Critical Mars Mission Elements

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Critical Mars Mission Elements

Rapp, Donald

Several critical technologies are needed for a human mission to Mars that require considerable further development. These include reliable environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS), mitigation of radiation and low gravity effects, large-scale entry, descent and landing, utilization of indigenous planetary resources, and human factors associated with long durations in confined space. The reliability of ECLSS systems falls far short of requirements. NASA has made progress in understanding radiation effects but as more information accrues, the problem appears worse. Human factors appear to be a major problem, hardly investigated to date. A vital need for a human mission to Mars is aero-assisted entry, descent, and precision landing (EDL) of massive payloads. There is no experience base for landing payloads with mass of multi-tens of mT. Modeling by the Georgia Tech team indicates that the mass of EDL systems will be considerably greater than that assumed by NASA Design Reference Missions. Recent studies have not clarified the picture. Developing, testing, and validating such massive entry systems will require a two-decade program with a significant investment.