project. (voice-over): But NASA can't move onto the next stage immediately, but it welcomes competition.

JOHN COLE, REV. PROPULSION RES. PROJECTS: This is research, so we're interested in anybody somewhere pursuing this.

KATAYAMA: The Navy is. It plans to make its fleet largely electric, catapulting fighters from its carriers with magnetic propulsion instead of steam. Northrop Grumman and General Atomics of San Diego are the development contractors competing on the project.

JOHN RAWLS, V.P., ELECTROMAGNETIC SYSTEMS: A very high power propulsion system is needed to give the energy to launch a large aircraft in the length of a football field. That will be demonstrated in about two years.

KATAYAMA: Rockets are a bigger challenge. NASA's next hurdle, launching a rocket a 150 miles an hour on a track that can carry up to two tons. One of its research partners, George Scelzo of Chicago- based PRT, is more bullish than some NASA scientists, who say maglev launches may be 20 years away.

GEORGE SCELZO, PRT ADVANCED MAGLEV SYSTEMS: Within five years, you'll see aircraft being launched magnetically. Most of the technical challenges have been overcome. We are now in the scaling areas to match the aerodynamics of the launch with the spacecraft and the launcher.

KATAYAMA: But to propel their research onto the next stage, NASA and its partners will need to land millions more in money.

Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, Huntsville, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And on a related note, an out of this world interview is set for later this morning.

CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien will talk live with the crew of Expedition Four. They are orbiting the earth right now on board the international space station. That interview is coming up at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, six in the morning on the West Coast, so don't miss it. Stay right there.

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