Mars Rocket Vehicle Using In Situ Propellants

The Mars In-Situ Propellants Rocket (MIPR) is a small vehicle proposed to fly autonomously on Mars, using in situ propellant production to manufacture rocket propellant directly out of the Martian atmosphere, thus demonstrating the feasibility of using local resources to "live off the land." It is proposed as a payload on a Mars Surveyor class lander as a reusable "hopper" vehicle. The vehicle explores the Martian surface under rocket power and can repeatedly take off and land, carrying a suite of science instruments over a range of hundreds of meters to several kilometers per hop. The flight demonstration will accomplish a range of technology objectives important to both unmanned probes and to future human missions, including demonstration of a suborbital Mars launch vehicle, demonstrating storage of cryogenic propellants on the Mars surface, demonstration of a pressure-fed cryogenic propulsion system for Mars ascent vehicles, demonstration of a lightweight space engine, and use for the first time of propellants manufactured in situ on another planetary body. In addition to these technology objectives, the MIPR vehicle can carry a science payload that will advance our understanding of the surface and atmosphere of Mars. (Author)