A dynamic and passionate engineering graduate with master’s in aerospace from Concordia University with 3 years of experience gathered in industry while managing resources, testing prototypes, developing software, conducting test surveys, conceptualizing, and optimizing mechanical components for projects having a budget more than $125,000.Core proficiencies include Project management and development, Product Lifecycle Analysis, Budgeting, Quality Testing Assurance, Computer Aided Design (CAD) designing, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), CNC Machining, Geometrical Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD
Over the years, with advance in technology, the mankind has begun to explore the galaxy deeply. T... more Over the years, with advance in technology, the mankind has begun to explore the galaxy deeply. The main purpose behind this exploration is the search of a hospitable environment like earth and the search of life's existence outside Earth. Jupiter's moon Europa has most favourable conditions in terms of the life support as its atmosphere contains high amount of molecular oxygen and a confirm ionosphere created by charged particles from Jupiter's magnetosphere, providing solid evidence of a habitable atmosphere. Being the moon of Jupiter, Europa is at a considerably high distance from the Earth (628,300,000Km). As a result, with the existing technology of propulsion systems it will take huge amount of time to reach and back. Also the manned spacecraft will need enough resources during that amount of time, which has left us with the option to have more efficient propulsion system that can achieve very high speeds in order to reduce timespan of journey. The nuclear propulsion system is the most ideal choice for this problem because nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear thermal propulsion can generate huge amount of specific impulse (5000s-15000s) and has large power density as compared to conventional chemical propellant systems. The higher speed also reduces the risk of the effect of excess galactic cosmic radiation on the crew which is the prime concern in manned space mission. The paper deals with the comparative study of nuclear propulsion system over conventional propulsion system for the long distance space travel from Earth to Europa. The advance nuclear systems such as the Nuclear Thermal Rockets and the Gaseous Core Reactor have a capability of producing very high amount of specific impulse and it will increase substantially in the near future which will lead to fast, efficient and affordable interplanetary travel. It will be more useful in terms of health safety of future astronauts. One of the crucial challenges in implementing this technique in space propulsion is the structural integrity of spacecraft to sustain that much amount of speed. Also the design of the reactor needs to be optimized in order to implant the system into the spacecraft. But in the long run this propulsion technique may turn out to be the best system for deep space exploration and interstellar travel.
In any of the application, endo-atmospheric or exo-atmospheric, batteries play a very important r... more In any of the application, endo-atmospheric or exo-atmospheric, batteries play a very important role in providing power to the vehicle. In spacecraft batteries are essential to power up various on board instruments. Charged batteries sent from the earth have some specific endurance limit depending upon the on-board devices it is powering. They cannot be used for multiple re-entries and deep space travel. Some other power source is required to charge them. The paper describes the idea of generation of power by harnessing the energy from the shock waves during re-entry to charge the batteries. The basic idea is to use the piezoelectric effect to convert the pressure energy to electrical energy to charge the batteries. While the atmospheric re-entry, a large pressure difference is created across the detached bow shock. There is huge temperature and pressure rise across the shock. These rises in temperature and pressure are forms of energy which are wasted throughout the re-entry. This pressure energy can be reused to produce electricity. Compression corners are produced when the flow passes over a diverging surface and it produces a huge amount of pressure rise across the shock. The idea is to introduce a bulkhead inside the spacecraft. The bulkhead will be made up of piezoelectric transducers. This bulkhead will be positioned where the compression corners are produced. The pressure across the compression corners is high enough to change the geometry of the spacecraft if proper measures are not taken. This much high pressure is capable of producing good amount of electricity. This method is even applicable in places where the intensity of sunlight is relatively low. This idea is only applicable in the celestial bodies which have thick atmosphere. The major challenge would be to implement this idea in places with relatively thin atmosphere with same effectiveness. A huge amount of heat energy is produced across the shock during re-entry which is wasted as well. The challenge would be to harness this energy for space travel. I
Metals have become one of the basic needs of life. Mankind is using these natural resources at su... more Metals have become one of the basic needs of life. Mankind is using these natural resources at such a rate that it is predicted that in about 50-60 years, all these resources in the earth will be depleted. To tackle this situation mankind is looking into outer space for getting some resources. In this respect, asteroids are seen as a rich source of metallic minerals. It has been discovered that some rare metals are also found on them which are not present in earth. The idea is to capture an M-type asteroid from the asteroid belt and shifting it to an orbit around the moon so that it can be mined for its minerals. The composition of metallic asteroids is mainly refinery grade iron, nickel and cobalt with some amounts of rare metals like gold, platinum etc. The asteroids rotate about its axis while revolving around the sun. Ion thrusters will be employed at certain inclination to provide anti torque to the asteroid so to stop the rotation of the asteroid. A spacecraft will be deployed in front of the asteroid which will generate a magnetic wave. Four thrusters will be deployed on the four sides of the asteroid and will act as a barrier for the magnetic _eld. The barrier will either absorb the wave or reflect the wave back. The system will act as a pyramid in which the asteroid will be enclosed. The minerals in the asteroid mostly being magnetic by nature will get magnetise by the magnetic wave and the asteroid as a whole will get attracted towards the wave generator. The spacecraft will move forward carrying the asteroid with it. As soon as the asteroid reaches near the earth, the magnetic wave will be stopped. The four thrusters would than reattach with the asteroid and push it until it gets settled in an orbit around the moon. Initial development of this method is quite expensive but in long run the method is technologically and economically feasible as some of the mined minerals may be priceless. This method can only be employed for M type asteroids. Further studies are required to capture other class asteroids using this method.
