The Future of Space Travel
The Future of Space Travel
It has been almost 56 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing with the Saturn V rocket. In 1980, ASME designated the Saturn V as a historic mechanical engineering landmark, recognizing “The largest rocket engines built at the time of the first U.S. missions to the moon” and marking its contributions to the evolution of mechanical engineering.
As the field of space travel evolves, ASME remains committed to supporting the future of engineering. What once felt like science fiction is quickly becoming our next engineering challenge.
Photo: Nasa
On April 14, 2025, the Blue Origin NS-31 spaceflight launched a group of women into space, including bioastronautics researcher Amanda Nguyen, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, and several celebrities. Blue Origin NS-31 is not the first tourism spaceflight to take off— the global market for space tourism, currently valued at $1.3 billion, is projected to reach $6.7 billion by 2030.
The rise of space tourism draws questions of cost and sustainability. This is where engineering innovation becomes crucial. Reusable space planes come with a number of design challenges—challenges that engineers are uniquely positioned to solve.
One such challenge is the need to contend with thermal extremes. Temperatures in orbit are extraordinarily cold, while the heat experienced during reentry can reach as much as 7,000 °F. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in collaboration with Sierra Space Corporation of Louisville, Colo., recently unveiled an advance in thermal protection technology.
The new silicon-carbide-based thermal protection system (TPS) is designed to withstand the intense heat and mechanical stress of repeated atmospheric re-entries, a critical factor for reusable spacecraft. This material could help reduce the cost of building reusable spacecraft.
If you would like to learn more about the future of space travel, I encourage you to listen to my interview with aerospace engineer Joan Melendez-Misner. We discussed her work at NASA, as well as where she thinks the field is heading:
As engineers, we have some big questions to tackle: How do we make spaceflight safer and more sustainable? How do we support life far from Earth? What kind of world do we want to build beyond our own? I for one am looking forward to where this journey takes us.
Thomas Costabile, P.E.
ASME Executive Director/CEO
As the field of space travel evolves, ASME remains committed to supporting the future of engineering. What once felt like science fiction is quickly becoming our next engineering challenge.
Photo: Nasa
The rise of space tourism draws questions of cost and sustainability. This is where engineering innovation becomes crucial. Reusable space planes come with a number of design challenges—challenges that engineers are uniquely positioned to solve.
One such challenge is the need to contend with thermal extremes. Temperatures in orbit are extraordinarily cold, while the heat experienced during reentry can reach as much as 7,000 °F. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in collaboration with Sierra Space Corporation of Louisville, Colo., recently unveiled an advance in thermal protection technology.
The new silicon-carbide-based thermal protection system (TPS) is designed to withstand the intense heat and mechanical stress of repeated atmospheric re-entries, a critical factor for reusable spacecraft. This material could help reduce the cost of building reusable spacecraft.
If you would like to learn more about the future of space travel, I encourage you to listen to my interview with aerospace engineer Joan Melendez-Misner. We discussed her work at NASA, as well as where she thinks the field is heading:
As engineers, we have some big questions to tackle: How do we make spaceflight safer and more sustainable? How do we support life far from Earth? What kind of world do we want to build beyond our own? I for one am looking forward to where this journey takes us.
With regards,
Thomas Costabile, P.E.
ASME Executive Director/CEO
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