IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission IAC-08-A5.1 OPEN INNOVATION FOR SPACE SYSTEMS – USING THE DEVELOPSPACE PLATFORM FOR DESIGNING A NEAR-TERM HUMAN MARS MISSION Presentation at the International Astronautical Congress 2008 Glasgow, September 29, 2008 Alar Kolk Wilfried Hofstetter Arthur Guest (speaker) Ryan McLinko Paul Wooster

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Why Humans to Mars? Mars is widely regarded as the ultimate destination for human space flight in the foreseeable future –Offers science opportunities related to planetology –Potential for finding and studying extraterrestrial life –Most importantly: Mars provides all the resources required for a long-term, mostly self-sufficient human presence away from Earth Rich history of feasibility studies for human Mars missions –E.g. von Braun 1953, Zubrin’s Mars Direct, NASA Mars DRM 1.0 / 3.0 –Tend to be focused on round-trip exploration missions (science focus) Major difference of work presented in this paper: –One-way missions: humans stay on Mars, are re-supplied –Minimalist approach with near-term feasibility: focus on survival –Open source engineering approach to architecture development Project goal: establish the feasibility of a human Mars “toehold” and identify areas where open-source engineering can make a difference

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Why Open Innovation? Space industry today is still largely based on major technical capabilities developed in 1950s and 1960s –E.g. propulsion systems Humans to Mars may require aggressive new capabilities in design, development and operations Open innovation: emerging development concept based on a collaborative knowledge management approach –Utilizes knowledge internal and external to dev. organization –May enable significant reduction of development cost and risk –May improve quality of design solution (review effect) The DevelopSpace Initiative, Inc., is one possible implementation of the open innovation concept as an open-engineering platform –Idea: foundations for human expansion into space built-up open-source –Tools (wiki, SVN, mailing lists) and libraries of publicly available reference literature and models for space-related open engineering projects

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Overview of the DevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Project Goal: establish the feasibility of a human Mars “toehold” and identify areas where open-source engineering can make a difference –Toehold initially would support 4 people indefinitely (with re-supply) –Could serve as the nucleus for a future mostly-self-sustained colony Project specifics: –Start in March 2008, aiming for a comprehensive review in October ‘08 –9 team members, distributed geographically in the US and Europe –Interaction via mailing list and approximately bi-weekly telecons –Bi-lateral interactions as necessary for individual analyses –Models and results available on the MinMars SVN repository –Made use of information and models available in DevelopSpace mission architecture and subsystem technology library

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Technical Architecture: Transportation Earth departure: –Chemical Earth departure –2 stages per 25 mt payload At present LOX/LH 2 prop. Investigating LOX/RP-1 –Mass per stage: ~25 mt –Payload launched first, then propulsion stages docked –1 st propulsion stage burned as soon as docked; 2 nd stage and payload loiter in elliptic orbit Mars aerocapture and EDL: –Blunt-body aeroshell for aerocapture and EDL –LOX/LCH 4 propellants for final descent and landing –Higher ballistic coefficient than Mars Science Laboratory –All-propulsive final landing (no main parachute) –But lower landing altitude (-2 km MOLA or less), higher atmospheric density Earth departure stage 1 Earth departure stage 2 25 mt payload Entry body comparison to Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) VehicleMinMarsMSL Ballistic coefficient [kg/m2] Aeroshell diameter [m]74.6 Entry velocity [km/s]4.5 (orbit)6 (direct) Landing altitude <-2 km< 2 km Active entry guidanceYes Note: Mars aerocapture and EDL of payloads of 25 mt or more is an enabling capability for any kind of human Mars mission; should be a research and development focus

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Technical Architecture: Surface Infrastructure Aeroshell top part serves as part of structure for habitat pressure vessel –Habitat has 2 levels: lower level for living, upper for sleeping –2 crew per habitat Unpressurized surface mobility for transit between infrastructure elements Surface power generation and energy storage: –Thin-film roll-out arrays with either Li-Ion batteries or regenerative fuel cells –Solar power performance similar to nuclear fission in equal energy case Aeroshell top Aeroshell bottom Surface habitat

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Technical Architecture: Re-supply and Logistics Generally high-closure system –Water recycling, washing machine –Regenerative CO 2 & humidity removal In-Situ Consumables Production (ISCP) provides O 2 and water Initially no in-situ food production, de- hydrated food imported from Earth Re-supply need per person per opportunity: < 2000 kg (incl. tare) Potential for polyethylene production Life Support System Architecture ISRU Architecture Breakdown of re-supply per person per opportunity (including tare mass)

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Technical Architecture: Notional Flight Manifest Opportunity 1 (no crew): –Flight 1: surface power, inflatable habitat, pressurized supplies, communications tower, ISRU systems –Flight 2: surface power, inflatable habitat, pressurized supplies, communications tower, ISRU systems Opportunity 2 (no crew): –Flight 1: pressurized supplies –Flight 2: pressurized supplies Opportunity 3 (1st crew of 4): –Flight 1: habitat with 2 crew members, supplies, unpressurized rover –Flight 2: habitat with 2 crew members, supplies, unpressurized rover Opportunity 4 (no crew): –Flight 1: pressurized supplies –Flight 2: workshop module with spare parts and supplies Note: starting in opportunity 4, Flight 2 can be used to bring additional surface infrastructure which enables reduction of re-supply from Earth

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Summary and Conclusions Technical feasibility of a one-way human Mars mission investigated and major technical challenges identified –Open engineering approach based on the DevelopSpace platform with a geographically distributed project team –DevelopSpace provides project wiki, SVN repository, mailing list Establishment of a human Mars “toehold” with 4 crew appears to be feasible in the near future using: –Two 25 mt payloads, 4 Earth departure stages, 6 EELV-class launch vehicles per opportunity; crew goes on 3 rd opportunity –Solar surface power with batteries / regenerative fuel cells –In-situ oxygen and water production from atmospheric CO 2 and water contained in the Martian soil –Over time, excess logistics capability can be used to bring additional infrastructure to further close loops / reduce re-supply

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Future Work and Follow-on Projects No specific design solution has been created, but major remaining technical challenges have been identified –Full list: We are planning to address the following 3 challenges with open-engineering projects on DevelopSpace –1. Mars surface solar power generation: further parametric design analysis, design build and test of deployment prototype –2. Mars toehold re-supply and logistics: further parametric design analysis, including in-situ food and ethylene production and more detailed assessment of spare parts (water regeneration, EVA) –3. Mars aerocapture and EDL for 25 mt payloads: numerical analysis of trajectory and entry body dynamics, and achievable landing accuracy with pre-deployed ground assets We welcome participation in these projects! –For further information:

IAC 2008, GlasgowDevelopSpace Minimalist Human Mars Mission Thank you for your attention Questions? Note: an updated version of the paper is available on the IAC server