EXPLORING MARS
BACHELOR THESIS JOAKIM ENGLANDER
UMEÅ INSTITUTE OF DESIGN 2017
ABSTRACT
The idea of human explorers walk- ing on the surface of Mars has long been a dream for scientists, but in the last couple of years this idea has come closer to becoming real- ity.
Nasa is developing the capabilities needed to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s with the use of their Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft, and SpaceX recently unveiled plans for their Interplanetary Transport System taking humans to the planet within a ten year period. There’s also a whole range of concepts in devel- opment for constructing habitats for humans on both the Moon and Mars.
The aim of this project is to investi- gate what requirements and limita- tions is involved in exploring Mars, and how these can be applied to designing a vehicle for extreme environments. This will be done through research, interviews and idea generation.
The project will result in a vehicle concept that tries to tackle the unique environment on Mars.
THANK YOU
Examinator
Per Sihlén
Tutors
Eva-Lena Bäckström Tord Berggren
Jonas Sandström
Advisory Partner
Paulo Bellutta - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 7
ADVISORY PARTNER 8
TARGET GROUP 9
PURPOSE & DESIGN PROBLEM 9 LIMITATIONS 9
MISSION TO MARS 10
SCENARIO 11 RESEARCH 13 THE MARTIAN ENVIRONMENT 14
SIMILAR VEHICLES 16
THE USER 18
FUNCTION MINDMAP 20
FOCUS AREA 21
IDEATION 23
INITIAL SKETCHES 24
BRAINSTORM 25
PACKAGING SOLUTIONS 26
CONCEPT 1 28
CONCEPT 2 29
CONCEPT 3 30
EVALUATION 31 DEVELOPMENT 33
FORM BOARD 34
MATERIAL BOARD 35
COLOUR BOARD 36
COLOUR SCHEME 37
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT 38
FORM DEVELOPMENT 40
PRODUCT 43
FINAL CONCEPT 44
3/4 FRONT LAYOUT 46
SEAT LAYOUT 48
3/4 BACK LAYOUT 50
FUNCTIONS 52 SUSPENSION 54 SCENARIO 56 MODEL 74
SOURCE REFERENCE 76
IMAGE REFERENCE 77
“We are all... children of this universe. Not just Earth, or Mars, or this System, but the whole grand fireworks. And if we are interested in Mars at all, it is only because we wonder over our past and worry terribly about our possible future.”
Ray Bradbury,
‘Mars and the Mind of Man’
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INTRODUCTION
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TARGET GROUP
The project will target space agencies that are planning to explore Mars such as; NASA, ESA and CNSA. Privately funded space initiatives such as SpaceX.
The users are astronauts working on the surface and using spacesuits.
LIMITATIONS
The project’s focus will be on how as- tronauts could be transported on the Martian surface, along with necessary equipment. Spacesuits, habitation and life support systems on the Martian sur- face will not be examined.
ADVISORY PARTNER
The project was with assistance from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Robot- ics.
The Robotics division is responsible for the Curiosity and Opportunity Missions on Mars.
I was in contact with two engineers and
drivers of the Curiosity Rover. They as- sisted with advice on the feasibility of my concepts and helped with concept evalu- ation.
PURPOSE & DESIGN PROBLEM
The purpose of the design project is to in- vestigate how transportation could func- tion when moved to an extreme exoplan- etary environment.
Mars is the only planet, apart from Earth, that humans will visit within a foreseeable time period.
Since the planet have no atmosphere and faces extremely harsh conditions this will impact how transportation could be de- signed.
The question that drove me through out the design project was therefore:
How can I design an unpressurised vehi- cle capable of transporting an astronaut across the surface of Mars?
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MISSION TO MARS
Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar sys- tem. Its formation and evolution are com- parable to Earth which will help us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Since Mars had conditions suita- ble for life in the past.
Future exploration, both robotic and human, could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mys- teries of the cosmos: Does life exist be- yond Earth?
The search for the existence of life or evidence for past life is the major reason for sending a manned mission to Mars.
Because of the limitations of the current
robotic missions, they are slow and con- trolled remotely, a mission consisting of humans is on NASAs roadmap for the future.
Sending specialists in biology and geolo- gy would greatly enhance the ways that samples are collected.
