Space Pirates

Have you ever wanted a rocket pack to soar amongst the sky? Now you can … on Mars… Gravity is less, atmospheric density is less, and the vistas are breathtaking. So come to Mars...

Buck Rogers aside, Mars is an interesting environment for out-of-this-world mobility options for an explorer. This challenge asks for the definition of a conceptual mobility solution to allow an astronaut to easily and rapidly explore Mars including overcoming obstacles such as cliffs, ravines and other difficult terrain. The solution should be person-portable and any means or source of propulsion be locally produced.

This challenge can be answered by:

• producing an app to simulate your adventures in building your jet pack and flying around Mars;
• produce an app that provides the local gravity, atmospheric conditions (density, weather, anything-else-of-interest) to help decide what is needed for your jet pack design;
• perform a feasibility/conceptual study of an actual jet pack design that could use potential Mars fuel sources; or Design and Demonstrate a model scale jet pack using hardware.

"Marstronauts" can use new-age, modern jetpacks

• Apply low-level autonomy to jetpacks
• Extend & augment human capabilities
• Auto-routing with an established network of refueling stations each with nuclear reactors that generate its own fuel
• Fuel sources are in-situ production of CH4 & O2 using Mars' abundant CO2 via methanation & water electrolysis
• Route optimization around/over obstacles to destination using GPS satellites (most of Mars has already been mapped)
• Self-assembly feature reduces assembly time & labor for the astronaut
• Allows for Internet-of-Things applications between jetpacks of multiple astronauts
• Autopilot to home base in the event of injury or loss-of-consciousness of astronaut
• Robust Physics engine can be tweaked to adapt to any planetary/solid-body environment

Solely as a proof-of-concept, we developed a simulation/game based on the above information. The game is run using 1 of 2 configurations based on a user selection of 2 fuel tank sizes. Our autonomous jetpack then calculates the number of refueling stops needed to get to the destination safely based on an expected fuel usage using 3D satellite data. The duration of refueling stops are taken into consideration as well.

Future work:

• increasing the versatility of the Physics engine
• neural network analysis for better optimization of refueling station selection
• apply the engine to a more realistic 3D environment

- Mars Direct paper for fuel research

- Martian facts & Physics resources for modeling motion