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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, September 26, 2016 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Brian McConnell

"A Simple, Durable, Refuelable Spacecraft"

ABSTRACT -- Traveling to Mars? Just add water!

Long duration multi-year missions require extensive consumables budgets to support their crews, which in turn require even larger propulsion stages to drive them to and from their destinations. What if it were possible to turn nearly all consumable waste streams into propellant, by feeding reclaimed water and waste gases into electric propulsion units? Brian McConnell and Alex Tolley explore the concept of a re-usable interplanetary spacecraft that uses reclaimed water in conjunction with electric propulsion. This presentation discusses the system architecture, as well as low risk, low cost steps that can be taken to validate key elements in the near term.

SPEAKER -- Brian McConnell is an author, electrical/software engineer and veteran technology entrepreneur based in California.


Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov