international and commercial partners have begun activities to evolve ISS
habitation systems to meet future deep-space mission needs. With multiple
crewed Orion missions to cislunar space over the next decade (launched on an
evolved SLS), NASA will have many opportunities to use these habitations
systems, and evolve them to a deep-space habitation capability for future Mars
missions. This approach allows us to validate habitation system performance
and reliability in the deep-space environment prior to committing a crew on a
long journey to Mars.
NASA, together with its international and commercial partners, will develop a
strategy to complete “Mars-ready” habitation system testing on Earth and on
ISS. NASA and its partners will also develop an initial habitation capability for
short-duration missions in cislunar space during the early 2020s and evolve this
capability for long-duration missions in the later 2020s. A modular, pressurized
volume would enable extended stays by crews arriving with Orion. This initial
habitation capability in cislunar space would demonstrate all the capabilities and
countermeasures necessary to send humans on long-duration transit missions to
Mars. With this long-duration habitable volume and resources, NASA and its
partners will have the opportunity to validate Mars habitat concepts and
systems, including exercise systems, environmental monitoring systems, longduration consumables storage, fire safety in high-oxygen environments,
radiation shielding, and high-reliability avionics with long periods of dormancy.
Understanding the transition from dormancy to crew presence and back is
particularly important and can be tested with this capability. Between crewed
missions, deep-space habitation capabilities could be used to test autonomous
mission operations and transfer of control from the ground to vehicle systems
in preparation for the longer Mars missions. Many of the capabilities developed
for NASA’s deep space missions will also be useful for other missions—
including potential future commercial low Earth orbit space stations used by
other government agencies and the private sector as the agency transitions away
from the Space Station after 2024.
As designs for the Mars transit vehicle evolve and trajectories are determined,
future Proving Ground missions could launch additional modules to
incrementally build up capability. Using standardized interfaces, common
structures, and modular designs, multiple pressure vessels could be aggregated,
leading to a more complete habitation system to validate the full suite of
capabilities needed for the journey to Mars. Commonality and standardization
reduce unique developments and improve logistical efficiency. Standards also
increase opportunities for international and commercial partnerships. During the
habitat build-up and after initial missions, outdated or failing systems could be
replaced with new capabilities that leverage the standardized interfaces. This
approach provides an initial cislunar exploration capability with a pathway to a
reusable, evolvable infrastructure for human missions to Mars.
22
Standard interfaces
enable multi-use,
evolvable systems
to support transit
habitats, Mars ascent
vehicles, and surface
mobility