The Mars Hopper: an impulse driven, long range, long-lived mobile platform utilizing in-situ Martian resources

► The Center for Space Nuclear Research is designing a compact, low mass, pulsed power platform for exploration of the Mars. ► The platform can carry an instrument package and hop 5-10 Km every 7 days for several years. ► Large areas of the surface of the Mars can be explored in a few years timeframe, including sample accumulation. ► The platform relies on a “thermal capacitor” to accumulate heat from a radioisotope source. ► The platform accumulates propellant by liquefying the CO2 atmosphere of the Mars.