MARTEMIS: Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon
Exploring Lunar Campaigns and Mars Missions at the 2024 NASA RASC-AL Forum
The 2024 NASA RASC-AL Forum took place in Cocoa Beach, Florida from June 10 - 12, 2024. Prof. Olivier L. de Weck and I had the honor of guiding the MIT MARTEMIS team as faculty advisors. The interdisciplinary team, led by Lanie McKinney and Palak Patel, comprised graduate and undergraduate students from MIT, EPFL, ISAE-SUPAERO, BU, and Tufts. Their dedication over the past eight months culminated in winning the "Best in Theme: Long Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon" award, recognized by a panel of esteemed NASA and industry judges.
MARTEMIS: a Revolutionary Systems Concept
RASCAL stands for Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts, and MARTEMIS lives up to the "revolutionary" requirement, as it stands for Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon, with International Solidarity. MARTEMIS proposes a 6-year lunar campaign for the 2030s with 13 missions and 154 crew in total, aimed at significantly reducing risks for the first crewed Mars mission. This concept also prioritizes the safety of lunar crews and promises extensive scientific exploration on the Moon's surface, involving crews from 26 countries across all continents. Furthermore, MARTEMIS envisions a smooth transition to commercial lunar operations in the 2040s and beyond.
Innovative Contributions and Methodologies
Key innovations from the MARTEMIS team included a unique multi-tradespace modeling approach. This approach used metrics to assess how the campaign's scale could address knowledge gaps, potential for science and alignment with strategic objectives. Specifically, the team developed quantified, model-based metrics that aligned with NASA's goals of scientific advancement, inspiration, international cooperation, and cost efficiency. The EKG-i (Elimination of Knowledge Gaps Indicator metric) was noted for the way it quantified the incremental reduction in statistical noise from the addition of more simulations. The "subscription price" metric was also noteworthy, setting a cost per Moonwalker per program year for international partners, which in turn supports the formation of a large international consortium to fund this large-scale project.
Celebrating the MIT MARTEMIS Team
In the group photo, standing from left to right and back to front: Clara Ma, Evan King King, Alisa Webb, Annika Thomas, Shaan Jagani, Daniel Rojas, Michal Delkowski, Elizabeth Romero, Léonie Gasteiner, Anna Tretiakova, Mollie Johnson, Fatemeh Tavakoli; and Olivier L. de Weck, Lanie McKinney, Palak Patel, and myself.
Not present in the picture were team members Nicole Chan, Andy Eskenazi, Estelle Martin, Lorenzo Nardi, Elena López-Contreras González, and Veronica Orlandi, as well as academic advisors Jeffrey Hoffman, Madelyn Hoying, Vsevolod Peysakhovich, Andreas Osterwalder, Alexandros Lordos, and industry mentors Martin Heyne, and Alexander Miller.
The MARTEMIS project stands as a testament to the potential of international collaboration in space exploration, paving the way for future missions and sustained lunar presence.
Acknowledgments
The team is grateful to the organizers National Institute of Aerospace and the sponsors at NASA for the selection and funding, and to Massachusetts Space Grant, the MIT Alumni Association and MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, for their supplementary travel funding support which enabled 14 students to attend this year’s forum.