Mars aerocapture studies for the design reference mission

NASA is currently developing plans for the first human Mars landing to occur in 2014 after cargo flights deliver surface components and the Earth return vehicle two years prior to the crew's arrival. The mission design calls for rapid crew transits, a long-duration surface stay, and aerocapture for both the manned and robotic vehicles at Mars. To minimize on-orbit assembly, a triconic aerobrake has been selected which can be launched as a single piece and also will serve as the launch shroud during lift-off from Earth. The current paper presents the results of aerocapture studies using this configuration for fast-transit, crew vehicles. The effect of transit time on entry velocity and trans-Mars injection delta V are discussed, overshoot and undershoot trajectories are considered, and entry heating pulses are presented.