Aeroassisted manned transfer vehicle (TAXI) for advanced Mars Transportation: NASA/USRA 1987 Senior Design Project

A conceptual design study of an aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle is discussed. Nicknamed TAXI, it will ferry personnel and cargo: (1) between low Earth orbit and a spacecraft circling around the Sun in permanent orbit intersecting gravitational fields of Earth and Mars, and (2) between the cycling spacecraft and a Mars orbiting station, co-orbiting with Phobos. Crew safety and mission flexibility (in terms of ability to provide a wide range of delta-V) were given high priority. Three versions were considered, using the same overall configuration based on a low L/D aerobrake with the geometry of a raked off elliptical cone with ellipsoidal nose and a toroidal skirt. The propulsion system consists of three gimballed LOX/LH2 engines firing away from the aerobrake. The versions differ mainly in the size of the aeroshields and propellant tanks. TAXI A version resulted from an initial effort to design a single transfer vehicle able to meet all delta-V requirements during the 15-year period (2025 to 2040) of Mars mission operations. TAXI B is designed to function with the cycling spacecraft moving in a simplified, nominal trajectory. On Mars missions, TAXI B would be able to meet the requirements of all the missions with a relative approach velocity near Mars of less than 9.3 km/sec. Finally, TAXI C is a revision of TAXI A, a transfer vehicle designed for missions with a relative velocity near Mars larger than 9.3 km/sec. All versions carry a crew of 9 (11 with modifications) and a cargo of 10000 lbm. Trip duration varies from 1 day for transfer from LEO to the cycling ship to nearly 5 days for transfer from the ship to the Phobos orbit.