Major Research Project Manned Mars Mission

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Columbus State Community College *

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2367

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English

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by ChiefProton12149

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 1 Essay 3 - Major Research Paper Rockets are simply controlled explosions. They are also extremely expensive and inherently dangerous. A Falcon 9 Heavy, which is a partially reusable heavy lifter offered by a private American company, costs ninety mission dollars a launch and taking about sixty four thousand kilograms to low earth orbit (LEO) (SpaceX). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has spent twenty three billion dollars or about two hundred and fifty Falcon 9 Heavy launches developing their heavy lifter that is fully expendable and can lift about seventy thousand kilograms to LEO called Space Launch System (SLS) ("NASA's Plan" 3). As a mission requires more launches the risk of losing a rocket and its payload increases, and even worse the chance of a crew. NASA's current plans for their crewed missions to Mars is very expensive, complicated, and requires a high number of launches. Their first step is setting up a lunar space station to test reliability of new life support systems and act as a port for the second step, which is an interplanetary habitat to house astronauts on their way to and from mars. These two steps will likely take a minimum of five SLS launches. The third step is to land a new mars rover to search for a landing area that also has underground frozen water for the robotic lander after that to extract and make fuel for an ascent vehicle. Fourth and final step is to land a crew habitat and launch the crew to the lunar space station. In total at least ten heavy lift launches minimum for NASA's currently planned crewed mission to mars ("NASA's Journey"). By redesigning the mission architecture of the journey to Mars can become not only feasible but also sustainable missions, so NASA should redesign their mission to Mars because it would reduce cost, simplify, and open up possibility for international partners as well. A simplified mission architecture will better focus NASA's resources to the essential steps of a sustainable Mars mission, reduce the number of launches needed and speed up mission

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 2 planning. A successful mission needs to be direct and trimmed to the essentials like the Apollo mission, with as little waste as possible. Robert Zubrin is aerospace engineer, and a well known advocate for landing humans on mars. Zubrin proposes a Mars mission that first sends a return to earth vehicle with a rover to convert resources into fuel, water, and oxygen, as well as a second launch to send astronauts in a lander/habitat to spend the remainder of the mission living inside of ("Sending Humans"). His Mars mission architecture not only can reduce the number of launches required down to just two super heavy lift launches, which are rockets comparable to the Saturn Five, but also cuts down on the technologies that need to be developed to just a small rover, mars ascent vehicle, and Mars lander/habitat. There are currently no super heavy lifters in operation, but SpaceX is developing a fully reusable one and both The United States of America and Russia has flown super heavy lifters in the past with more primitive technology. Reducing NASA's crewed Mars mission to this simplified form would reduce development time, reduce the overall launches required, and drastically reduce the cost of the mission to make it not only affordable but achievable in a single presidential term. Lowering the cost for a crewed Mars mission is key to a sustainable mission architecture because NASA's budget is distributed over many missions, so for a continued mission plan the cost must be reasonable to the tax payers who cover the bill. A core key to reducing the cost of a Mars mission is the ability to harvest the local resources on mars such as; rocket fuels, oxygen, and water. The Journal of Aerospace Engineering is a technical publication of research papers and advanced systems development papers. In a prototype development paper of a mars resource processing unit that unlocks mission which require "space mining and resource utilization technology will help open the solar system to a broad spectrum of missions and capabilities once mission planners realize they can liveoff the land instead of bringing everything (power, water,

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 3 propellant, breathable air)" (Interbartolo 58). The ability to harvest water, power, fuel, and oxygen locally on Mars reduces the cost of a crewed mission to a point that is feasible for NASA. As stated in the previous paragraph that reducing the number of launches can also have a drastic effect on the cost. With Zubrin's mission plan of two super heavy launches per four astronauts would also greatly cut the cost per mission. SpaceX is currently designing a super heavy lifter that will sell launches for a very low cost, which has only been officially stated to be under sixty million. This low launch cost coupled will only needing two super heavy launches because of resource harvesting on mars could make the whole mission architecture incredible affordable and sustainable for an United States of America mission before international partners also help with the costs. International partners can not only help share some of the costs of such a large space mission like the International Space Station, Orion, and a crewed Mars mission, but also help strengthen foreign relationships. While the first human Mars mission does not have to be an international endeavor it should be to help manage the massive cost of the mission. James Beggs was the administrator of NASA who fought for the human mars mission and partnering with other nations to do it. Beggs gave a speech about NASA planning on a crewed Mars mission going forward where he said, " this epochal step in human exploration to a planet which could become the first self-sufficient home for human beings, should be cooperative international effort" (Beggs 51). Even though he does support the mission of humans to mars being an international effort he does go on to say that should other nations choose not to participate the mission should still be carried out unilaterally if necessary. Although reducing the cost of such an expensive mission can be a huge bonus it is important to remember working together with other nations helps strengthen the ties of alliances. Carl Sagan was a famous astrophysicist who

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