The tug would use solar-electric propulsion (SEP) to haul the two payloads to Mars orbit in just less than four years.Ī second SLS liftoff would carry another SEP tug and the Phobos base, which could support a crew of four. The first Phobos-oriented SLS launch, in 2029, would loft a space tug and two chemical-propulsion payloads - a Phobos Transfer Stage and a Trans-Earth Injection Stage. This would require four launches of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, which is currently in development and is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2018. The plan, which was devised by Price, John Baker and Firouz Naderi, would establish a base on Phobos, a roughly 16 kilometres-wide moon that orbits 6,000 km from the Martian surface.
He hopes the concept will help people view manned Mars exploration in a more optimistic light. The design is just a concept, not an official NASA strategy, Price said. Price and two colleagues at JPL have drawn up a proposed mission architecture that gets astronauts to Phobos by 2033, then down to the surface of Mars by 2039, '' reported. Price said that it is a good idea to get astronauts to Mars orbit - specifically, to Phobos or Deimos, one of Mars' two tiny moons - before trying to land them on the dusty Martian surface.īreaking up a manned red planet campaign into two discrete parts dilutes the risks and costs, making them more manageable on a year-by-year basis, he said. "It could happen in our lifetime, and it wouldn't take a trillion dollars to do it," Price said.
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