Technology needs for lunar and Mars space transfer systems

What is it about?

Human exploration missions encompass a wide range of potential objectives and scenarios. Early ones are as conservative as human visits to the Moon of a few days up to perhaps 45 days; later in the next century they may grow to industrial projects on the Moon and settlement of Mars. The challenge of human missions to Mars is much greater than for the Moon. Trips to Mars cover hundreds of times more distance through space and take roughly a hundred times as long as lunar trips. Since humans must live aboard their spacecraft for one to three years on a trip to Mars, the design requirements for transfer crew modules are like a space station for long-duration habitation, rather than like the Apollo Command Module, which was suitable for a week or two. Selection of space transportation technology and operating modes is influenced by activity level much more than by architecture or strategy, because transportation basically responds to "how much" and "how often". Accordingly, three levels, "minimum," "full science menu", and "industrialization and settlement", were defined in this paper to assess sensitivity of transportation preferences. The analyses were performed prior to release of the Synthesis report; activity levels described do not represent implementations of Synthesis architectures. The three levels are summarized in Figure 1. The minimum was just enough to meet the President's objectives; "return to the Moon to stay" was interpreted as permanent facilities but not permanent human presence. The full science program satisfies most of the published science objectives for lunar and Mars exploration. The maximum program aimed for industrialization of the Moon, for return of practical benefits to Earth, and for the beginnings of settlement of Mars. The range of activity levels, as measured by people and materiel delivered to planetary surfaces, was about a factor of 10.

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