Design of a Multipurpose Mars Lander

What is it about?

The Mars Society had organized the Red Eagle 2018 International Student Design Competition for university students worldwide as part of the Mars Society’s Annual Convention, and our team’s design won 5th place in the competition. The design objective was a multi-purpose Mars lander that was capable of delivering a ten metric ton payload to the surface of Mars. The payload of the Mars lander could be up to thirty Mars Exploration Rovers, a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) or a hab containing human crew. The Mars lander had to be designed, built, and launched no later than the year 2026. The overall Mars mission also had to be carried out as cheaply, safely and simply as possible. All the other design variables were left open for the purpose of the competition. It was assumed as an initial condition that the Mars lander was approaching Mars from interplanetary space with a hyperbolic velocity of 3 km/s. The Mars lander then did an aero-capture into the orbit of Mars and subsequently landed. The Mars lander utilized various technologies for deceleration and landing. These technologies included thrusters, aero-shells, landing gear and parachutes. However, at no point was the payload subjected to ‘g’ loads that would be excessive for a human crew in case the Mars lander was to be used for a manned mission to Mars.

Featured Image

Photo by Planet Volumes on Unsplash

Photo by Planet Volumes on Unsplash

Why is it important?

A multi-purpose Mars lander would make Mars missions more feasible. For example, a single mission could land a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and also two habs (one with crew, and an extra hab loaded with supplies and other equipment) to the Martian surface. After using their habs for housing and lab work during an extended stay, the crew could depart in the MAV to rendezvous with an Earth return vehicle (ERV, basically a hab with a bailout capsule) pre-positioned in the orbit of Mars. This ERV would then initialize a small chemical stage to send itself on a return trajectory towards the Earth. As the ERV approaches the Earth, the human crew would bail out in the capsule. Hence a single manned mission to Mars could be conducted with 4 separate launches (crew hab, supply hab, MAV and ERV) of a single class of launch vehicle. Similarly, the delivery of multiple robotic rovers (all equipped with high resolution cameras) on Mars can be used to create a true Virtual Reality environment of the Martian terrain, which can be observed and explored by people back on Earth. The scientific research community can also utilize these rovers to carry a variety of instruments, experiments, etc.

Perspectives