Manned Spacecraft Designed for Mars Long-term Space Mission

Abstract

The structural system of a manned spacecraft must ensure safe environmental conditions and safe operation during every stage of the mission. The complexity and difficulty of the design tasks, processes, and technologies for manufacturing such vehicles increases significantly in the case of a spacecraft intended for long-duration space missions. Its design must provide the crew with adequate protection from the adverse effects coming from deep space and must incorporate structures that generate local microgravity conditions, allowing astronauts to experience gravity equivalent to that experienced on Earth at sea level. The main body of the proposed spacecraft has a compact geometric solid, with counter-rotating toroidal structures located within its interior. This paper presents the author's proposed structural system for a manned spacecraft that can successfully meet the key requirements for this type of space vehicle, which could be used in the near future for a flight to Mars and subsequent return to Earth. The proposed spacecraft could also serve as a manned space station orbiting Earth, the Moon, or another celestial body.