Statistics – Applications
Scientific paper
Jan 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002iaf..confe.240p&link_type=abstract
IAF abstracts, 34th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, The Second World Space Congress, held 10-19 October, 2002 in Houston, TX, USA.,
Statistics
Applications
Scientific paper
phone +49-89-289-16016; fax +49-89-289-16004; email: pauly@lrt.mw.tu-muenchen.de Over the past decades, numerous analytical studies have been performed that show that in situ resource utilization (ISRU) can not only significantly reduce mass, cost, and risk of both robotic and human exploration missions, but is also able to significantly enhance the capabilities of such missions. Most of the ISRU-related studies, however, are based rather on theoretical deliberations than on practical hardware testing. The Johnson Space Center decided to close this gap and initiate a test facility as well as a development program that brings these technologies from theory up to a level from where they can help to set the way for future exploration missions such as a human Mars mission. The work described here has been embedded into this effort and was mainly conducted during a research stay at the Propulsion and Fluid Systems Branch of the Johnson Space Center from January 1999 to May 2001. Its goal was to model an ISRU system (in particular the so-called Sabatier process) end-to-end and with all its essential chemical and physical processes included. Furthermore, the actual test data from hardware tests conducted with a Sabatier / water electrolysis breadboard under Earth ambient and simulated Mars environment was used to validate the computer model. Based on the model and the tests, the modeling capabilities, as well as the experience gained are utilized to derive recommendations for new generations of hardware, ranging from new breadboards, over demonstration experiments for robotic Mars landers, to consumable production units to be used in the context of human missions to the Red Planet. In this context, special consideration is given to the opportunities for synergy, in particular between the propulsion, the power, and the life-support subsystems. The concept of "Integrated Consumable Production for Mars Missions" is presented as a potential facilitator of the utilization of these synergy opportunities. The developed and validated tools are - like the concept of in situ resource utilization itself, too - not only applicable to the Sabatier process or Mars respectively. They are generic, meaning that many of their elements can also be employed in different areas, such as for example for the modeling of other processes and systems, as well as applications on celestial bodies other than Mars. They aim at serving as a stepping-stone for further development in this area - in particular in the context of the mission scenarios currently investigated by NASA (Mars Design Reference Mission) and ESA (Aurora Space Exploration Programme).
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