11 June 2018
SciEng Research’s Benchmarking the Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture accepted for publication in the International Journal of Space Science and Engineering. The publication continues SciEng Research’s contribution to human spaceflight to Mars, its collaboration with Acolytion, and support of Inderscience Publishers’ mission of linking academia, business, and industry through research. Visit the website’s publications page to see the official reference once the journal article becomes available online.
Abstract: This research benchmarks the Mars DRA 5.0 by quantifying its mission utility in satisfying mission objectives derived from human exploration of Mars community consensus. Acolytion’s Progspexion is utilized for modeling and simulation of the DRA in determination of potential mission outcomes and computation of crewed mission to Mars metrics. While establishing a baseline performance, the research determines the DRA’s mission utility is limited due to a lack of its consideration during design. In addition, the research indicates the DRA simultaneously contains an overwhelming number of single points of failure with high criticality and lacks an adequate hierarchy of contingency and abort strategies to preclude loss of mission and crew fatality.
Keywords: Design Reference Architecture; Mission Utility Analysis; Human Spaceflight; Mars Exploration; Space Mission Simulation; Progspexion