The current administration of the United States of America have given NASA the task of landing humans on Mars by the 2030s.
SCENARIO
As a basis for my design project I came up with a scenario based on NASAs Ref- erence Mission. The Reference Missions are hypothetical missions that explore how a mission to Mars could be achieved using the technology of today.
There are three separate scenarios for a manned mission to Mars;
The Mobile Home scenario in which large pressurized rovers along with a habitat and laboratory module is landed on Mars.
The crew then makes a series of travers- es across the planet stopping along the way to explore.
The second scenario is the Commuter scenario, in which a base camp is estab- lished and trips are made from this loca- tion using a pressurized or unpressurised rover.
The third is the Telecommuter, this is similar to the Commuter scenario except that the exploration is done using remote- ly controlled rovers. The astronauts only leave the base for short trips in this sce- nario.
For this design project I decided to use a combination of the first two scenarios.
Placing my hypothetical mission in the 2040s, a permanent base would have been established on Mars. From this home base there would be a number of traverses made by pressurized rovers over periods of several weeks. During these trips smaller unpressurised vehicles would be used for short excursions.
Smaller rovers would also play an impor- tant role in making shorter trips from the home base. Using a vehicle for these trips would save both time and energy, as well as making sure the astronauts arrive at their destination fresh and ready to pro- ceed with their work.
In an emergency situation it would also be possible to quickly get back to the home base/mobile habitat.
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RESEARCH
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THE MARTIAN ENVIRONMENT
The planet Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system. It is roughly half the size of the Earth and is also roughly twice the distance away from the Sun.
Because of a lack of magnetosphere the planets atmosphere has been stripped away by the solar wind. The lack of a magnetosphere also means that Mars lack protection from radtion coming from the Sun. This has a degrading effect on all organic materials as well as electric components, which means that they would have to be insulated to be protect- ed from radiation.
The Martian surface is equivalent to a cold desert on Earth. It is covered by fine sand and sharp bedrock. Craters filled with windblown sand is also a major haz- ard.
The climate is very extreme with temper- atures ranging from -100° to +20°. These extreme temperature changes causes electric components to malfunction un- less they are heated by radiators. The extreme cold also make the use of rubber and plastic impossible as they will be- come brittle and break.
All though there are very fast winds on Mars, the low atmospheric pressure makes storms the equivalent of a light breeze on Earth. This means that cool- ing engines using fans is not possible on Mars.
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SIMILAR VEHICLES
As there are no current vehicles being developed for Mars I took inspiration and design cues from earlier vehicles and pro- totypes that NASA has developed over the years.
These vehicles are characterised by being very open, designed to drive at very low speeds and very function oriented.
The main points are that they are fairly low, making ingress/egress very easy.
They are also packed with scientific in- struments and are more or less driven not by design but by engineering.
My aim for this project was to do some- thing in a similar vein but adding a more coherent aesthetic.
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THE USER
The main user of the vehicle is the atro- nauts who will explore Mars. There is a lot of research being done in the develop- ment of a new space suit, with the Z2 suit being the most recent one. It will most likely be a pressurised rear-entry suit.
The current test suits consist of a hard shell torso part and soft fabric for the limbs. The extra bulk of the suit enables movement even when the suit is pressur- ised. The suit is equipped with a life sup- port system in the backpack, and a large visor for increased visibility.
Advancements in suit construction means that even though the suits look as if it is hard to move in them, this is not the case. As seen in the lower right image, manoeuvres such as crouching and sit- ting down can be performed with relative ease.
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FUNCTION MINDMAP
To better organise the different compo- nents that had to be included I created a functions based mind map.
This enabled me to get a clear over view of what had to be addressed in the con- cept phase. It also showed the complex- ity of the project, and I had to take an
overall approach to the design, otherwise I wouldn’t have time to complete the pro- ject on time.
The mind map was a work in progress and evolved during the project, some parts remained and other parts became redundant and where removed.
FOCUS AREA
My focus was on designing a small ve- hicle that could transport the astronauts from the Mobile Habitat/Home Base to areas of particular interest saving both
time and energy. As there are no similar vehicles, the mind map helped me focus on the particular problems that needed solving.
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IDEATION
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INITIAL SKETCHES
I began the ideation phase with present- ing a couple of initilal sketches and doo- dles to my contact at NASA.
