Human Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Architecture Study: Descent Systems

摘要

Landers play a key role in human exploration of the Martian surface. NASA's multi-directorate, multi-center study called the Entry, Descent and Landing Architecture Study (EDLAS) has been investigating several potential design for Mars Descent Modules concentrating on four unique methods for aeroentry. While the development of the HIAD, ADEPT, Capsule, and Mid L/D approaches to aeroentry represent significant investments, a complete picture of how these lander will perform can only be viewed when the core lander module subsystems that work with these aerodecelerator technologies are defined. This paper summarizes the last year's efforts to develop and refine bottoms-up Mars Decent Module (MDM) designs. An overview of the concept of operations for human Mars landers is provided as context for the resulting design decisions. Design details for each subsystem are provided as well as a summary comparison of the four lander concepts. In the end, the combination of aeroentry performance and vehicle design shows that the most effective aerodecelerator does not always result in the most mass efficient design but this is only one factor in the programmatic decision making that will ultimately lead to a closed design that fully support human access to Mars.