After deeply exploring our planet, mankind is looking towards the outer space to find the origins... more After deeply exploring our planet, mankind is looking towards the outer space to find the origins of the universe, to find any extra-terrestrial beings and also to find another habitable place in the solar system other than earth. Out of these areas of study, the topic of creating a space settlement has been most prominent among scientists. The rapid consumption of natural resources on earth, population boom and environmental damage has caused the scientists to search for celestial bodies with hospitable conditions. For life to thrive in a celestial body, the primary and most important constituent is oxygen. Other than earth very few bodies in the solar system have oxygen in their atmosphere and that too in very negligible amounts. But many of the bodies have water on their surface. This compound can be used to produce oxygen artificially. Out of the many celestial bodies in the solar system, Saturn's moon Titan has shown a good prospect of establishing a future space settlement. Titan has large amounts of water in the form of ice and also as liquid deep inside the surface. To generate oxygen, radiolysis technique has to be employed to break the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. A nuclear fission reactor will be set up on Titan. This reactor will radiate emissions which will in turn break the water molecule to produce oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen after reaching the upper reaches of the atmosphere would combine with nitrogen in the presence of lightning to form oxides of nitrogen. The oxides of nitrogen being greenhouse gases would trap the heat inside the Titan's atmosphere. And the alternative to this (as existence of lightening is not confirmed) can be using the energy of nuclear fission to heat up the methane lakes and then setting up a methane cycle to increase the temperature of Titan. The temperature rise would result in melting of ice and formation of water bodies on the surface of Titan. Due to the presence of complex organic molecules on Titan, the temperature rise and presence of water and oxygen would lead to the generation of simple living organisms. The presence of magnetosphere does not allow the harmful solar radiation to enter Titan's atmosphere. Under these conditions, human civilization can thrive easily. These settlements can be used for further deep space missions and colonization of other celestial bodies. To accomplish this mission successfully, the surface features, atmosphere and characteristics of Titan has to be studied more deeply. Another challenge would be to supply materials for the creation of settlement.
Electric Power is one of the supreme aspects required in present era of time for humans to perfor... more Electric Power is one of the supreme aspects required in present era of time for humans to perform their activities and its scarcity would lead to discontinuing of many ventures aiding advancement of society. The natural resources such as coal, wood are either on the edge of their extinction or have been discontinued relating their shriveling up emissions that degrade atmosphere. The present generation depends upon tidal energy, solar energy and other sources to generate electric power encompassing high running cost which remorsefully upturns taxes on society and as well as perturbs social, cultural and economic characteristics of society. Indeed the establishment of these plants have varied geographical restrains involving high capital investment. Generating electricity in space using the solar power is one of the routine solution to cope up this radically approaching issue of society. Cultivation of ambient solar energy present in space in order to generate electricity in space itself would help to curtail the running cost of power generation systems and would support to abridge society taxes. This paper describes one such system to implement this notion employing a constellation of satellites installed with super capacitors, occupied to store electrical energy in them. The technology of electricity generation using solar panel would be implemented to generate electricity on the satellites that would be accumulated in the super capacitors. Microwaves as concluded by the NASA's Gold Stone Key experiment (1975) relating transmission of electric energy over a long distance using microwaves, have been used in this method to transmit electric energy generated in space onto earth. The paper discusses in brief about the various technical, scientific and economic segments involved in operation of this method. The various marginal issues such as deployment, satellite configuration and design have also been conferred in this paper. Implementation of this notion would advance the space industry in the field of technology and would aid it to uptake future missions relating space exploration with reduced intricacy.
