>>12485249>>12485253>>12485254STARSHIP AUTISM AND MATH PART 1/2
NASA’s DRM V: The Phantom Pain states that a manned mars mission needs 9 tons of surface cargo to support 6 crew for 500 days on the surface. They also state that a pair of 7.5 ton rovers are needed to explore the surface fully. Other furnishings are listed such as a habitat and whatnot, but this makes no sense, as Starship is already a giant space habitat.
An empty starship has a mass of 120 tons. It can carry 1200 tons of propellant. It’s sea level ISP is 330 seconds. It’s vacuum ISP is 375 seconds.
Our “lander” holds 25 tons of cargo (15 tons of rover, 9 tons of supplies, 1 ton of extra science stuff). It has a mass of 145 tons when dry.
Mars ascent takes 4.1 km/s of delta V. Thanks to the bellyflop, a landing is “only” 0.5 km/s. Let’s round up and say LMO to the surface and back is 5 km/s. This means that our 145 ton lander needs 550 tons of propellant, assuming an ISP of 330 seconds (we’re being VERY conservative).
To carry out 550 tons of propellant, we will need special tankers to service our lander. The plan sees the lander reaching mars using its own tanks, and filling up in LMO thanks to tankers before the crew arrives.
The tankers also have a dry mass of 120 tons, and their ISP is 375 seconds thanks to their vacuum engines. They each hold a 30 ton tank in their payload bay which can itself carry 275 tons of propellant. This is pretty damn conservative seeing as Starship already has an amazing ratio of Prop:Tankage. As each tanker carries 275 tons of propellant to mars, we need two tankers..
