Mars Base Camp: An Architecture for Sending Humans to Mars

Abstract

For nearly 70 years, sending humans to Mars has been the long term goal of many national space programs. Today, the consensus for sending humans to Mars appears stronger than ever before. With the amazing knowledge gained during the space shuttle and International Space Station programs, and with the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle completing development, NASA and its international and commercial partners are in a great position to lay out a plan for human Mars exploration and execute that plan. In May 2016, Lockheed Martin debuted the Mars Base Camp concept; a bold plan to transport scientist/astronauts from Earth to Mars within about a decade to answer fundamental science questions and prepare for a human landing. The key to achieving this vision is to capitalize on the major architecture elements already being developed by NASA, Orion and SLS, in an innovative architecture that focuses on crew safety and world-class science and exploration. Of course, Lockheed Martin is not the first to advocate for an orbital mission, but we believe that there are enormous advantages in an initial orbital mission, followed by landed missions in the subsequent opportunities.

Regolith Mining in Shackleton Crater on the Moon: Propellant, Building Materials and Vital Resources Production for a Long Duration Manned Mission

“…Something similar may be studied in case of a direct Earth-Moon transfer with Starship-Super Heavy. ficial for those missions which have different destinations other than the Lunar surface [6].…”

Commercial lunar propellant architecture: A collaborative study of lunar propellant production

“…Initially, all missions to the Moon will begin on the Earth; however, over time, emplacement missions may be staged from LEO, the NASA Gateway in NRHO or another cislunar orbit. Blue Origin 114 is developing a large lunar lander called Blue Moon [78] 115 capable of delivering 4.5 MT to the lunar surface. Cislunar Space Development Company (CSDC) 116 is currently proposing a reusable Moon shuttle that when starting at Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1 (EML1) can deliver 25 MT to the lunar surface and return to EML1 on a single load of propellant.…”

“…Lockheed Martin's Mars Base Camp concept intends to use EML1 as a staging location for Mars departures. Every 2 years each mission will require 280 MT [114] of propellant in EML1. This translates to a yearly demand of 280 MT of propellant on the lunar surface, or 420 MT/year of lunar extracted water.…”

The Multiplanetary Future of Plant Synthetic Biology

“…Achieving sustainable human presence on alien planetary bodies will expand our understanding of the cosmos, our capacity to investigate fundamental questions, such as the potential for life beyond our home planet, and will enable continued growth of the global economy. Space agencies such as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) as well as companies from the private sector like SpaceX share the common interest of moving forward the human exploration of deep space and launching the first manned missions to Mars in the near future [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. A major factor limiting the expansion of human space exploration is the enormous logistical costs of launching and resupplying resources from Earth.…”