Analysis and Design of Cargo Transport Architectures for Manned Mars Missions using Electric Propulsion

Paper number

IAC-08.D2.3.6

Author

Mr. Jörn Spurmann, DLR GSOC, Germany

Coauthor

Mr. Uwe Derz, RWTH Aachen, Germany

Coauthor

Mr. Michael Quatmann, RWTH Aachen, Germany

Coauthor

Mr. Sebastian Willems, RWTH Aachen, Germany

Year

2008

Abstract

Manned Mars missions are in the focus of all space agencies' current plans, as NASA's Mars Exploration Program or ESA's Aurora Programme. For such missions, the transportation of cargo from Earth to the Martian surface is a major aspect of the mission design. 

In this paper the idea of electrically propelled cargo transport on energy-efficient trajectories and corresponding Mars entry, descent, and landing is analyzed. The use of two different launch orbits, below and above the inner Van Allen Belt, and a trade-off between reusable and expandable transfer stages are examined. In both scenarios the transfer stages spiral out of the Earth’s sphere of influence, accelerate towards Mars and detach the payload shortly before direct atmospheric entry. At this point the reusable transfer stage will perform a Mars swing-by and return to an Earth orbit. Different thrusters are regarded for both spacecrafts, according to thrust, efficiency and specific impulse. Furthermore, the power system is preliminarily designed and mass budgets for other major spacecraft subsystems are estimated. The required systems for direct Mars entry, descent, and landing - including inflatable heatshields, super- and subsonic parachutes and chemical rockets - are designed. As reference scenario a Hohmann transfer with direct entry from interplanetary flight at Mars is chosen.

The low thrust trajectory optimization software InTrance, provided by the German Aerospace Center DLR, is used for the trajectory design. Utilizing evolutionary neurocontrol, neither initial guesses nor prior detailed knowledge on the trajectory are necessary. However the results are feasible enough for mission concept studies. Entry, descent, and landing system design is performed by an in-house developed tool capable of semi-ballistic entry trajectory calculation and subsystem optimization.

Abstract document

IAC-08.D2.3.6.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.D2.3.6.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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