July 2009 “We are all . children of this universe. Not just Earth, or Mars, or this System, but the whole grand fireworks. And if we are interested in Mars at all, it is only because we wonder over our past and worry terribly about our possible future.” — Ray Bradbury, 'Mars and the Mind of Man,' 1973 Cover Art: An artist’s concept depicting one of many potential Mars exploration strategies. In this approach, the strengths of combining a central habitat with small pressurized rovers that could extend the exploration range of the crew from the outpost are assessed. Rawlings 2007. NASA/SP–2009–566 Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 Mars Architecture Steering Group NASA Headquarters Bret G. Drake, editor NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas July 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The individuals listed in the appendix assisted in the generation of the concepts as well as the descriptions, images, and data described in this report. Specific contributions to this document were provided by Dave Beaty, Stan Borowski, Bob Cataldo, John Charles, Cassie Conley, Doug Craig, Bret Drake, John Elliot, Chad Edwards, Walt Engelund, Dean Eppler, Stewart Feldman, Jim Garvin, Steve Hoffman, Jeff Jones, Frank Jordan, Sheri Klug, Joel Levine, Jack Mulqueen, Gary Noreen, Hoppy Price, Shawn Quinn, Jerry Sanders, Jim Schier, Lisa Simonsen, George Tahu, and Abhi Tripathi. Available from: NASA Center for AeroSpace Information National Technical Information Service 7115 Standard Drive 5285 Port Royal Road Hanover, MD 21076-1320 Springfield, VA 22161 Phone: 301-621-0390 or 703-605-6000 Fax: 301-621-0134 This report is also available in electronic form at http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/ CONTENTS 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 2 Design Reference Architecture 5.0 Summary ................................................................... 2 2.1 Surface Reference Mission ................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Communication and Navigation ....................................................................................... 8 3 Goals and Objectives ........................................................................................................ 10 3.1 Mars Planetary Science Objectives (Goals I–III) ............................................................. 10 3.1.1 Taking advantage of the unique attributes of humans in scientific exploration ................. 10 3.1.2 Scientific objectives for Mars: present and future ............................................................. 11 3.1.3 Geology scientific objectives for the initial human exploration of Mars ........................... 13 3.1.4 Geophysics scientific objectives for the initial human exploration of Mars ...................... 13 3.1.5 Atmosphere/climate scientific objectives for the initial human exploration of Mars ........ 14 3.1.6 Biology/life scientific objectives for the initial human exploration of Mars ..................... 16 3.1.7 The search for extant life ................................................................................................... 16 3.1.8 The search for past life ...................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Objectives Related to Preparation for Sustained Human Presence (Goal IV+) ............... 17 3.2.1 Sustainability-related objectives for the initial human missions to Mars .......................... 18 3.3 Objectives Related to Other Classes of Science (Goal V) ................................................. 18 3.3.1 Heliophysics of Mars' environment ................................................................................... 19 3.3.2 Space weather ................................................................................................................... 19 3.3.3 Laser ranging for astrophysics........................................................................................... 19 3.4 Goals and Objectives Summary Implications ................................................................... 19 4 Transportation Systems ..................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Interplanetary Trajectory and Mission Analysis ............................................................... 21 4.2 Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle ................................................................................................ 23 4.3 In-Space Transportation: Nuclear Thermal Rocket Reference ......................................... 25 4.4 In-Space Transportation: Chemical/Aerocapture Option ................................................. 27 4.4.1 Trans-Mars injection module ............................................................................................ 28 4.4.2 Mars orbit insertion modules (cargo and crew missions) .................................................. 28 4.4.3 Trans-Earth injection module ............................................................................................ 28 4.4.4 Low-Earth orbit assembly reboost module ........................................................................ 28 4.5 Launch Processing ............................................................................................................ 29 4.6 Crew Exploration Vehicle/Earth Return Vehicle .............................................................. 30 4.7 Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing ................................................................................... 31 4.8 Mars Transit Habitat ........................................................................................................ 34 5 Surface Systems ................................................................................................................ 36 5.1 Surface Habitation Systems .............................................................................................. 37 5.2 Surface Mobility Systems .................................................................................................. 38 5.2.1 Surface transportation: unpressurized and pressurized rovers ........................................... 39 5.3 In-Situ Resource Utilization .............................................................................................. 40 5.4 Surface Power Systems ..................................................................................................... 41 5.4.1 Stationary power ............................................................................................................... 41 5.4.2 Mobile power .................................................................................................................... 42 6 Architectural Assessments ................................................................................................. 44 6.1 Figures of Merit ................................................................................................................ 45 iii 6.1.1 Safety and mission success ................................................................................................ 45 6.1.2 Effectiveness ..................................................................................................................... 46 6.1.3 Affordability ...................................................................................................................... 46 6.2 Decision 1: Mission Type .................................................................................................. 47 6.2.1 Mission-class scientific position........................................................................................ 48 6.2.2 Crew health and performance assessment ......................................................................... 49 6.2.3 Risk and cost assessments ................................................................................................. 49 6.2.4 Mission type recommendation .......................................................................................... 50 6.3 Decision 2: All-up vs. Pre-deploy Cargo .......................................................................... 51 6.3.1 Pre-deploy option .............................................................................................................. 51 6.3.2 All-up mission option ........................................................................................................ 52 6.3.3 Cargo mission mode recommendation .............................................................................. 52 6.4 Decision 3: Aerocapture vs. Propulsive Mars Orbit Capture of Cargo ........................... 53 6.4.1 Overview of aerocapture ................................................................................................... 53 6.4.2 System-level trades ........................................................................................................... 54 6.4.3 Aerocapture for the reference payload .............................................................................. 54 6.4.4 Aerocapture vs. propulsive capture comparison................................................................ 55 6.4.5 Aerocapture recommendation ........................................................................................... 55 6.5 Decision 4: In-Situ Resource Utilization for Mars Ascent ................................................ 56 6.5.1 In-situ