An opposition class piloted mission to Mars using telerobotics for landing site reconnaissance and exploration

Abstract

The authors propose a new architecture for a first piloted mission to Mars. A crew travels to and from Mars in the same type of vehicle as will be used for the first piloted landing mission. Two or three surface rovers travel to Mars separately. The rovers land at widely separated potential human landing sites within a single hemisphere. The piloted vehicle (orbiter) achieves an orbit around Mars with a period equal to one Martian day (sol), so that continuous line-of-sight communications exists between the orbiter and the rovers. The crew operates the rovers from orbit using telerobotics and telepresence technology. The rovers, which have traverse ranges measured in kilometers per day, perform extensive landing site reconnaissance, weather observations, and geological sample collection and analysis, including water detection experiments. The mission lasts approximately 40 days in Mars orbit. Major objectives include rigorous flight test of the piloted vehicle, precision landing site characterization and selection at a level of detail unattainable from orbit, and predeployment of the teleoperated rovers for later use as robotic assistants during human surface missions. All of these objectives can reduce the risk to the first crew to land on Mars. Such a mission could be launched at least one synodic period ahead of the earliest planned piloted landing.