If funding is available, and for NASA planning purposes, the Human Mars Mission (HMM) is baselined to take place during the 2011 and 2013/2014 Mars opportunities. Two cargo flights will leave for Mars during the first opportunity, one to Mars orbit and the second to the surface, in preparation for the crew during the following opportunity. Each trans-Mars injection (TMI) stack will consist of a cargo / payload portion (currently coming in at between 65 and 78 mt) and a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) stage (currently coming in at between 69 and 77 mt loaded with propellant) for performing the departure (Delta)Vs to get on to the appropriate Mars trajectories. Three 66,700 N thrust NTP engines comprise the TMI stage for each stack and perform a (Delta)V ringing from 3580 to 3890 m/s is required by the trajectory (with gravity losses and various performance margins to this for the total TMI (Delta)V performed). This paper will discuss the current application of this NTP stage to a Human Mars mission, and project what implications a nuclear trans-Earth injection (TEI) stage as well as a bi-modal NTP stage could mean to a human visit to Mars.


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    Title :

    Human Mars Mission: Transportation Assessment


    Contributors:
    L. Kos (author)

    Publication date :

    1998


    Size :

    6 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English






    The Human Mars Mission: Transportation Assessment

    Kos, L. / University of New Mexico; School of Engineering; Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998


    The Human Mars Mission: Transportation assessment

    Kos, Larry | American Institute of Physics | 1998