Search Results

Project Constellation incorporates a modular spiral design process initially intended to enable human travel to the moon with the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), including accommodations for landing and long-term surface habitation. The lunar activities will serve as a test bed for subsequent destinations such as Mars, near-Earth asteroids, or the outer planets; therefore, the requirements for meeting future expectations should also be anticipated to the extent possible in the early development spirals. To help advance this comprehensive goal, a process for conducting a ‘system-of-systems’ analysis was established. Individual mission elements were characterized for each distinct stage of travel to and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the moon, and Mars, including relevant surface operations.

The overall system architecture of a habitat intended for human occupancy on the surface of Mars was analyzed as part of a graduate aerospace engineering design class at the University of Colorado during the 2003 fall semester. The process was initiated by summarizing and deriving the governing requirements and constraints based on NASA’s “Reference Mission for the Human Exploration of Mars” (Hoffman and Kaplan, 1997; Drake, 1998). With emphasis placed on requirement identification and documentation, a baseline design was established that incorporated functional subsystem definition and analysis of integration factors such as structural layout, mass flows, power distribution, data transmission, etc. In addition, a ‘human-in-the-loop’ focus was stressed by designating a subsystem termed Crew Accommodations.