Salotti_2011abstr
Copyright © 2011 by Jean Marc Salotti. Published by the Mars Society with permission.
Manned mission to Mars:
Concept 2-4-2
Jean Marc Salotti
Laboratoire Intˇgration
du Matˇriau au Syst¸me
Bordeaux, France
ABSTRACT
We
propose a simplified scenario for a manned mission to Mars. In the last
reference mission from NASA, it is shown than the main risks and uncertainties
are linked to the mass that has to be sent to LEO (IMLEO) and to
the mass of the spacecraft that have to land on Mars. In order to minimize
IMLEO, the simplest idea is to reduce the crew to only two astronauts. In
order to minimize the mass that has to land on Mars, the key idea is to land 2
spacecraft and to leave the return vehicle in Mars orbit. What remains in orbit is only a small propulsion system, a
small Earth reentry capsule and containers with consumables for the
return. Such constraints suggest a different approach. Instead of
preparing the return vehicle before the manned spacecraft is launched from
Earth like in Mars Direct or Mars semi-direct, ISRU systems and
astronauts are sent to Mars at the same time and the mission is fully
duplicated as it was proposed by Von Braun for security reasons. The name of
the scenario is 2-4-2 because there are 2 astronauts in each spacecraft, there
are 4 astronauts on Mars who can collaborate and they are 2 once again in each
spacecraft for the return. Moreover, in case of emergency, there are always 2
astronauts ready to help the 2 others, even during the transit phases (2 for
2). We show that this scenario optimizes the use of habitable modules and
propulsion systems. The habitable modules are indeed sized for 2 and they are
occupied during all the mission and the same
propulsion system is used for landing and for take-off
from Mars. All in all, using only chemical propulsion systems, we show
that IMLEO in our scenario is much smaller than the one
from NASA reference architecture. Such a scenario could be implemented
very soon with minimum R&D.