Ascent and Earth Reentry Crew Descent Vehicle Concepts for Lunar and Mars Exploration

This paper presents a design proposal for a crew descent/ascent vehicle to deliver crews to lunar/Mars surfaces, return them to lunar/Mars orbits to dock with the trans-Earth return vehicles, and reenter the Earth's atmosphere for a surface landing. The paper also presents a proposed lunar/Mars lander that utilizes a tether system that deploys during the final descent stage to softly place payloads on the surface with minimum rocket blast ejecta which could pose ballistic hazards to nearby facilities. The design approach baselines vehicles and landers that can be placed in LEO using Medium Lift Vehicles (MLVs) (15 MT by 12 ft. diameter payload capacities), and are scalable to utilize larger launchers if available.