Enabling the exploration of the solar system with nuclear rockets and indigenous propellants

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:5764931

Zubrin, R M

This paper defines the concept of a coherent Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) architecture and shows that the requirements of coherency are largely unsatisfied by the conventional Earth-orbital assembly/Mars orbital rendezvous mission plan that has dominated most recent analyses. Coherency's primary requirements of simplicity, robustness, and cost-effectiveness are then used to derive a secondary set of mission features that converge on the Mars Direct architecture. In the Mars implementation of the Mars Direct architecture, two launches of a heavy lift booster optimized for earth escape are required to support each four-person mission. The first booster launch delivers an unfueled and unmanned earth return vehicle (ERV) to the martian surface, where it fills itself with methane/oxygen bipropellant manufactured primarily out of indigenous resources. After propellant production is completed, a second launch delivers the crew to the prepared site, where they conduct extensive regional exploration for 1.5 years and then return directly to Earth in the ERV. No on-orbit assembly or orbital rendezvous is required in any phase of the mission, and the same set of booster, crew habitat and ERV used to support Mars missions can also be used to support a lunar base.

• OSTI ID: 5764931
• Report Number(s): CONF-910603-; CODEN: TANSA
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 63; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Orlando, FL (United States), 2-6 Jun 1991; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
SPACE VEHICLES
SPACE POWER REACTORS
ASTRONAUTS
EARTH PLANET
ECONOMICS
LAUNCHING
MARS PLANET
MOON
PLANNING
POWER GENERATION
PROPELLANTS
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
ROCKETS
SPACE FLIGHT
MOBILE REACTORS
PERSONNEL
PLANETS
POWER REACTORS
REACTORS
SATELLITES
VEHICLES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
210600* - Power Reactors
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& Transportable