Delta-Vs and Design Reference Mission Scenarios for Mars Missions

Before setting out on any long journey, it is important to first have an idea about how to get there, how long it might take, and how much it will cost. Primarily, the answers depend upon where you are starting and where you wish to go. In the formulative stages of any mission to Mars, having quick estimates of answers to these basic questions will aid in the efficient exploration of the trade space. In this paper, we present a “mileage chart” of sorts illustrating the range of ΔV’s and times-of-flight (TOF) between various starting and stopping points between Earth and Mars. This paper expands upon a chart from a previous work by the authors. We discuss the methodologies used to calculate or estimate expected values and reasonable ranges, including some more detailed specific examples.