The looming dearth of the earthy materials has surged up as an imperative issue demanding an urge... more The looming dearth of the earthy materials has surged up as an imperative issue demanding an urgent relief. The Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA) have been discovered to be an indispensable aid to this dispute of society. Since asteroids are composed of volatiles, minerals, hydrocarbons and their isotopes, which can be subjugated with the employment of present technology, hard rock drilling mechanism, these assist to be one of the most impeccable solution being approachable and economically feasible. This paper discusses about the mining of NEA, briefing about the technical and scientific methods employed to reach and mine an asteroid and also mandates about the approach involved to deliver the extracted materials back to earth using a solar powered mining rover. Asteroids being micro-gravity planetoids raise a high degree of intricacy in extracting them. Targeting mineral rich NEA a solar powered mining rover, which has been made to adhere to the surface of asteroid by burrowing anti-rotational screws, would mine the asteroid to dig out the minerals and would accumulate them in matrix chambers, made of high thermal and radiation resistant lightweight materials possessing high strength. Mechanical approach has been gabbed about in order to drill the asteroid and excavate the resources and hence forth a push mechanism has been briefed that would allow it to transport the materials back onto earth. The extraction of such affluent minerals which are metals such as iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), silicon (Si), silver (Au), platinum (Pt) and many more and as well elite gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxygen (O 2), nitrogen (N 2) and many more from NEAs would help the society to reestablish the minerals that will be on brink of extinction in coming decade so as to provide the future peers with valuable goods. These minerals are vital resources of propellants, semiconductors, industrial metals and lively gases which could be used to produce goods that are economically very treasured and are very much required in space industry and manufacturing industry, thus expanding the economic boundaries of society. The paper also lays down the important aspects involved in deployment of the rover, landing at the asteroid and mission objectives relating mining. A general approach has been employed to accomplish the mining of an asteroid so as to curtail the complexity involved in space missions keeping in mind the economic margins and scientific competencies of present technology.
Over the years, with advance in technology, the mankind has begun to explore the galaxy deeply. T... more Over the years, with advance in technology, the mankind has begun to explore the galaxy deeply. The main purpose behind this exploration is the search of a hospitable environment like earth and the search of life's existence outside Earth. Jupiter's moon Europa has most favourable conditions in terms of the life support as its atmosphere contains high amount of molecular oxygen and a confirm ionosphere created by charged particles from Jupiter's magnetosphere, providing solid evidence of a habitable atmosphere. Being the moon of Jupiter, Europa is at a considerably high distance from the Earth (628,300,000Km). As a result, with the existing technology of propulsion systems it will take huge amount of time to reach and back. Also the manned spacecraft will need enough resources during that amount of time, which has left us with the option to have more efficient propulsion system that can achieve very high speeds in order to reduce timespan of journey. The nuclear propulsion system is the most ideal choice for this problem because nuclear electric propulsion and nuclear thermal propulsion can generate huge amount of specific impulse (5000s-15000s) and has large power density as compared to conventional chemical propellant systems. The higher speed also reduces the risk of the effect of excess galactic cosmic radiation on the crew which is the prime concern in manned space mission. The paper deals with the comparative study of nuclear propulsion system over conventional propulsion system for the long distance space travel from Earth to Europa. The advance nuclear systems such as the Nuclear Thermal Rockets and the Gaseous Core Reactor have a capability of producing very high amount of specific impulse and it will increase substantially in the near future which will lead to fast, efficient and affordable interplanetary travel. It will be more useful in terms of health safety of future astronauts. One of the crucial challenges in implementing this technique in space propulsion is the structural integrity of spacecraft to sustain that much amount of speed. Also the design of the reactor needs to be optimized in order to implant the system into the spacecraft. But in the long run this propulsion technique may turn out to be the best system for deep space exploration and interstellar travel.
