A mission study aimed at minimizing the time humans would spend in the space environment is presented. The use of nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), when combined with a suitable mission profile, can reduce the trip time to durations competitive with other propulsion systems. Specifically, a split mission profile utilizing an earth crew capture vehicle accounts for a significant portion of the trip time reduction compared to previous studies. NEP is shown to be capable of performing fast piloted missions to Mars at low power levels using near-term technology and is considered to be a viable candidate for these missions.


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    Title :

    Nuclear electric propulsion mission performance for fast piloted Mars missions


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    1991-09-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English