Construction of Sustainable Mars Logistics System and Feasibility Assessment

概要

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The realization of a sustainable manned Mars stay mission cannot be achieved using conventional methods because the mission conditions, such as available resources, hazards and journey time, differ significantly from previous manned space missions. Therefore, construction of a sustainable interplanetary transportation network, a Mars-based resource management system and a hazard management system should be considered. In addition, new technologies such as a fully regenerative environmental control and life support system (ECLSS), Mars in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and advanced propulsion systems (APS) are very important. Hence, the logistics system constructed in this research considers not only mission requirements, such as human transfer time and stay time, but also available technology levels and required safety levels. As a result of the simulation of the logistics system, the required initial mass in low earth orbits (IMLEO) to operate the Mars base is approximately 370 t/year with current technologies. However, the IMLEO decreases to approximately 90–140 t/year using a nuclear light bulb engine or water extraction on Mars. In addition, to further minimize IMLEO, it is also suggested that the development of advanced technologies can lead to a change in the optimal interplanetary transportation method from the cycler transportation to stop-over transportation.