Future Human Space Exploration: key technologies assessment and applicability analysis

The paper deals with the assessment of the key technologies needed for future space exploration missions. A human expedition to Mars is so far considered the most interesting target for the future Human Space Exploration (HSE). To accomplish this challenging goal, a gradual approach shall be implemented through the exploration of multiple deep space intermediate destinations (e.g Cis-lunar, NEAs). Several studies are being carried out in this perspective, aimed at defining the best path to be followed in order to achieve the capabilities required for a human mission on Mars surface. According to this, a HSE reference scenario was built and an analysis of the most critical technologies needed to accomplish the missions was performed. To build up the reference HSE scenario, the human expedition to Mars by the end of 2030’s, as defined by NASA DRA 5.0, was taken as reference mission. The intermediate destinations were selected so that they will guarantee the implementation and achievement, through a step-by-step approach, of all the capabilities required to accomplish the human mission to Mars. All the scenario destinations missions were analyzed and characterized in terms of architectures and needed building blocks. The most innovative and not yet space qualified technologies were identified that can be applicable in HSE elements and missions. They were organized in Technological Areas and mapped on all the elements included in the HSE Scenario, in order to get an overall picture of the “required” technologies through the various destinations as well as their “applicability”. This kind of mapping allows understanding and visualizing where and in which elements each technology can potentially be applied and tested (maybe at limited extent), before being implemented in a specific mission where it is absolutely required. This database can be very useful to understand how much (in terms of percentage of required or applicable technologies) each destination, according to the defined concept/missions, can contribute in the achievement of specific capabilities needed for further destinations. In the first part of the paper an overview of the HSE reference scenario, as well as the adopted methodology, is provided. Then, it focuses on the assessment and analysis of the key technologies with particular attention to their applicability throughout the various destinations (applicability maps).