Update to Mars Ascent Vehicle Design for Human Exploration

Polsgrove, Tara P ; Percy, Thomas K ; Rucker, Michelle ; Thomas, Herbert D

关键词: PROPULSION SYSTEM PERFORMANCE;    PROPULSION SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS;    MARS MISSIONS;    DESIGN ANALYSIS;    ASCENT;    SPACECRAFT PROPULSION;    TRANSPORTATION;    MARS SURFACE;   

RP-ID  :  MSFC-E-DAA-TN62438

学科分类：航空航天科学

美国|英语

来源: NASA Technical Reports Server

【 摘 要 】

Astronauts on a mission to Mars will require several vehicles working together to get to Mars orbit, descend to the surface of Mars, support them while they’re there, and return them to Earth. The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) transports the crew off the surface of Mars to a waiting Earth return vehicle in Mars orbit and is a particularly influential part of the mission architecture because it sets performance requirements for the lander and in-space transportation vehicles. With this in mind, efforts have been made to minimize the MAV mass, and its impact on the other vehicles. A minimal mass MAV design using methane and in situ generated oxygen propellants was presented in 2015. Since that time, refinements have been made in most subsystems to incorporate findings from ongoing research into key technologies, improved understanding of environments and further analysis of design options. This paper presents an overview of the current MAV reference design used in NASA’s human Mars mission studies, and includes a description of the operations, configuration, subsystem design, and a vehicle mass summary.