Zubrin_1994abstr

Copyright © 1994 by Martin Marietta Corp. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics with permission as AIAA-94-2844.

Published to the Marspapers archive with permission.

 

REPORT ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF A MARS IN-SITU

PROPELLANT PRODUCTION UNIT

 

Robert Zubrin, Steve Price, Larry Mason, and Larry Clark

Martin Marietta Astronautics

PO Box 179

Denver, CO 80201

ABSTRACT

 

The following is a report on a project to build and operate a chemical synthesis unit representing the core of a machine capable of manufacturing rocket propellant primarily out of indigenous materials freely available on the surface of the planet Mars. The project, which was carried out at Martin Marietta astronautics in Denver, Colorado between October 1993 and January 1994, was funded by the New Initiatives Office of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.