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ESDMD #1103: Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing for Human Exploration

New, scalable entry, descent and landing (EDL) for 25 to 75+ metric ton payloads on Mars (bin 2, rating 10 of 57). Perseverance landed about 1 t with an architecture that "does not scale to human-class elements". Candidates include supersonic retropropulsion and low- and mid-L/D entry systems. A Mars-only gap (Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #1103).

Quotations below are from row ESDMD #1103 of the tech gaps spreadsheet. ADD Rev C's Appendix D prints the same table for this gap, and it matches the row field for field (ADD Rev C, p. 254).

Description

"The landed mass required for a human Mars mission exceeds the practical limits of heritage robotic mission entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems. New and scalable EDL technologies are needed to enable Mars human exploration. Child gaps represent a non-exhaustive list of technology options in the architecture trade space."

Impacts and benefits: "Without gap closure, the impact is the inability to land human-class payloads on Mars surface to support exploration missions. Heaviest indivisible landed payload may be significantly constrained and threaten architecture viability."

Current state of the art

"Perseverance landed approximately 1 metric ton on Mars surface with EDL architecture that does not scale to human-class elements. LOFTID successfully demonstrated a 6 m inflatable aeroshell with peak deceleration of 9g returning 1100kg from Earth orbit."

Performance target

Mars: "Enable the safe, reliable, and precise landing of payloads between 25 and 75+ metric tons."

Child gaps

  • 1103-01: Supersonic retropropulsion engines for Mars descent
  • 1103-02: Low-L/D systems for Mars atmospheric entry and/or aerocapture
  • 1103-03: Mid-L/D systems for Mars atmospheric entry and/or aerocapture
  • 1103-04: Robust modeling and simulation for high-mass Mars atmospheric entry

The description calls these "a non-exhaustive list of technology options".

Traceability

  • Use cases and functions: UC-T-102 M -- All FN; UC-T-207 M -- All FN
  • Definition tasks: Mars: Crew Mars Descent Availability; Cargo Mars EDL Technology; Crew Mars EDL Technology; EDLA Systems Reuse Strategy; EDLA and In-Space Transportation Systems Functional Split

Segments and sub-architectures

Priority

Priority bin 2, overall prioritization rating 10 of 57. The rating is "the gap's location in the prioritized list of gaps", so 1 is the highest priority, and bins group gaps of similar priority, bin 1 highest. Criticality, urgency, breadth and depth set the order; cost is not considered (ADD Rev C, pp. 78, 199; method on the gaps index).

Moon Base relevance

Not established by the sources so far. The gap is Mars-only in the spreadsheet, and the Users Guide does not name it among its near-term Moon Base challenges (Technology and knowledge challenges).

Sources

Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #1103 · ADD Rev C, pp. 78, 199, 254 · Mars EDL Challenges (2024), pp. 4–5