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.


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    Title :

    Design of spacecraft for exploration of the Moon and Mars


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2006


    Size :

    145 pages , 6970942 byte , 6977049 byte


    Remarks:

    Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-125).


    Type of media :

    Theses


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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