In this thesis, I develop the conceptual design of the spacecraft required for human-Lunar and human-Mars exploration. The requirements for these vehicles are derived in the context of the NASA Concept Exploration & Refinement project. Similarly, the concepts generated are intended to operate within the transportation architecture developed during this project. Therefore, this thesis serves as a vehicle-level design exercise. Four vehicle architecture options are synthesized by combining system concepts in a logical fashion. These four options are evaluated on several performance criteria, and one vehicle design concept is selected for detailed modeling. In addition, I investigate the conceptual design of the airlock system, as a system-level design exercise. This research project culminated in a set of vehicle concept designs and design recommendations for NASA.
Design of spacecraft for exploration of the Moon and Mars
2006
145 pages , 6970942 byte , 6977049 byte
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-125).
Theses
Electronic Resource
English
Spacecraft Life Support System Design Guidelines for Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars
SAE Technical Papers | 2005
|Spacecraft Life Support System Design Guidelines for Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2005
|Human exploration - Moon/Mars mission
NTRS | 1990
|Spacecraft exploration of Mars
NTRS | 1992
|Small spacecraft exploration of the Moon
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2004
|