MadSci Network: Engineering |
Hi Hiram, First, please excuse the long delay in answering your question. Now to get on with your answer. There are Three possible mission profiles that have been evaluated: The Short Stay Mission-often referred to as an opposition-class mission, provides Mars stay times of 30 to 90 days with a round trip total time of 400 to 650 days. This mission class requires a large amount of energy to be expended in transit, even after taking advantage of either a Venus swingby (on either the inbound or outbound leg) or a deep space propulsive maneuver in order to limit Mars and Earth entry speeds. The Long-Stay Mission-(minimum energy)-usually referred to as a conjunction class mission, provides Mars stay times up to 500 days with a round trip total time of about 900 days. The energy requirments for this mission are the lowest of the three profiles. The Long-Stay Mission(fast transit)-provides long surface stay times. With increases in propulsive energy, the travel times to and from Mars can be reduced by up to 100 days each way resulting in an increase of surface stay time of 600 days.
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