<p>As the world anxiously awaits for the first human mission to Mars, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a model that suggests refueling on the moon on way to Red Planet will minimise the mass and streamline cargo by 68 percent.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Previous studies have suggested that lunar soil and water ice in certain craters of the moon may be mined and converted to fuel.<br /><br />Assuming that such technologies are established at the time of a mission to Mars, the MIT team has found that taking a detour to the moon to refuel would reduce the mass considerably.<br /><br />According to Olivier de Weck, professor of aeronautics at MIT, their plan deviates from NASA's more direct "carry-along" route.<br /><br />"This is completely against the established common wisdom of how to go to Mars, which is a straight shot to Mars, carry everything with you," de Weck noted.<br /><br />"The idea of taking a detour into the lunar system ...it's very unintuitive. But from an optimal network and big-picture view, this could be very affordable in the long term, because you don't have to ship everything from Earth," he explained.<br /><br />The group has developed a model to determine the best route to Mars, assuming the availability of resources and fuel-generating infrastructure on the moon.<br /><br />Based on their calculations, they determined the optimal route to Mars, in order to minimise the mass that would have to be launched from Earth -- often a major cost driver in space exploration missions.<br /><br />They found the most mass-efficient path involves launching a crew from Earth with just enough fuel to get into orbit around the Earth.<br /><br />A fuel-producing plant on the surface of the moon would then launch tankers of fuel into space, where they would enter gravitational orbit.<br /><br />The tankers would eventually be picked up by the Mars-bound crew, which would then head to a nearby fueling station to gas up before ultimately heading to Mars.<br /><br />To make this happen, water ice -- which could potentially be mined and processed into rocket fuel -- has been found on both Mars and the moon.<br /><br />"There's a pretty high degree of confidence that these resources are available," de Weck added.<br /><br />"Assuming you can extract these resources, what do you do with it? Almost nobody has looked at that question," he pointed out.<br /><br />The new mathematical model improves on a conventional model for routing vehicles.<br />"We adapted the model for the more complex scenario of long-term missions in space -- taking into account constraints specific to space travel," said Takuto Ishimatsu, now a post-doc at MIT.<br /><br />The model assumes a future scenario in which fuel can be processed on, and transported from, the moon to rendezvous points in space.<br /><br />"Our ultimate goal is to colonise Mars and to establish a permanent, self-sustainable human presence there," Ishimatsu emphasised.<br /><br />"However, equally importantly, I believe that we need to 'pave a road' in space so that we can travel between planetary bodies in an affordable way," he noted.<br />The results were published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets.</p>
<p>As the world anxiously awaits for the first human mission to Mars, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a model that suggests refueling on the moon on way to Red Planet will minimise the mass and streamline cargo by 68 percent.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Previous studies have suggested that lunar soil and water ice in certain craters of the moon may be mined and converted to fuel.<br /><br />Assuming that such technologies are established at the time of a mission to Mars, the MIT team has found that taking a detour to the moon to refuel would reduce the mass considerably.<br /><br />According to Olivier de Weck, professor of aeronautics at MIT, their plan deviates from NASA's more direct "carry-along" route.<br /><br />"This is completely against the established common wisdom of how to go to Mars, which is a straight shot to Mars, carry everything with you," de Weck noted.<br /><br />"The idea of taking a detour into the lunar system ...it's very unintuitive. But from an optimal network and big-picture view, this could be very affordable in the long term, because you don't have to ship everything from Earth," he explained.<br /><br />The group has developed a model to determine the best route to Mars, assuming the availability of resources and fuel-generating infrastructure on the moon.<br /><br />Based on their calculations, they determined the optimal route to Mars, in order to minimise the mass that would have to be launched from Earth -- often a major cost driver in space exploration missions.<br /><br />They found the most mass-efficient path involves launching a crew from Earth with just enough fuel to get into orbit around the Earth.<br /><br />A fuel-producing plant on the surface of the moon would then launch tankers of fuel into space, where they would enter gravitational orbit.<br /><br />The tankers would eventually be picked up by the Mars-bound crew, which would then head to a nearby fueling station to gas up before ultimately heading to Mars.<br /><br />To make this happen, water ice -- which could potentially be mined and processed into rocket fuel -- has been found on both Mars and the moon.<br /><br />"There's a pretty high degree of confidence that these resources are available," de Weck added.<br /><br />"Assuming you can extract these resources, what do you do with it? Almost nobody has looked at that question," he pointed out.<br /><br />The new mathematical model improves on a conventional model for routing vehicles.<br />"We adapted the model for the more complex scenario of long-term missions in space -- taking into account constraints specific to space travel," said Takuto Ishimatsu, now a post-doc at MIT.<br /><br />The model assumes a future scenario in which fuel can be processed on, and transported from, the moon to rendezvous points in space.<br /><br />"Our ultimate goal is to colonise Mars and to establish a permanent, self-sustainable human presence there," Ishimatsu emphasised.<br /><br />"However, equally importantly, I believe that we need to 'pave a road' in space so that we can travel between planetary bodies in an affordable way," he noted.<br />The results were published in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets.</p>