Systems Engineering and Design of a Mars Polar Life Research Base

Mars’ ice caps hold the secret to the planet's climate, hydrological processes and is a likely place to contain traces of life, should they exist. A crewed mission to the surface of Mars, with the objective of drilling into the Northern ice cap and analysing the samples in-situ would therefore advance our knowledge of the formation of planets and the prevalence of life in the Solar System. Furthermore, because the North Polar region provides an easy access to water ice, this area has the potential of sustaining a long-term human presence. This talk will propose the design of a crewed mission with high technology readiness level, using a systems engineering approach and scenario testing, and discusses the opportunities offered by the Space Launch System vehicle, deployable structures and the inclusion of water ice into the life support system. The need for a crane system between Mars’ orbit and surface will also be discussed.

Anne-Marlene Rüede is a recent graduate from the Swiss Polytechnic Federal Institute in Lausanne. She has majored in Architecture and Space technologies with the objective of becoming a space and extreme environments architect. She has worked on various projects, from the design and model of a six unit CubeSat, which is now part of the permanent exhibition in the Swiss embassy in China, to mission scenario and architecture of Mars missions with crew. She has also worked on transportation systems on Earth and in space, such as crane systems in Mars orbit.

Dr. Anton B. Ivanov has been recently (2017) appointed as the Director of the Space Center at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, Russia. This work was initiated when Dr. Ivanov was Scientist with the EPFL Space Center. He is currently the project manager for the CubETH CubeSat project, study leader for the CHEOPS satellite and was responsible for the Minor in Space Technologies EPFL. After receiving his PhD in Planetary Science from Caltech in 2000, Dr Ivanov joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to contribute to Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express and Mars Science Laboratory projects. From 2007 until 2017, Dr. Ivanov was a scientist with the EPFL Space Center and the Swiss Space Center.

Claudio Leonardi is the head of the Clip-Air project at the Swiss Polytechnic Federal Institute in Lausanne (EPFL) since 2009, and is in charge of the architecture, the structure and the management of the project. He also manages coordination and development in the fields covered by the Clip-Air project: transportation, modular logistics, mechanics, structure, architecture. Claudio Leonardi has already been involved in a number of major projects, including Solar Impulse. He has also collaborated with Yves Rossy aka Jetman.

Tatiana Volkova is an aerospace engineer & space architect and graduated from Bauman Moscow Technical University and Ecole Polytechnique Paris. Tatiana's personal goal is to drive the growth of innovation in the field of architecture in extreme conditions and is passionate about habitat design overall efficiency. She is currently conducting her PhD research at the Swiss Polytechnic Federal Institute in Lausanne (EPFL) in the field of architecture in the extreme environments.