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| Mars Design Reference Mission | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mars Design Reference Mission |
| Country | United States |
| Agency | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) |
| First proposed | 1990s |
| Status | conceptual |
Mars Design Reference Mission
The Design Reference Mission was a conceptual study led by National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams and contractors to define an integrated approach to crewed Mars exploration, synthesizing architectures from Ames Research Center, Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and industry partners such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Rockwell International. It informed later studies including work by National Research Council, President's Commission on the Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, and panels tied to the Space Exploration Initiative and Vision for Space Exploration. The study influenced programmatic planning across United States Congress hearings, Office of Management and Budget reviews, and independent analyses by RAND Corporation, Aerospace Corporation, and university teams at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and California Institute of Technology.
The Design Reference Mission presented a notional timeline, systems, and operations for a human expedition to Mars emphasizing opposition-class and conjunction-class trajectories, in-space assembly, and staged surface operations. It combined concepts from earlier efforts such as the Ames Research Center Mars studies, the Space Exploration Initiative architecture, and later refinements from Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate planning. The document served as a benchmark for trade studies by European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Roscosmos, and private entities like SpaceX and Blue Origin studying human Mars missions.
Development began amid post-Apollo program strategic reviews and the Space Exploration Initiative of the early 1990s, with contributions from NASA Headquarters, Langley Research Center, and contractor teams. The concept drew on heritage from robotic missions such as Viking program, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, and sample-return studies associated with Mars Sample Return planning. Reports and workshops held at American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conferences and panels by the National Academy of Sciences refined requirements, influenced by technology roadmaps from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and lessons from International Space Station operations.
The Reference Mission described stages: Earth departure, interplanetary transfer, Mars orbit insertion, surface descent/ascent, and Earth return. Key components included heavy launch vehicles analogous to Saturn V heritage and concepts like the Space Shuttle-derived cargo capacity, cryogenic propellant depots advocated by Planetary Society briefings, pressurized descent/ascent vehicles, and deep space habitats drawing on International Space Station modules. Rendezvous and docking at Low Earth Orbit and at Mars were central; the plan referenced technologies related to Aerobraking, aerocapture, and in situ resource utilization ideas explored at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and ISRO studies.
Crew selection and training were compared with analogs from NASA Astronaut Corps, Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut procedures, and long-duration analogs like Antarctic research stations, Mir, and International Space Station expeditions. Life support architectures drew on regenerative systems developed for Skylab and ISS, with references to closed-loop proposals from National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Research Center and regenerative designs evaluated by European Space Agency programs. Medical support, radiation protection strategies linked to National Research Council reports, and psychological considerations referenced analog research at Johnson Space Center and studies by the Institute of Medicine.
Propulsion analyses explored chemical stages from cryogenic liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen, storable propellants assessed by Marshall Space Flight Center, and advanced options including nuclear thermal propulsion concepts investigated at Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA Glenn Research Center. Electric propulsion and solar-electric architectures were compared using studies conducted at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and industry groups like Aerojet Rocketdyne. Launch vehicle needs referenced heavy-lift concepts inspired by Saturn V and proposals culminating in later systems such as Space Launch System; in-space refueling and assembly were informed by depot concepts evaluated by United States Air Force and DARPA-backed studies.
Surface elements considered pressurized rovers, fixed habitats, and modular inflatables developed in collaboration with contractors including Bigelow Aerospace proposals and legacy habitat concepts from Skylab and Mir. Power systems compared nuclear fission options evaluated by Department of Energy laboratories and solar arrays tested on International Space Station missions. ISRU concepts for producing oxygen and propellant drew on experiments from Viking program insights and later prototypes by University of Arizona and Carnegie Mellon University teams, while surface mobility and traverse planning referenced analog fieldwork at Utah Test and Training Range and polar analogs at McMurdo Station.
Scientific priorities aligned with objectives from the National Academy of Sciences decadal surveys and built upon discoveries from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Curiosity missions. Goals included astrobiology investigations inspired by Viking experiments and Mars Science Laboratory results, stratigraphy studies tying to observations from Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Express, and sample acquisition for eventual Mars Sample Return campaigns. The mission architecture sought to balance human-enabled field science with robotic precursor missions similar to initiatives by European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Analyses highlighted technical risk areas like entry, descent, and landing for large payloads, radiation exposure documented in reports by the National Research Council, and life support reliability derived from International Space Station experience. Cost estimates invoked budgetary scrutiny by United States Congress committees and budget offices such as the Office of Management and Budget, with comparisons to historical programs like the Space Shuttle and International Space Station in terms of schedule and funding risk. Programmatic barriers noted included technology maturation timelines, international partnership frameworks exemplified by agreements with European Space Agency and Roscosmos, and industrial base constraints discussed at forums hosted by Aerospace Industries Association.
Category:Human missions to Mars