Next Section Dinner Meeting is Thurs., Mar. 15th.
Please RSVP!

Dr. Damon Landau

Talk:  this way to Mars: how technologies borrowed from robotic missions could deliver astronauts to deep space

(based on recently published article in the Scientific American magazine)

Abstract

With the cancellation of Constellation Program and the end of the Space Shuttle program, NASA has pinned its hopes for future human mission beyond Earth orbit to an ultra-heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System and the Orion capsule. These developments are the start of a program that sets a path for astronauts to explore a asteroid sometime in the 2030s, after an investment of tens of billions of dollars. An alternative approach, the "Electric Path," uses a combination of both chemical propulsion and Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) to dramatically lower the launch mass of these missions to the point where a costly new rocket is no longer a prerequisite. By judiciously investing in deep-space technology, this approach can get astronauts to 300-500 meter asteroids in the mid 2020s and to the Martian moons in the early 2030s.

These missions create an exploration campaign in which SEP systems of increasing power are used to support human exploration missions of increasing complexity and distance from Earth. This campaign emphasizes flexibility and sustainability over a focus on any one mission. In this way disruptions from delayed development of any one element or political re-direction are minimized. Early emphasis on in-space propulsion technology reduces the cost impact of mass growth in flight elements. In-space elements from early missions are reused to reduced the launch mass required for later missions. Alternate development paths are presented as contingencies, should a planned technology development (such as radiation protection) proves to be more difficult than expected.

Biography

Damon Landau is an outer planet mission analyst at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where his primary interests are mission design and trajectory optimization. Before beginning his career at JPL, he received a Ph.D. in 2006 from Purdue University where he examined various strategies for the sustained human exploration of Mars. At JPL Damon's work has focused on the combination of gravity assist trajectories with solar electric propulsion. He also helped design the trajectory for Juno’s arrival at Jupiter in July 2016. Damon was the lead trajectory designer for solar electric propulsion missions to near-Earth asteroids in NASA’s Near Earth Object (NEO) Human Space Flight (HSF) Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) team.

Beckham Grill Restaurant, 77 W. Walnut, Pasadena, CA
6 p.m. Social Hour
7 p.m. Dinner and Program

The dinner meeting is open to both AIAA and non-AIAA members.
Cost :  $25 for AIAA members (and one guest at member price), $30 for non-members, $10 for students, and FREE to members attending for the first time. (NOTE: prices have changed for the March dinner meeting)

For RSVPs please email:  aiaaSGV@gmail.com


Sample of Previous Meeting Talks:
January 2012:  Mars Science Laboratory
November 2011:  Rainbow and Gusto: Stealth and the Design of the Lockheed Blackbird
September 2011: The Future of NASA's Human Spaceflight Program
May 2011: Miniaturization Technologies for Space Exploration & Their Crossover Applications
March 2011: Simulating Impact Performance of Structures
January 2011: California’s Sustainable Water Future
May 2010: Living on a Restless Planet: Using Space Technology to Study Earthquakes, Aquifers, Volcanoes, and More
March 2010: The Mars Rovers