Cyclical visits to Mars via astronaut hotels

From the article: We all now what hotels and motels are, but did you ever think of spending some time in an Astrotel? For the generations to come, it will still be a rather breathtaking experience to travel to such a spaceport, and probably the number of people who will stay there on their way to Mars will be limited. But, according to GAC, Global Aerospace Corporation, Astrotels may very well become frequently used […]

Main Belt Transportation System?

From the article: At the 10-11 June annual meeting of NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), Global Aerospace Corporation (GCA) delivered a status report on its phase II concept study, “Cyclical Visits to Mars via Astronaut Hotels” (GCA calls them “AstroTels”). Funded through next January by NIAC, the concept in development is a way to cost-effectively service a small […]

Human Mars Exploration Transportation: Bridging Concept of Operations

A bridging architecture between a sustained Lunar exploration architecture and a sustained Mars transportation architecture is presented. The Mars architecture assumes sustained Mars operations as a final goal. A bridging Mars exploration transportation Concept of Operations (CONOPS) was developed. We describe the needed Earth/Moon system architecture, the sustained Mars system infrastructure, and the bridging Mars transportation infrastructure. Three trade space […]

An Express Transportation Architecture for Human Mars Exploration

If future plans for human space travel include recurring visits to a Mars Base for research and exploration, an efficient and fast transportation system will be crucial for rotating crews back and forth between Earth and Mars and to resupply needed equipment and fuels. An innovative interplanetary transportation architecture is described that uses highly autonomous, solar-powered, ion-propelled Astronaut Hotels, […]

How to Put Humans on Mars by 2035

From the article: At a meeting of space-settlement enthusiasts earlier this year at Princeton University, Kerry Nock asked for a show of hands from people who think there won’t eventually be some sort of permanent base on Mars. No hands went up. He knew none would. This was an audience of believers. Nock, president of Global Aerospace Corporation, was there […]