Tag Archives: Hohmann Transfer

Who’s In Charge?

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by in Earth Space Exploration Program, Mars, Mars 2016, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Sol 20 (1.1.20)  6:51 PM NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  23 January 2016  2:00 PM PST

When the United States went to the Moon they were guided by ‘Mission Control.’ In many ways the astronauts were dependent and subservient to the people on the ground. In part, that was because the critical information that supplied data about ship operations was in the massive computers on the ground.

Mars Mission is not controlled from the Earth-based control centers. The mission crew does work with ground based centers; however, those perform an advisory role, not an authoritative one. When the ships and crew are commissioned, Commander Jenna Wade will be the final authority on all ship and mission decisions.

Mars Orbital Transfer Path

Earth to Mars in 110 days

This is not an arbitrary decision, but one of necessity as time delay between Earth and Mars could mean the difference between life and death for the crew. In addition, the crew will almost always have more information about a situation than anyone on Earth.

That is why 1 February is more than just ceremony when the ships and crew are commissioned. The mission actually begins on that day and when ESS QE II departs orbit on 24 February, it will just be another day for the crew…well, maybe another BIG day.

Blast Propulsion

19 Tuesday Jan 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Sol 16 (1.1.16)  9:24 PM NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  19 January 2016  2:00 PM PST

Both the ESS QE II and the ESS Sagan are have blast propulsion, known as Impulse Cycle Propulsion (ICP). This consists of a series of explosions behind the ship that push it forward.

Mars Pulse Engine Drive

Artist rendition of a Blast Propulsion Drive

Each bomb, or pellet is pushed out of the engine section of the ship and is attached be a wire or tether. When the pellet reaches the correct distance the tether pulls taught and signals the ship. At that millisecond the computer on the ship sends the detonation code to the pellet and it explodes. The strength of the explosive force on the ship is determined by the pellet type and size, and the length of the tether. Acceleration of the ship is determined by explosive force and the frequency of pellet deployment.

The engine section consists of a blast plate and blast umbrella that absorbs most of the blast. The blast plate and umbrella is connected to the ship by sixteen resistance rods, or shock absorbers, that both cushion the shock of the pellet detonation and generate power using electrostatic generators on each rod that produce electricity from friction.

The blast umbrella plates also have electrostatic generator shock absorbers rods that also generate electricity for the ship as well as absorb more of the pellet blast to propel the ship.

The ship also has the more traditional chemical-based engines to correct and alter course. Each Quill section has it’s own engine and it is tied into the Command section. The engines on the Quill sections are primarily for landing on Mars. 

Acceleration of the ESS QE II is designed for 9.81 meters per second per second, which is equal to 1 g (the same gravity force of Earth at sea level.) It can accelerate up to 2 g; however, the needed speed to accelerate to 150,000 km/hr (41.67 km/s) only requires 4.25 seconds of acceleration at 1 g, so 2 g acceleration is not needed. In fact, the QE II will accelerate to 45,000 km/hr on the first day, then evaluate the ship’s performance. It will then accelerate to 100,000 km/hr on the third day, and then match speed with the ESS Sagan on the six day.  

The ESS Sagan will leave orbit two and a half days after the QE II departs, but will accelerate to 150,000 km/hr over a 12 hour period. It will overtake the QE II. The QE II will disassemble and recombine with the Sagan creating one larger ship. The combined ships will continue their 110 day trip to Mars. Other than course corrections, the ships will not use the ICP engine again until it is time to decelerate for Mars orbit.

The Earth/Mars Dance

16 Saturday Jan 2016

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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 1, Sur One, Sol 13 (1.1.13)  11:19 PM NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  16 January 2016  2:00 PM PST

Any journey begins with a beginning point and an ending point. Our journey to Mars is no different; however, in this case the beginning point and the ending point are in motion and the distance between them varies depending on where each planet is in their orbit.

Launch Day
Closest Approach

Mars and Earth will be at their closest point on 30 May 2016. To take advantage of this the ESS Queen Elizabeth II and the ESS Carl Sagan will depart for Mars in late February and arrive in June. We call this a “up” orbital transfer because the ships are coming up from behind the planet to meet it in its orbit.

However, we will also be using a “head” orbital transfer in future missions. This is when the departure planet is ahead of the destination planet. It requires more fuel in most cases; however, it gives us more opportunities to send ships between the two planets. The next three missions to Mars will be using the head orbital transfer.

Because Earth moves faster than Mars, an up orbital transfer to Earth is impractical once it is ahead of Mars in orbit. For this reason the first return mission to Earth will be a ‘head’ orbital transfer in April 2017, and that mission won’t arrive at Earth until November 2017.

How We Get To Mars: The Ride

08 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in Mars, Mars 2016, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

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Date: Year 1, Sur One, Sol 5 (1.1.5)

There are 36 Quill sections that will be included on the first mission to Mars on the ESS Carl Sagan. An additional 12 sections will make up the ESS Queen Elizabeth II. Since each Core section can hold up to 12 Quill sections, there will be a total of four Core sections, each with 12 Quills. 

Mars Planet Situation 18 JUN

Planet positions when Mission 2016 reaches Mars

In addition to the Core/Quill sections there will be a Operations and Command section for each ship. There will also be two fuel storage sections, a pulse engine section (PE), a thrust absorption section (TAS). a chemical thrust engine section, four solar arrays, and a auxiliary engineering section for each ship. 

The ESS Queen Elizabeth II will leave Earth orbit on 24 February and the ESS Carl Sagan will leave on 26 February. The unmanned Sagan will accelerate faster and overtake the QEII on 29 February. The two ships will then integrate into one ship over the next few days.

Because of the sectional design of the ships, each craft is named according to the designation of the command section, which is typically the leading section. In the case of integration of two ships, the command section that  is:  1) part of the larger craft, 2) facing forward and, 3) is near the front of the craft, keeps its designation for the entire craft.

During this mission the ESS Carl Sagan will keep the designation through the entire mission. The command section for the ESS Queen Elizabeth II will be docked to the command section of the Sagan and serve as auxiliary command. At some point the command sections of the Sagan and the QEII will both return to Earth when the first crew rotations occur in late 2016 and throughout 2017.

It is important to note that while the Sagan and the QEII prepare to leave orbit, two more ships are being assembled for a Fall 2016 departure. At this time the plan is to send two craft to Mars approximately every six months for foreseeable future. Timing of each mission will depend on the needs of the Mars team and the location of Mars in relation to Earth.

Because we are no longer depending on the Hohmann Transfer, (using the minimum fuel to travel from Earth to Mars and back,) we have fewer issues with launch windows. The average speed of the ESS Carl Sagan will be about 150,000 km/hr. This will put it in orbit around Mars on 18 June.