Analytical study of Space X mission architecture to reach Mars

Abstract

Space is going through a new evolution, where the objectives are much more ambitious than before thanks to the new technologies. The possibilities that arise from these new achievable projects are grateful, such as creating human stations in satellites, oreven building cities for human being in other planets. In order to achieve these goals, the biggest problematic currently is the transport method, that is to say, how to reach distant celestial bodies in a viable way, focusing on both the feasibility for the human life and the economic aspects, and the first proposal is to reach Mars.To do so, a patched conic approximation will be performed so as to analyse the Earth to Mars interplanetary transfer. By using a Newton-Raphson iterative process, which includes a continuation method with a differential corrector, the Lambert problem will be solved in order to obtain the main results. It will also be done a main-materials estimation for the Mars society competition, defined as a case study of the project.On the other hand, the privatization of the space sector is adding new players to the game, and as a result of this, a new space race is taking place. The most outstanding players nowadays are NASA, on the side of government agencies, and SpaceX, from the private space sector. Both companies have presented strategies to reach the red planet, and this study is focused on the architecture analysis of the SpaceX mission, in order to analyse each of its phases, to compute the trajectory and to develop a preliminary study of the re-entry manoeuvre. Furthermore, due to the current situation, in which the interest of the manned interplanetary journeysis booming, it is important to define the suitability of the whole mission. Because of the high investment required for conducting a Mars’ colonization process, a preliminary materials budget and a first iteration of the total cost of the program will be conducted, trying to roughly quantify the amount necessary to develop the project globally.