TY - GEN
T1 - Low-thrust roundtrip trajectories to Mars with one-synodic-period repeat time
AU - Okutsu, Masataka
AU - Landauf, Damon F.
AU - Longuski, James M.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - We investigate the use of nuclear-electric propulsion for human missions to Mars. Employing a patched-conic solution as our initial guess, low-thrust trajectories are designed via a continuation method. We determine the propulsion requirements for a reusable human transportation system, in which a single vehicle makes a round trip between the Earth and Mars within a synodic period, thus allowing a mission at every launch opportunity. We find that the acceleration required for a typical mission exceeds current technology by an order of magnitude. However, technology improvements in the next decade could make such a mission feasible.
AB - We investigate the use of nuclear-electric propulsion for human missions to Mars. Employing a patched-conic solution as our initial guess, low-thrust trajectories are designed via a continuation method. We determine the propulsion requirements for a reusable human transportation system, in which a single vehicle makes a round trip between the Earth and Mars within a synodic period, thus allowing a mission at every launch opportunity. We find that the acceleration required for a typical mission exceeds current technology by an order of magnitude. However, technology improvements in the next decade could make such a mission feasible.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:33749356237
SN - 087703527X
SN - 9780877035275
T3 - Advances in the Astronautical Sciences
SP - 2285
EP - 2300
BT - Astrodynamics 2005 - Advances in the Astronautical Sciences - Proceedings of the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Conference
T2 - Astrodynamics 2005 - Advances in the Astronautical Sciences - Proceedings of the AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Conference
Y2 - 7 August 2005 through 11 August 2005
ER -