OFMM

Orbiter Forum Mars Mission (OFMM) codenamed: Prometheus is, a project undergone by Orbiter Forum members that will simulate a mission to Mars using future realistic technology.

Mission

First and foremost, establish habitation areas for astronauts. Second, start production of fuel for vessels. Third, start scientific gatherings (resource collection)

#Objective	Description
O10000	Establish habitation area for 20 astronauts
O20000	Produce propellants in-situ for four lift-offs per season
O30000	Locate water ice
O30001	Locate suitable minerals for producing propellants.
O30002	Locate suitable minerals for in-situ concrete production.
O30003	Establish a grid network of permanent weather stations on Mars.

Primary Vessels

OFMM spaceflight plan

Space Craft

IDMS (Independent Detachable Maneuvering System)

• Proposed vehicle ( Nerva2 )

This system will be the rocket engine that will send vehicles and vessels to Mars. Once cargo has obtained LMO (low Mars orbit) IDMS will serve as the propulsion system from transportation from Mars to Earth and back.

Atmospheric/Orbital Vessels

OSHV (Orbital and Surface habitation vessel)

• Proposed vehicles ( pending )

This module is the primary vessel where the crew will live and work during the entire mission. This module needs to be able to aerobrake and land on Mars. Support several crew for at least 2 years (with the help of service modules ext)

Design options:

• Environmental Control and Life Support Subsystem (ECLSS)
• Electrical Power Subsystem
  • Power generation
  • Power storage
• Landing system
  • Integrated landing system
  • External landing system
    • Skycrane
      • With inflatable heat shield
      • with rigid heat shield

HCV (Heavy Cargo Vessel)

• Proposed vehicle ( pending(Skycrane-style lander), Arrow )

This vessel is primarily used as cargo transportation between the Martian surface and LMO. This vessel will mostly stay in LMO and on Mars.

SMEV (Small Mars Exploration Vehicle)

UCGO Azure- This vehicle has a mass of 26000kg, and is able to carry up to four passengers at a time, as well as two cargoes. Its maximum speed is roughly 50km/h, which meets the needs required by the mission. It also runs on electric power, so it need not draw directly from fuel production and/or fuel supplies from other vehicles.

Ares Glider (pending)- This vehicle would be used for longer ranged missions on Mars, which cannot be accomplished efficiently using the UCGO Azure. It will be confirmed or rejected once its viability on the Martian surface is determined.

MRCS (Mars Radio Communications System)

• Proposed vehicles ( DGIV's COM satellite, Carina2 ) -pending use

These smaller vessels will be signal relay vessels for Mars ground crew. Note: useless to have a com relay system if we have an interplanetary craft in orbit already ready to relay signals.

Science projects & Experiments

MSEP (Mars surface Experiments Package)

• Central Station
• Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG)
• RTG Cask
• pending additional experiments

Ground Operations

Proposed plan for Martian ground base

• Shelter
  • Hab module
  • Additional Living space
    • Inflatables?
    • underground?
  • Cargo Storage areas
  • Laboratory
  • Gallery
  • Recreation area
  • Work area
  • ECLSS
• Food/Water
  • Storage area
  • Creation / refinement / purification (part of ECLSS)
  • ...or bring along or combination of both
• Heat
  • Electric or reuse of waste heat from RTG
• Communication
  • High-gain/low gain antennas
  • Relay station (ground - LMO - Earth) (I doubt we can continue working off an aging satellite for long)
• Power generation
  • big RTG or single SNAP-10A
    • Depending on power requirements, multiple 'stations' for additional power.
• Equipment for construction/moving cargo ext
  • Forklift?
  • Electric truck?
  • Bulldozer? (or are we going to 'fake it?' I vote so)
• Work Tools (container anyway)
  • wrenches, hammers, shovels, ext ext can be put in a deploy able UCGO cargo, which could deploy into a work bench & tool shelves ext.
• Medical
  • Med cargo
  • possible surgery equipment? (medical module, orbit only, the rest can be done in a building/inflatable bay with med tool cargo)
• Rocket Fuel production/storage
  • Above ground drums or cylinders (like propane tanks)
  • underground fuel containers (gas station style)

General Mission Plan

1. Build (model required vessels)
2. Transfer to Mars orbit
3. Land hauler and crew on Martian surface.
4. Begin building habitation area.
5. Begin building propellant resource collection
   1. Fuel up hauler/vehicles if applicable
6. Start resource/cargo production/research
7. When Mars-Earth launch window approaches, launch cargo/resources to Earth
   1. If crew is getting rotated, they ride along with the cargo containers.

Roles and Responsibilities

Program Manager

Incumbent:	Bj

Functions:

• Manage program structure
• Manage schedule
• Organize elections of all roles.

Cargo Manager

Incumbent:	Bj (acting)

Functions:

• Manages Miner and the miners productions (cargo)
• Manages cargo placement & storage
• Manages cargo hauler (limited to sub orbital flights only)

Launch Manager

Incumbent:	TBD

Functions:

• Manages any vehicle launching to, or returning from space.
• Manages launch equipment
• Controls unmanned/manned vehicles in space

Ground Expedition Manager

Incumbent:	TBD
Candidates:	SuperSonic, Bloodworth, Samuel Edwards

Functions:

• Manages all vehicles, equipment and UMMU on the ground at any time.
• Designs habitual base camps for UMMU(camp layout, and/or possibly camp modeling)
• Responsible for the exploration of Mars,scientific equipment, and locating resources

Technological Disparities

Currently UMMU destabilizes at any simulated year past ~2040. In consequence, this project is required to start within recent time frames (ie 2010 - 2015) so that the project can progress for a while. Many OF members dispute the technological advances between these years, as the Arrow is considered slightly above our technological capability for the next several decades. As it is, there are no vessels currently operating within Orbiter, so for now unless several someones creates a more realistic vessel capable of the job, we have to stick with what we have.

Current Developments

Some of the systems required by this project haven't been implemented yet. In consequence, there are several parts that need to be developed before we get too far into the mission.

Signup and list on Orbiter Forum here

General Information

Fireballs619's Introduction to OFMM

Mars at Wikipedia

Manned Mission to Mars at Wikipedia

OFMM Reference v0.9

Developer Signup

References

• Orbiter-Forum OFMM Social Group
• Orbiter-Forum OFMM Thread
• UCGO Azure