SPACE SOLAR POWER & EXPLORATION SEPS-MTV ARCHITECTURE IMPACTS ON LUNAR/MARS MISSIONS • This architecture for Mars may also engender strong synergisms for earlier lunar missions; examples include: - Common high-thrust (chemical or chemical-aerobrake) “taxi” for lunar flights and for transfer of crew to the departing SEPS MTV following the spiral out from LEO - Use of SPS/WPT technologies and/or systems for lunar surface power • Concerning Mars, an SPS-derived SEPS-MTV architecture may enable additional changes — including key reductions in other mission masses, including: - Elimination of separate development of surface nuclear reactor power systems - Other modifications are possible, including: • Use of higher energy chemical propulsion (i.e., LOX-Hydrogen) in some applications due to the availability of ample electrical power for refrigeration • Resizing of various vehicle elements as appropriate to the new technologies and architecture • etc. SPACE SOLAR POWER & EXPLORATION POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON MARS MISSION COSTS • A recent analysis indicates that the principal limits on reducing the cost of Mars missions include (in order of importance): - The cost of system development and fabrication - The cost of Earth-to-orbit transportation - The cost of mission operations • The principal potential advantage associated with the “SolarClipper” Mars transportation system concept would derive from its potential impact on program costs - The SunTower SPS has been compared to the 1979 SPS Reference System concept - Eventually the two approaches provide similar economic performance, however the “hyper-modular” SunTower approach drives costs down faster and earlier • A very highly modularized Mars transportation system approach which does not increase total mission mass or reduce overall reliability may also have the potential to significantly improve Mars mission costs
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