This was a way of starting a conversation and discuss the main differences be- tween vehicles on Earth and those de- signed for other planets.
With these first couple of sketches I had missed the mark completely which helped me refocus.
The main problem was the use of pan- elling that did not serve a purpose. This came to be a constant struggle through- out the design process.
BRAINSTORM
In order to help me get started and define different requirements for the vehicle, I teamed up with some of my classmates for a quick brainstorm session.
During the brainstorm we discussed freely around different options that were available to get astronauts from point A to point B.
A lot of good ideas were generated in the workshop. I then summarized the result afterwards which helped me establish three different angles that I could move forward with.
As a result of the workshop I went back and redefined my functions into three diffrent concepts. This provided me with a good foundation for the upcoming phase.
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PACKAGING SOLUTIONS
Based on my workshop and the redefin- ing of my function list I started blocking out different packaging options.
I tried to stay as blocky as possible and not really designing any shapes at this point.
This portion of work was done in 3DCoat, a voxel modelling program which is sim- ilar to working in clay. This make it easy to play around with volumes as you can stretch and cutting in to them to create new forms without worrying about topol- ogy.
This was very much an exploration phase where I tried out a lot of different vari- ations. 3D modelling was followed by quick paint-overs in Photoshop.
My main focus was to provide space for batteries, storage and seating for at least one astronaut.
The best ideas from this phase was then summarized into three different concepts that were sent to my contact at NASA for evaluation.
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CONCEPT 1
The first concept used an architecture similar to a car while at the same time incorporating elements that would make it work in the Martian environment.
This concept is meant for longer excur- sions and is equipped with more storage options because of this.
It has fully rotational 360° wheels with individual suspension which enables it to traverse difficult terrain. With the individu- al suspension it is also possible to raise/
lower the vehicle to make ingress/egress easier.
It has the battery in the front to free up space in the bottom. Two storage com- partments on the side and in the back that are easily reachable.
It has a life-support unit placed behind the seat, and is equipped with solar pan- els in the back.
The wheels are a textile composite with an aluminium honeycomb suspension pattern.
CONCEPT 2
With the second concept I tried to move away from a more traditional look and focused on a more exposed vehicle. This would make it lighter and easier to trans- port.
This concept is meant for shorter excur- sions and has less storage options.
It has individual suspension and is able to lean into the terrain, making it able to climb steeper slopes.
It has the battery placed below the seat to make the vehicle more stable with a lower centre of gravity
It has a life-support unit placed behind the seat. The wheels are a textile com- posite with an aluminium honeycomb suspension pattern.
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CONCEPT 3
The aim of the third concepts was to push the vehicles off-road capabilities. It has individual suspension that can extend or retract as well as being able to “walk”
over more difficult terrain.
It is controlled by joystick and can crab drive as well as drive normally. The wheels are constructed out of a steel mesh with titanium reinforcements. The steel mesh provides rudimentary suspen- sion.
Storage compartments are placed at the sides and in the back for easy access.
Similarly to the other concepts the
life-support unit is placed behind the seat.
EVALUATION
The different concepts were evaluated in discussion with my contact at NASA. The first two concepts had a couple of strong points.
Concept 2 was the one that they at NASA felt was most in line with the re- quirements that a future vehicle of Mars would have to conform with.
Regarding solar panels to charge the battery, these would probably have to be used when the vehicle is stationary and able to fold out to increase the area that they cover. This is due to Mars being twice the distance from the Sun than the Earth is.
The main concern was visibility and ease of access to all the compartments.
As well as the suspension system, the problem with space and Mars is the cold which makes springs and metal brittle which increases the risk for failure.
I decided to move forward with a mix of Concepts 1 and 2. I made this decision to make it possible to make a slightly larger vehicle to increase storage capac- ity. A slightly larger design would make it possible to conduct more long range missions, with the inclusion of solar pan- els and additional life support.
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DEVELOPMENT
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FORM BOARD
With the form board the aim was to get a high tech feel for the product. Taking cues from NASAs form language and contrasting it with dynamic lines. Creating a contrast between panelling and “techy” parts.
MATERIAL BOARD
Because of the extreme conditions on the surface of Mars, a lot of materials normal- ly used in vehicle manufacturing can’t be used.
I wanted the design to reflect this, and set up a material board to reference during the design process.
