Exploring outer space is an adventure that still needs a lot of preparation by the human race. There are not many ways to power a spacecraft with humans that would be able to survive the harsh realities of space, but a NASA funded prototype craft that is steam powered may actually be able to explore these regions on it’s own forever.

The space craft called the WINE is being developed in partnership with NASA and a California based robotics firm called Honeybee Robotics. It can propel itself from asteroid to asteroid by extracting water to fuel it’s ongoing journey. Potentially making it able to explore outer space for unlimited years.

The first trials of the craft were conducted in December 2018 in the lab using simulated asteroid material. The WINE was able to mine the soil, make rocket propellant and launch itself on a jet stream extracted from the material. This can be game changing for how humankind explores the universe.

The science project is in it’s infancy and a number of changes can be made before it’s actually ready to handle outer space. However, the potential for this craft is truly amazing in scope. It could hop from the Moon to the asteroid belt, to Mars and onward using small hops all the way to Pluto.