But as these landmark missions take their first steps, their successors are already lining up. Over the last decade, NASA<\/a><\/span>\u2019<\/span>s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme has funded research into novel space tech that encourages inventors to take advantage of new technologies and break away from the traditional ideas of what a spacecraft should be. <\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, an ever<\/span>\u2013<\/span>increasing number of new spacefaring nations and private companies are taking chances on new ideas. With results ranging from the innovative to the outright bizarre, <\/span>here\u00a0<\/span>we\u00a0<\/span>take\u00a0<\/span>a look at what the spacecraft of tomorrow might look like.<\/span><\/p>\n A new epoch of spaceflight is upon us. Here, we explore the next generation of spacecraft that will take us to parts of our Solar System<\/a> that we\u2019ve never seen before.<\/p>\n On 19 April 2021, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Scout became the first spacecraft to make a controlled powered flight<\/a> on the surface of another planet. The drone-like rotorcraft hitched a ride\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>board Perseverance, NASA<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s most-advanced rover that<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s armed with heavy robot arms, instruments and power-hungry ovens that can bake and analyse soil samples. Conversely<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Ingenuity, which only has a mass of 1.8kg, carries\u00a0<\/span>just<\/span>\u00a0two cameras.<\/span><\/p>\n For w<\/span>hat it lacked in instrumentation, Ingenuity made up for in range. While Perseverance had to spend weeks\u00a0<\/span>skirting\u00a0<\/span>around\u00a0<\/span>the outside of\u00a0<\/span>a boulder<\/span>\u2013<\/span>strewn field, Ingenuity flew over it in minutes and was able to scout the path ahead. With such proof of potential, there<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s no doubt that while Ingenuity might have been the first such flight, it won<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t be the last.<\/span><\/p>\n Even before Ingenuity launched, NASA was already planning on sending its successor, Dragonfly<\/a>, to Saturn<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s moon, Titan<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0in 2027. Th<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>m<\/span>oon is simultaneously incredibly familiar and totally alien. Like our planet, it has a nitrogen<\/span>\u2013<\/span>rich atmosphere at an Earth-like<\/span>\u00a0pressure,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>while\u00a0<\/span>the terrain is shaped by mountains and liquid lakes. Only it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s -180\u00baC. Instead of rock, the mountains are ice, and the lakes are filled not with water, but liquid methane and ethane. Hydrocarbons such as these are thought to have formed the building blocks of life here on Earth. Could they have done so on Titan as well?<\/span><\/p>\n Read more about Saturn:<\/strong><\/p>\n To have a chance of answering these questions, Dragonfly will have significantly more scientific power than its Martian predecessor. The increased lift of its eight rotors<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0combined with Titan<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s thick atmosphere and low gravity of 1.4m\/s2<\/span>, m<\/span>eans<\/span>\u00a0that<\/span>\u00a0Dragonfly can have a mass of 450kg \u2013 enough to carry a heavy radio thermal generator and still have a significant science payload. <\/span><\/p>\n Dragonfly will have spectrometers to analyse both the atmosphere and soil, as well as meteorological sensors and the all-important cameras. These will help\u00a0<\/span>the craft to<\/span>\u00a0navigate as it flies\u00a0<\/span>for more than\u00a0<\/span>175km across\u00a0<\/span>TItan\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>surface \u2013 double the distance of all the Martian rovers combined \u2013 in just 2.7 years. The images they send back will be the best ever taken of the moon<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s surface, and will finally reveal what<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s hiding among the hills and lakes of Titan.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2020, a group led by Cardiff University announced the potential discovery of phosphine on Venus<\/a>. Here on Earth, the gas is given off by acid<\/span>\u2013<\/span>loving bacteria, so could similar microorganisms be living in the sulphuric clouds of Venus? Unfortunately, a flurry of follow<\/span>\u2013<\/span>up observations\u00a0<\/span>have\u00a0<\/span>cast doubt as to whether phosphine is actually present, but it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s undeniably put Venus back at the top of people<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s planetary wish<\/span>l<\/span>ists.<\/span><\/p>\n Venus<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s clouds\u00a0<\/span>sit at an altitude of<\/span>\u00a0around 50 to 70km. Though Venus<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s surface pressure is 92 times that of Earth, at\u00a0<\/span>an altitude of\u00a0<\/span>50km it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s around one atmosphere<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 the same pressure as sea level on Earth \u2013\u00a0<\/span>meaning a helium<\/span>\u2013<\/span>filled balloon could easily carry a payload of scientific instruments through the air. In fact, in 1985, the Soviet Union did just that when they dropped Vega 1 and 2 onto the planet<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s nightside. For two days, they were thrown around the turbulent skies, before the 250km\/h wind pushed them round to the dayside and they burst in the\u00a0<\/span>heat of the Sun<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Read more about Venus:<\/strong><\/p>\n Since then, engineers have been searching for ways to better navigate the stormy skies of Venus. A rotorcraft would be ripped apart, but a new concept from the Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids (CRASH) Lab at the University at Buffalo<\/span>, New York,<\/span>\u00a0could<\/span>\u00a0offer\u00a0<\/span>a solution. In 2022,\u00a0<\/span>the lab was\u00a0<\/span>given funding<\/span>\u00a0by NIAC<\/span>\u00a0to develop the Bioinspired Ray for Extreme Environments and Zonal Exploration (BREEZE), an inflatable spacecraft inspired by a manta ray.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>BREEZE<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s articulated wings are based on the ray musculoskeletal system<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0using an intertwined, redundant actuation network that helps reduce the chance of total system failure,<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0says\u00a0<\/span>Dr Javid Bayandor<\/span><\/a>, who worked on the project. This would gently twist the wings of the craft allowing it to manoeuvre along the air currents like a ray rides ocean currents.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>The bioinspired propulsion provides the light BREEZE flier with unique controllability<\/span>. [This is]<\/span>\u00a0unlike balloon concepts, the flight paths of which are determined purely by wind direction, or conventional propulsion with large fuel consumption rates,<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0says Bayandor.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>BREEZE is one of the first concepts offered to circumnavigate Venus from within its atmosphere and survive, making measurements on the dark<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>side of the planet.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Circling the planet once every four to six days, it would be able to track weather patterns, map out the surface using radar and perhaps even sniff out biomarkers (including the elusive phosphine). As it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s inflatable<\/span>, it\u2019s highly compact, so\u00a0<\/span>two or three could launch\u00a0<\/span>from the same entry vehicle\u00a0<\/span>at once, meaning a squadron of BREEZEs could one day float\u00a0<\/span>along the winds of Venus.<\/span><\/p>\n J<\/span>upiter<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s moon Europa hides a secret under its icy crust \u2013 a liquid water ocean. Could there be alien life swimming in the deepest depths of this quiet moon? Europa already has two upcoming spacecraft bound towards it \u2013 ESA<\/span>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2022\/10\/dragonfly-spacecraft-on-Titan-45e40c7.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C442"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Searching the skies<\/h2>\n
If you want to cover a lot of ground, the best way is to take to the sky<\/h4>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2022\/10\/BREEZE-spacecraft-d095814.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C350"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Cruising on stormy skies<\/h2>\n
Inflatable manta rays could scull through the acid clouds of Venus<\/h4>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2022\/10\/SWIM-probe-177c778.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C407"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>In deep, dark depths<\/h2>\n
Piercing through the crust of Europa to explore its hidden ocean<\/h4>\n