Lockheed Martin has launched its campaign to establish a “Mars Base Camp” – a vision for sending humans to Mars by 2028.
The Mars Base Camp concept is to transport astronauts from Earth to a Mars-orbiting science laboratory where they can perform real-time scientific exploration, analyze Martian rock and soil samples, and confirm the ideal place to land humans on the surface.
This orbiting science station is envisioned to be launched in 2028, setting the stage for a human landing mission in the 2030s.
Key elements
The elements are:
- Orion: The deep-space crew capsule, built with deep space life support, communications and navigation.
- Space Launch System: Super heavy lift designed to send critical labs, habitats and supplies to Mars.
- Habitats: Deep space habitats will give astronauts room to live and work on the way to Mars.
- Solar Electric Propulsion: Based on technology already in place on satellites, this advanced propulsion will pre-position key supplies in Mars orbit.
Interplanetary ship
As detailed by Lockheed Martin, the major components of the architecture will be launched separately. Some are pre-positioned in Mars orbit ahead of time.
Other components are assembled in cis-lunar space for the journey to Mars.
Six astronauts would launch on Orion, which serves as the heart of the Mars Base Camp interplanetary ship.
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