In any of the application, endo-atmospheric or exo-atmospheric, batteries play a very important r... more In any of the application, endo-atmospheric or exo-atmospheric, batteries play a very important role in providing power to the vehicle. In spacecraft batteries are essential to power up various on board instruments. Charged batteries sent from the earth have some specific endurance limit depending upon the on-board devices it is powering. They cannot be used for multiple re-entries and deep space travel. Some other power source is required to charge them. The paper describes the idea of generation of power by harnessing the energy from the shock waves during re-entry to charge the batteries. The basic idea is to use the piezoelectric effect to convert the pressure energy to electrical energy to charge the batteries. While the atmospheric re-entry, a large pressure difference is created across the detached bow shock. There is huge temperature and pressure rise across the shock. These rises in temperature and pressure are forms of energy which are wasted throughout the re-entry. This pressure energy can be reused to produce electricity. Compression corners are produced when the flow passes over a diverging surface and it produces a huge amount of pressure rise across the shock. The idea is to introduce a bulkhead inside the spacecraft. The bulkhead will be made up of piezoelectric transducers. This bulkhead will be positioned where the compression corners are produced. The pressure across the compression corners is high enough to change the geometry of the spacecraft if proper measures are not taken. This much high pressure is capable of producing good amount of electricity. This method is even applicable in places where the intensity of sunlight is relatively low. This idea is only applicable in the celestial bodies which have thick atmosphere. The major challenge would be to implement this idea in places with relatively thin atmosphere with same effectiveness. A huge amount of heat energy is produced across the shock during re-entry which is wasted as well. The challenge would be to harness this energy for space travel. I
Metals have become one of the basic needs of life. Mankind is using these natural resources at su... more Metals have become one of the basic needs of life. Mankind is using these natural resources at such a rate that it is predicted that in about 50-60 years, all these resources in the earth will be depleted. To tackle this situation mankind is looking into outer space for getting some resources. In this respect, asteroids are seen as a rich source of metallic minerals. It has been discovered that some rare metals are also found on them which are not present in earth. The idea is to capture an M-type asteroid from the asteroid belt and shifting it to an orbit around the moon so that it can be mined for its minerals. The composition of metallic asteroids is mainly refinery grade iron, nickel and cobalt with some amounts of rare metals like gold, platinum etc. The asteroids rotate about its axis while revolving around the sun. Ion thrusters will be employed at certain inclination to provide anti torque to the asteroid so to stop the rotation of the asteroid. A spacecraft will be deployed in front of the asteroid which will generate a magnetic wave. Four thrusters will be deployed on the four sides of the asteroid and will act as a barrier for the magnetic _eld. The barrier will either absorb the wave or reflect the wave back. The system will act as a pyramid in which the asteroid will be enclosed. The minerals in the asteroid mostly being magnetic by nature will get magnetise by the magnetic wave and the asteroid as a whole will get attracted towards the wave generator. The spacecraft will move forward carrying the asteroid with it. As soon as the asteroid reaches near the earth, the magnetic wave will be stopped. The four thrusters would than reattach with the asteroid and push it until it gets settled in an orbit around the moon. Initial development of this method is quite expensive but in long run the method is technologically and economically feasible as some of the mined minerals may be priceless. This method can only be employed for M type asteroids. Further studies are required to capture other class asteroids using this method.
After deeply exploring our planet, mankind is looking towards the outer space to find the origins... more After deeply exploring our planet, mankind is looking towards the outer space to find the origins of the universe, to find any extra-terrestrial beings and also to find another habitable place in the solar system other than earth. Out of these areas of study, the topic of creating a space settlement has been most prominent among scientists. The rapid consumption of natural resources on earth, population boom and environmental damage has caused the scientists to search for celestial bodies with hospitable conditions. For life to thrive in a celestial body, the primary and most important constituent is oxygen. Other than earth very few bodies in the solar system have oxygen in their atmosphere and that too in very negligible amounts. But many of the bodies have water on their surface. This compound can be used to produce oxygen artificially. Out of the many celestial bodies in the solar system, Saturn's moon Titan has shown a good prospect of establishing a future space settlement. Titan has large amounts of water in the form of ice and also as liquid deep inside the surface. To generate oxygen, radiolysis technique has to be employed to break the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. A nuclear fission reactor will be set up on Titan. This reactor will radiate emissions which will in turn break the water molecule to produce oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen after reaching the upper reaches of the atmosphere would combine with nitrogen in the presence of lightning to form oxides of nitrogen. The oxides of nitrogen being greenhouse gases would trap the heat inside the Titan's atmosphere. And the alternative to this (as existence of lightening is not confirmed) can be using the energy of nuclear fission to heat up the methane lakes and then setting up a methane cycle to increase the temperature of Titan. The temperature rise would result in melting of ice and formation of water bodies on the surface of Titan. Due to the presence of complex organic molecules on Titan, the temperature rise and presence of water and oxygen would lead to the generation of simple living organisms. The presence of magnetosphere does not allow the harmful solar radiation to enter Titan's atmosphere. Under these conditions, human civilization can thrive easily. These settlements can be used for further deep space missions and colonization of other celestial bodies. To accomplish this mission successfully, the surface features, atmosphere and characteristics of Titan has to be studied more deeply. Another challenge would be to supply materials for the creation of settlement.
