AAS 98-110

MARS AEROCAPTURE STUDIES FOR THE DESIGN REFERENCE MISSION

J. E. Lyne - University of Tennessee; P. Wercinski - NASA Ames Research Center; G. Walberg, R. Jits - North Carolina State University

Abstract

NASA is developing plans for the first human Mars landing to occur in 2014 after cargo flights deliver surface components and the Earth return vehicle two years before the crew's arrival. The mission design calls for rapid crew transits and aerocapture for both the manned and robotic vehicles at Mars. To minimize on-orbit assembly, a triconic aerobrake has been selected which can be launched as a single piece and also will serve as the launch shroud during Earth lift-off. The current paper presents the results of aerocapture studies for this configuration, for both fast-transit, crew vehicles and minimum-energy cargo flights.

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