Senior Design Problem
For senior design, my team and I were posed with the task of creating a reference architecture for a manned mission to Mars. A list of major mission requirements was provided to define the intended outcomes of the mission. These requirements are stated as follows.
- The crewed mission needs to have humans on the Martian surface for seven years.
- For the duration of the mission, a crew of 4 needs to be on the surface of the planet.
- This mission needed to have astronauts on the surface of Mars at the earliest 2035 and at the latest 2040.
- The crew needs to return between 2040 and 2050.
- A minimum of five science objectives need to be pursued throughout the duration of the mission.
- Three novel technologies need to have been demonstrated through this mission.
- The mission is limited to a single pre-supply mission, and a maximum resupply payload of 5,000 kg to the surface of Mars.
Our Solution
Our proposed architecture took advantage of the Aldrin Cycler concept, a ballistic orbit which allows for a spacecraft to transfer between Earth and Mars without major propulsive maneuvers. More details on our architecture can be found in the final report below.