Electric Power is one of the supreme aspects required in present era of time for humans to perfor... more Electric Power is one of the supreme aspects required in present era of time for humans to perform their activities and its scarcity would lead to discontinuing of many ventures aiding advancement of society. The natural resources such as coal, wood are either on the edge of their extinction or have been discontinued relating their shriveling up emissions that degrade atmosphere. The present generation depends upon tidal energy, solar energy and other sources to generate electric power encompassing high running cost which remorsefully upturns taxes on society and as well as perturbs social, cultural and economic characteristics of society. Indeed the establishment of these plants have varied geographical restrains involving high capital investment. Generating electricity in space using the solar power is one of the routine solution to cope up this radically approaching issue of society. Cultivation of ambient solar energy present in space in order to generate electricity in space itself would help to curtail the running cost of power generation systems and would support to abridge society taxes. This paper describes one such system to implement this notion employing a constellation of satellites installed with super capacitors, occupied to store electrical energy in them. The technology of electricity generation using solar panel would be implemented to generate electricity on the satellites that would be accumulated in the super capacitors. Microwaves as concluded by the NASA's Gold Stone Key experiment (1975) relating transmission of electric energy over a long distance using microwaves, have been used in this method to transmit electric energy generated in space onto earth. The paper discusses in brief about the various technical, scientific and economic segments involved in operation of this method. The various marginal issues such as deployment, satellite configuration and design have also been conferred in this paper. Implementation of this notion would advance the space industry in the field of technology and would aid it to uptake future missions relating space exploration with reduced intricacy.
The looming dearth of the earthy materials has surged up as an imperative issue demanding an urge... more The looming dearth of the earthy materials has surged up as an imperative issue demanding an urgent relief. The Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA) have been discovered to be an indispensable aid to this dispute of society. Since asteroids are composed of volatiles, minerals, hydrocarbons and their isotopes, which can be subjugated with the employment of present technology, hard rock drilling mechanism, these assist to be one of the most impeccable solution being approachable and economically feasible. This paper discusses about the mining of NEA, briefing about the technical and scientific methods employed to reach and mine an asteroid and also mandates about the approach involved to deliver the extracted materials back to earth using a solar powered mining rover. Asteroids being micro-gravity planetoids raise a high degree of intricacy in extracting them. Targeting mineral rich NEA a solar powered mining rover, which has been made to adhere to the surface of asteroid by burrowing anti-rotational screws, would mine the asteroid to dig out the minerals and would accumulate them in matrix chambers, made of high thermal and radiation resistant lightweight materials possessing high strength. Mechanical approach has been gabbed about in order to drill the asteroid and excavate the resources and hence forth a push mechanism has been briefed that would allow it to transport the materials back onto earth. The extraction of such affluent minerals which are metals such as iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), silicon (Si), silver (Au), platinum (Pt) and many more and as well elite gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxygen (O 2), nitrogen (N 2) and many more from NEAs would help the society to reestablish the minerals that will be on brink of extinction in coming decade so as to provide the future peers with valuable goods. These minerals are vital resources of propellants, semiconductors, industrial metals and lively gases which could be used to produce goods that are economically very treasured and are very much required in space industry and manufacturing industry, thus expanding the economic boundaries of society. The paper also lays down the important aspects involved in deployment of the rover, landing at the asteroid and mission objectives relating mining. A general approach has been employed to accomplish the mining of an asteroid so as to curtail the complexity involved in space missions keeping in mind the economic margins and scientific competencies of present technology.
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Papers by Sharad Chopra
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