We're off to outer space! [Argo commission]

Around four minutes into flight, SLS jettisons its payload fairing, exposing Argo underneath.

Argo (named for the ship of Greek legend) is an interplanetary habitat concept developed by the University of Michigan's Bioastronautics and Life Support System (BLiSS) www.facebook.com/michiganbliss… team under a NASA X-Hab grant. The toroidal habitat would be spun up to provide centrifugal artificial gravity during the transit to and from Mars. The same design, with a different internal layout, would be used on the Martian surface, eliminating redundant development work. BLiSS's work will be presented in July at the International Conference on Environmental Systems.

BLiSS commissioned me for a series of 6 illustrations of their concept. The Deep Space Transport Power and Propulsion Element, as well as LOP-G, shown in some renders were not covered by this study and are only representative.