Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Access Mars: Assessing Cave Capabilities Establishing Specific Solutions: Final Report, Abdul Mohsen Al Husseini, Luis Alvarez Sanchez, Konstantinos Antonakopoulos, Jeffrey (Johannes) Apeldoorn, Kenneth Lowell Ashford Jr., Kutay Deniz Atabay, Sara Langston, Et Al.

Sara Langston

The human race has evolved, grown and expanded through the exploration of Earth. After initial steps on the Moon, our next challenge is to explore the solar system. Mars shows potential for both scientific discovery and future human settlement, and so is a prime candidate for the next leap of human exploration. Such a bold endeavor will be a driver for an unprecedented worldwide cooperative effort and the catalyst for a new era of international, intercultural and interdisciplinary human relations. Scientific and technological progress will also accelerate as mankind is ushered into a new era of space exploration.

Currently proposed …

Space Solar Power As An Enabler For A Human Mission To Mars, Corey Bergsrud, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

Space Solar Power (SSP), a technology based on the collection and aggregated transmission of light from the sun, offers an opportunity to create a deep space electrical infrastructure in order to provide the required level of power to a prospective Mars settlement. Several approaches to this challenge are presented and compared. Under the first approach, several Solar Powered Satellites (SPSs) are positioned in space between the Earth and Mars. These SPSs will capture large amounts of solar energy and transmit this energy in a focused beam via laser or microwave to relay SPSs until the energy finally reaches its Mars …

Space Settlements, Property Rights, And International Law: Could A Lunar Settlement Claim The Lunar Real Estate It Needs To Survive?, Alan Wasser, Douglas Jobes

Alan Wasser

The settlement of space and the expansion of the habitat of humanity beyond Earth will benefit all mankind but will be astronomically expensive. Private enterprise would do it if there were a sufficient profit potential, something only Lunar and Martian real estate is valuable enough to provide. Utilization of this tremendous potential value as an incentive has been prevented by the mistaken assumption that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty's prohibition of "national appropriation" and requirement of national supervision of private activities prohibit private property in space. This paper attempts to demonstrate, by expert legal consensus, that the 1967 Outer Space …