February 20, 2000

Mars IPRO 310

 

Vehicle Design Team Report

 

 

                This past week was spent mostly on orbital and aerobraking research. No new design elements to report on but we do have a few reminders and clarifications about the vehicle.

 

Reminders:

·         We are taking two manned ships (nearly identical) so please plan you cargo accordingly. Each ship must be able to perform a reduced mission should the other one not make it to the Martian surface.

·         Since the ships are going to be designed for zero-g operations please explore living arrangements that are not focused around the ships. They will be cramped and the more infrastructure that is built on planet the easier (and cheaper) future missions become.

·         We would like help and input from the mission support group on the subject of power and computer resources. It makes sense to utilize the power sources on the vehicles for the on planet operations, and the same can be said for the computers.

 

One of the more important developments this week was to divide the design of the vehicle into major elements and assign individuals to each element.  This will allows us to begin to do the in depth work required for each of the particular design considerations.

 

 

Urooj

 

Aerobrake and Landing

Urooj will be designing the aerobrake technology we use to slow the spacecraft via Martian atmosphere. He will also be designing the landing system that we use to land on the surface after a successful aerobrake.

 

Alex

               

                Orbits and “A day in space”

                Alex has the complex task of calculating an orbit(s) that will allow the spacecraft to get to Mars

that considers both the time of the trip and the amount of velocity (AKA FUEL) that we need. He will also be examining how time will be used on the flight to Mars and back. 

 

Gwenn

 

                Cargo storage, Living quarter, Life support, Radiation, and Communication

Gwenn is designing how we will use the available space on the spacecraft for cargo and living quarters. In addition she will be tackling the topics of Life support during the voyage as well as protecting against radiation. Lastly, she will be looking at how we communicate with Earth during the trip to and from Mars.

 

Katie

 

                Overall Design and Orbital Assembly

Katie will be in charge of integrating all the elements of the design into the actual vehicle. She will also be exploring methods of orbital assembly that we will build the final ship.

 

Chris

               

                Engines and Fuel Tanks, Modular design

Chris will be designing the engine and fuel tanks to power the spacecraft. He will also be examining different ways to modularize the vehicle parts to help with the orbital assembly. Lastly Chris and Urooj will be designing system that will launch off the Martian surface and return to Earth.

 

Will the mission support team please make an effort to work with Gwenn because many of her design elements are needed on the planet in one form or another.