Materials that are used in space is for ex- ample; aluminium, different kinds of com- posites and materials that are capable of enduring extreme shifts in temperature, as well as the degrading effects of radia- tion.
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COLOUR BOARD
The colour board was used to connect the colour scheme to NASA and other space agencies. I wanted it to reflect the NASA aesthetic as well as connect to Mars.
COLOUR SCHEME
The main colour is white, in space and on Mars this is important for two reasons.
White helps dissipate heat away from the vehicle, something that is important when cooling is an issue. The second reason is contrast against the environment, a white coloured vehicle will be easy to spot in the Martian landscape.
The black colour connects back to the thermal plates on the space shuttle and separates the lower mechanical part of the vehicle from the top part.
The orange colour is used as accent and as a mission marker, connecting the vehi- cle to Mars.
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
When I had settled on the final direction of the project I started working on the volumes and trying different approaches to get them to fit together nicely.
The hardest part was to try to fuse the hardcore engineering appearance of NASA with a more futuristic sleek ex- pression.
The focus was to establish the main vol- ume of the vehicle as well as working on
the how the seat could be worked into the general form.
During this phase I got feedback from Jo- nas Sandström on the aesthetic appear- ance of the form and after his tutoring I decided to try a less boxy appearance and incorporate more dynamic lines.
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FORM DEVELOPMENT
During this phase I worked further on the different parts of the concept, switch- ing over to Alias Speedform to get more control on curvature and shapes. A lot of time went into getting an expression that I felt communicated both durability and futurism.
I constantly switched between CAD and Photoshop as well as making small doo- dles and quick sketches in my sketch- book.
The main idea was dynamic lines going through the form, I used chamfers along the edges to connect the hand rails to the main body and the seat.
The back part of the vehicle was left a bit to high which left a lot of space that could be utilised for storage. Therefore in the final stages of the design I decided to bring that part down a bit, which made the form feel more utilitarian.
During this phase I also did some ergo- nomic testing both with my CAD model as well as in the real world where I tried out different ways of ingress/egress and at what heights the rear portion of the storage area should be.
The suspension went through a lot of iteration as well as it needed to be able to lower or raise the vehicle
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PRODUCT
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FINAL CONCEPT
The Mars Roving Vehicle is a lightweight all-terrain vehicle designed to assist astronauts on short duration missions on Mars.
It is powered by Ion lithium batteries that connect to four in-wheel electric engines.
Batteries can be charged using a cord to connect it to the Mobile Habitat or by connecting it to two foldable solar panels kept in the back of the vehicle.
The MRV can adjust ground clearance with the use of its suspension system.
This enables easy ingress and egress for astronauts, as well as adjusting the height of the cargo hold to operate sci- ence equipment.
This will also make it easier to load/
unload equipment as the cargo com- partment can be adjusted to the proper height.
Using LIDAR the vehicle can operate autonomously, driving along pre-selected routes and join the astronauts as a mov- ing science platform. Using voice com- mands, the MRV can follow an astronaut and/or proceed to predetermined check- points.
On-board life support is designed to connect with the astronaut when he/she is seated in the control chair, this is con- trolled from the control pad next to the joystick.
The system is modular to make it possi- ble to change configurations depending on mission. Antennas and communica- tion are always present.
The main material used is aluminum for almost all structural parts. It is durable and lightweight. Graphite/Epoxy com- posites are used for vadditional details in combination with thermal insulation (gold) and Kapton tape (also gold) which is tolerant to gamma rays.
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Headlights Science equipment
LIDAR
Life support unit
Aluminium wheels
In-wheel electric motors
3/4 FRONT LAYOUT
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Attachment points for seat belt
Hollow seat to make room for back pack
SEAT LAYOUT
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Attachment points for additional equipment
Modular storage area
Ion lithium battery pack
3/4 BACK LAYOUT
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1
1 2
3
3 4
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5
2
Components
1. Battery pack 2. Electric hub engines 3. Suspension 4. Life support unit 5. Detachable panels 6. Science equipment 7. Control unit 8. Hub 9. LIDAR
FUNCTIONS
The packing space can be adjusted depending on the needs of the particular mission.
The MRV adjusts itself to the ideal working height.
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SUSPENSION
The individual suspension can be adjusted to offer higher or lower ground clearance.
