ADVANCED CONCEPTS FOR THE APPLICATION OF SPACE SOLAR POWER TO ACHIEVE AFFORDABLE HUMAN EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE February 1997 John C. Mankins Advanced Projects Office Office of Space Flight NASA Headquarters SPACE SOLAR POWER & EXPLORATION SUMMARY FINDINGS * Large-scale, low mass solar power derived from recently developed concepts for solar power satellites (SPS), may enable a revolutionary solar electric propulsion system (SEPS) approach for Mars exploration - Enables a wholly non-nuclear architecture to be considered seriously - Achieved through the use of a “design to manufacture” approach - However, does involve an as yet uncharacterized — but possibly significant— increase in initial programmatic technical risk • A new “SPS-SEPS” Mars transportation system concept - the “SolarCiipper” - may enable a reduction by as much as a 5:f in first Mars mission cost due to Earth-Mars transport • “SPS-SEPS” Mars transportation system also offers diverse evolutionary pathways and alternate applications - Government missions (e.g., future space station power) - Commercial applications (large GEO comm-sats, SPS, etc.) - Use of SEPS system elements for other solar system robotic exploration and other deep space space science missions
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