Mini-Me Cubesat hypersonic decelerator flight experiment
We propose a Cubesat mission to Mars with the NEO scout architecture and deployment from SLS on a cislunar trajectory,intriguingly we think that even with boil off of propellants a SLS third stage could do a free return lunar flyby with a Oberth burn at earth.
One 6U cubesat would prove out ideas concerning very small inflatable hypersonic decelerators in the martian atmosphere, the other concept is a 6U cubesat Phobos and Deimos explorer, all of them could benefit from hypersonic deceleration.
(A)(1) At what range could a 6U cubesat communicate with a mars orbiting Electra communications payload?
(A)(2) could we operate a 6U cubesat beyond .5 AU while on a trajectory to mars without communications for 6 months?
(B)(1) can we miniaturize hypersonic decelerators for use with cubesats?
(C)(1) can the SLS TLI stage survive long enough (5 days) to do a free lunar return and Earth Oberth burn?(to mars)
Yellow Dragon, a mission to repurpose existing ideas into new ideas 