This is useful in off-road scenarios, but also during ingress/egress and while packing.
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SCENARIO
The following is a scenario in which the MRV could be used. A major part of fu- ture missions to Mars is the collection of soil samples for analysis.
In this scenario the astronauts have a permanent base on the Martian surface from which they can do smaller explora- tion trips using the MRV. For longer trips larger pressurised rovers would be used.
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At the start of the mission, the MRV is loaded with equipment relevant for the mission.
In this case, storage boxes for soil sample return, and preliminary analysis equipment.
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To make ingress easier the MRV is lowered before the astronaut climb aboard.
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The control panel can be easily adjusted depending on the astronauts preferences.
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The shape of the seat provides back support and provides room for the astronauts back pack at the same time.
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The MRV is designed to easily traverse the Martian landscape, utilising large flexible aluminium wheels. These add suspension as well as prevent the MRV from sinking inot the sand.
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When the astronaut has arrived at the predetermined destination he or she start the sample collection. Meanwhile the MRV, which can operate autonomously remains nearby, within easy walking distance.
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When enough samples have been collected, they can be stored or analysed in the back part of the MRV.
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When the mission is finished, it is only a short (or sometimes quite long) way back to the Home Base.
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MODEL
I 3d-printed a small scale volume model to better visualise the form. I chose to simplify the volumes to make it easier to understand the larger shapes.
The model was left unpainted, to avoid confusing it with a high-finish exhibition model.
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SOURCE REFERENCE
Drake, Bret G. (ed.). 2009. Human exploration of Mars, design reference architecture 5.0. NASA/SP-2009-566. http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/
Drake, Bret G. (ed.). 2009. Human exploration of Mars, design reference architecture 5.0 Addendum. NASA/SP-2009-566-ADD. http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/
Drake, Bret G. (ed.). 2014. Human exploration of Mars, design reference architecture 5.0 Addendum #2. NASA/SP-2009-566-ADD2. http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/
TRS/
Drake, Bret G. 2007. From the Moon to Mars. https://www.researchgate.net/publica- tion/252934251_The_Things_We_Most_Need_to_Learn_at_the_Moon_to_Support_
the_Subsequent_Human_Exploration_of_Mars
2015. NASA’s journey to Mars - Pioneering next steps in space exploration. NP-2015- 08-2018-HQ. http://www.nasa.gov
Abbud-Madrid, A., D.W. Beaty, D. Boucher, B. Bussey, R. Davis, L. Gertsch, L.E. Hays, J. Kleinhenz, M.A. Meyer, M. Moats, R.P. Mueller, A. Paz, N. Suzuki, P. van Susante, C. Whetsel, E.A. Zbinden. 2016. Report of the Mars Water In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Planning (M-WIP) Study. http://mepag.nasa.gov/reports/Mars_Water_ISRU_
Study.pptx
Grant, John. (ed.). 2006. MEPAG (2006), Mars Scientific Goals, Objectives, Investiga- tions, and Priorities. http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/index.html.
The Mars exploration rovers: Spirit and Oppurtunity. JPL 400-1548A. http://www.nasa.
gov
Delgado, Frank. 2005. Science Crew Operations and Utility Testbed (SCOUT). NASA Johnson Space Center.
Lulla, K., Bye J. (ed.). 2014. Research and technology development report 2014.
NASA Johnson Space Center. NASA TM-2013-217382
Modular Robotic Vehicle. MSC-TOPS-74. http://technology.nasa.gov 2016. The Humans to Mars report. http://www.exploremars.org NASA’s Journey to Mars
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html
IMAGE REFERENCE
All images p.1 - p.19 and p.35 - p.36 credit: NASA/JPL and/or NASA. http://www.
nasa.gov
Images p.35 (left to right):
Smart Lock (Qrio Smart Lock). http://www.g-mark.org/award/describe/42539?to- ken=CWCMqgoToe
Zhestkov, Maxim. http://www.zhestkov.com Guyon, Maxime. http://maximeguyon.com/
BESV Panther PS1. http://www.designboom.com/technology/besv-panther-ps1-elec- tric-bike-10-03-2014/
AUDI A4 Robot Commercial. https://www.behance.net/gallery/12107119/AU- DI-A4-ROBOTS-COMMERCIAL
