Viability of a Reusable In-Space Transportation System

Jefferies, Sharon; McCleskey, Carey M.; Nufer, Brian M.; Lepsch, Roger A.; Merrill, Raymond G.; North, David D.; Martín, José Manuel Sánchez; Komar, David R.

doi:10.2514/6.2015-4580

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Several methods have been developed to estimate the reusability of systems or to guide development with reusability in mind [16,17,8,18]. Previous work has determined the level of reusability which can be incorporated into a space system with current technologies and suggested areas to focus reusable technology development [1].…”

Section: Methods For Reusability Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The average turnaround time for a Shuttle, from landing to next launch, was 126 days which included 93 days for orbiter turn-around. Repair tasks performed usually included tile repair, payload bay reconfiguration, inspections and cleaning, system testing, calibrations, and refueling [1]. After every flight, each shuttle engine was removed for inspection and any malfunctioning electronics boxes were replaced.…”

Section: The First Reusable Space Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reusable propulsion systems were developed for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and Mir space station [1]. The Soviet Union first demonstrated in-space refueling with Progress resupply ships that transferred hypergolic propellants to Mir modules.…”

Section: Other Twentieth Century Attempts At Reusabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reusability Analysis for Lunar Landers

Bart¹,

Hoffman²

2021

2021 IEEE Aerospace Conference (50100)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the world prepares to return to the lunar surface with the Artemis program, NASA recommended developing a reusable lunar lander to enable a sustainable exploration program. It is logical to think that reusing a lunar lander instead of building a new one for each mission is more cost-effective, but this statement only holds for some mission architectures. This work explores the principal effects of adding reusability and quantifying its impact on manned lunar lander designs. A multidisciplinary model is presented that explores the lunar lander design space to understand how reusability impacts the chosen objectives of IMLEO, life-cycle cost, and safety. The choice of reusability and the use of a cislunar space station are found to have the greatest impact on the chosen objectives. The effect of changing the refurbishment cost per mission is also analyzed. An optimization framework is then applied to the resulting model to determine the optimal lunar lander design for a given mission. For the Artemis program, an expendable design was found to be more cost-effective than implementing reusability as only five lunar surface missions are currently planned. However, if additional missions are added a hybrid implementation of reusability, which entails reusing the transfer and ascent elements multiple times but changing out line-replacement units after each mission, becomes most cost-effective. Furthermore, a fully reusable design, where the transfer and ascent elements only require consumables to be replenished between missions, was found to be less cost-effective than a hybrid design for the range of values studied. The results of this work are intended to guide the development of the next generation of lunar landers and future space systems as the model and optimization framework can be adapted to explore the benefit of reusability for a wide range of space systems.

show abstract

Section: Methods For Reusability Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The First Reusable Space Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reusability Analysis for Lunar Landers

Bart¹,

Hoffman²

2021

2021 IEEE Aerospace Conference (50100)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Eventually, the structures would only be used as a tank farm, which has to be supported at the base to avoid requalification. This structural configuration presents potential issues when considering design for reuse 16 , specifically accessibility of critical components to facilitate inspection and replacement. The option 2 Hybrid concept is the result of designing a Hybrid concept that uses the ARM EP components rather than structure, and can fit in the Space Launch System (SLS) 8 m shroud rather than the larger 10 m shroud.…”

Section: Figure 2 Grc Compass Hybrid Propulsion Stage Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrated Hybrid Transportation Architecture for Human Mars Expeditions

Merrill

Chai

2015

AIAA SPACE 2015 Conference and Exposition

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Team is developing a reusable hybrid transportation architecture that uses both chemical and electric propulsion systems on the same vehicle to send crew and cargo to Mars destinations such as Phobos, Deimos, the surface of Mars, and other orbits around Mars. By applying chemical and electrical propulsion where each is most effective, the hybrid architecture enables a series of Mars trajectories that are more fuel-efficient than an all chemical architecture without significant increases in flight times. This paper presents an integrated Hybrid in-space transportation architecture for piloted missions and delivery of cargo. A concept for a Mars campaign including orbital and Mars surface missions is described in detail including a system concept of operations and conceptual design. Specific constraints, margin, and pinch points are identified for the architecture and opportunities for critical path commercial and international collaboration are discussed.

show abstract

“…The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) is an ongoing series of architectural trade analyses that defines the capabilities and elements needed for a sustainable human presence on the surface of Mars. The point of departure used in EMC was presented at the AIAA SPACE 2015 conference, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 which included the strategy, campaign, architecture, and elements. Beyond the current developments of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion, EMC has not discussed the details on the acquisition strategy for any requisite elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A COTS-Style Acquisition Strategy for Human Exploration beyond LEO

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Evolvable Mars Campaign presents a long term strategy for NASA's Journey to Mars within a capability driven framework. By comparing each element to a set of criteria, this paper reviews the potential of acquiring those capabilities using a strategy similar to the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The paper presents the criteria, assesses the elements against those criteria, and then discusses the suitability of each element to being developed using this acquisition strategy. Throughout the campaign, certain capabilities are well suited to being developed in this manner while others are not. This assessment is a snapshot in time, and should be revisited as the campaign and/or commercial capabilities change.

show abstract

Viability of a Reusable In-Space Transportation System

Cited by 16 publications

References 11 publications

Reusability Analysis for Lunar Landers

Reusability Analysis for Lunar Landers

An Integrated Hybrid Transportation Architecture for Human Mars Expeditions

A COTS-Style Acquisition Strategy for Human Exploration beyond LEO

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About