Basing Options for Lunar Oxygen for Manned Mars Missions

by Gordon R. Woodcock, Boeing Aerospace Co, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Space

Abstract:

The use of lunar oxygen to support lunar space transportation reduces Earth launch mass requirements by a factor of 2. In this paper, the authors show that lunar oxygen can also reduce the launch requirements for Mars missions by about a factor of 3. While these mass reductions are not as dramatic as the target factor of 10 for ALS, they offer an alternate route to Earth launch costs and rates in the practical range.

Subject Headings: Moon | Space exploration | Space colonies | Flight | Benefit cost ratios | Aircraft and spacecraft | Public transportation

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