Mission Opportunities for Human Exploration of Nearby Planetary Bodies

TL;DR

This paper analyzes various mission profiles for human exploration of nearby planetary bodies, including asteroids, Venus, and Mars, focusing on feasibility, mission parameters, and potential for future crewed landings.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive characterization of mission options to NEOs, Venus, and Mars, including transit times, ΔV, and radiation, highlighting feasible mission profiles with current propulsion tech.

Findings

ΔV requirements align with near-term chemical propulsion capabilities

Mission durations range from 90 days to one year

Orbital missions could serve as precursors to Mars landings

Abstract

We characterize mission profiles for human expeditions to near-Earth asteroids, Venus, and Mars. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are the closest destinations beyond cis-lunar space and present a compelling target with capabilities already under development by NASA and its partners. We present manned NEO mission options that would require between 90 days and one year. We next consider planetary flyby missions for Venus along the lines of plans that were first drafted during the Apollo program for human exploration of Venus. We also characterize a Mars flyby, and a double-flyby variant that would include close passes to both Venus and Mars. Finally, we consider orbital missions to Venus and Mars with capability for rendezvous with Phobos or Deimos. This would be a truly new class of mission for astronauts and could serve as a precursor to a human landing on Mars. We present launch opportunities, transit time, requisite {\Delta}V, and approximate radiation environment parameters for each mission class. We find that {\Delta}V requirements for each class of mission match near-term chemical propulsion system capabilities.