60+ Years of Humans to Mars Mission Planning

Abstract

60+ years of planning for a human mission to Mars are documented, based on Portree’s superb history. Starting with von Braun’s vision of the 1950s, many attempts were made to define a feasible human mission to Mars. Development of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) began in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1968, Boeing published a detailed design of a human mission to Mars making extensive use of NTP. The Boeing 1968 study set a high bar for extraordinary detail in analysis of the many subsystems and components needed for a human mission to Mars. It is unfortunate that many subsequent studies failed to come close to clearing that bar. Mission concepts continued to appear through the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, NASA produced Design Reference Missions DRM-1 and DRM-3 that became standard bearers for Mars planning. These DRMs introduced important use of ISRU, and continued to rely on NTP. In the same time frame, Zubrin developed the Mars Direct concept and Caltech developed the Mars Society Mission concept. In 2005, NASA published a summary of an extensive mission study known as DRA-5, but backup for this summary does not seem to be available. In 2014, NASA announced the Evolvable Mars Campaign. It seems likely that the EMC is just another NASA boondoggle using vague and ephemeral notions based on glossy viewgraphs, and a total lack of detailed engineering calculations. It will end up being scrapped for good reasons, as NASA moves on to its next long-range plan. After 60+ years of planning, we still don’t have a plan.