There is a growing opinion that within two decades initial human missions to Mars are affordable under plausible budget scenarios, with sustained international participation, and --- especially --- without requiring those first missions to achieve a burdensome number of goals. In response to this view, a group of experts from the Mars exploration stakeholder communities attended the "Affording Mars" workshop at George Washington University in December 2013. Participants reviewed scenarios for proposed affordable and sustainable human and robotic exploration of Mars, the role of the International Space Station as the essential early step toward humans to Mars, possible "bridge" or "transition" missions in the 2020s, key capabilities required for affordable initial missions, international partnerships, and usable definitions of affordability and sustainability. We report here the findings, observations, and recommendations that were agreed to at that workshop. In the context of affordable early missions to Mars, we also discuss the recent report of the National Research Council on human space flight and a pair of recent scenarios that appear to promise reduced costs.
Affordable Exploration of Mars: Recommendations from a Community Workshop
2014
9 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Astronomy & Astrophysics , Extraterrestrial Exploration , Business & Economics , Administration & Management , Mars exploration , Cost analysis , Economics , Cost reduction , Conferences , Recommendations , International space station , Surveys , International cooperation , Space commercialization , Mission planning , Government/industry relations
Affordable Human Exploration of Mars: Recommendations of a Community Workshop (AIAA 2014-4332)
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2014
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