Manned Mars Mission Vehicle Design Requirements for Aerocapture

The goal of this study was to define vehicle design requirements of a reusable system for manned Mars missions which employ aerocapturlng techniques to obtain desired orbital velocities. Requirements for vehicle L/D and ballistic coefficient are determined for expected aerocapture velocities. This paper presents conclusions concerning g-loads environment and TPS requirements for a vehicle that aerocaptures at Mars and Earth. Although the goal of a reusable system (based on current state-of-art technologies) was not obtained, the viability of aerocapture at Mars and Earth was established.