A nuclear powered Cycler mission to Mars
- Paper number
IAC-06-D2.8.-C3.5.-D3.5.-C4.7.07
- Author
Dr. Elvina Finzi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Coauthor
Mrs. Amalia Ercoli Finzi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Petri Giovanni Hanninen, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Year
2006
- Abstract
As space exploration advances into the 21st century, the development of a sustained human presence on Mars is a reasonable goal in the foreseeable future. As a manned base will be built on the red planet resupply missions will be realized. In this study, Argo project, a Earth-Mars cycler study, intended to resupply this human base, is undertaken. Cycler orbits are resonant or near resonant trajectories between celestial bodies. Cyclers can be designed to enable sustained interplanetary transportation through regular encounters with Earth and the target planet or between Earth and the Moon. The transfer time between the two celestial bodies is typically less than 6 months. At each planet flyby, smaller vehicles dubbed Taxis rendezvous with the cycler vehicles to transport astronauts and goods to and from each planet. Two missions have been designed, one using an impulsive engine called impulsive mission and a second one using nuclear electric propulsion, called electric mission. The Argo spacecraft is composed by a Cargo and a Taxi. In order to transport safely the goods on board the Cargo spacecraft is a big infrastructure travelling on an heliocentric orbit encountering Earth and Mars. At each encounter with Earth a smaller probe, the Taxi, joins the cargo base, once the Cargo reaches Mars the Taxi lands on Mars surface and carries the supplies to the Martian base. Food, plants, power systems and technical support are Argo payload. As this load could be a form of life, it must be stored in a controlled environment (pressure, temperature, radiation). Survival of plants should be assured for at lest one year in deep space, when the probe is linked to the Cargo, and 15 days when it’s travelling from Earth to the Cargo or from the Cargo to Mars. The following requirements for the cycler mission design have to be assumed: i) maximum frequency in reaching the red planet obtainable ii) survivability of the payload during the journey iii) launch date between 2020 and 2031, iv) operability at least for 15 years, v) only European or Russian considered launchers. The power and propulsion subsystems are represented by a nuclear reactor, an HTGR developed for this mission and by ion engines for the electric mission and by a bimodal nuclear thermal reactor for the impulsive mission. The resulting systems appear viable and of a size comparable to the other cargo already developed. On the basis of this preliminary analysis no item seems to be unsolvable even if both mission seem challenging.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-D2.8.-C3.5.-D3.5.-C4.7.07.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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