Manned mission to Mars - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A manned mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

, engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

, and scientific proposals throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. The plans comprise proposals not only to land on, but eventually also settle on the planet Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

, its moons, Phobos

Phobos (moon)

Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. With a mean radius of , Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos...

and Deimos

Deimos (moon)

Deimos is the smaller and outer of Mars's two moons . It is named after Deimos, a figure representing dread in Greek Mythology. Its systematic designation is '.-Discovery:Deimos was discovered by Asaph Hall, Sr...

and terraform

Terraforming

Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...

the planet.

Preliminary work for missions has been undertaken since the 1950s, with planned missions typically taking place 10 to 30 years in the future. The list of manned Mars mission plans in the 20th century shows the various mission proposals that have been put forth by multiple organizations and space agencies in this field of space exploration

Space exploration

Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....

.

In 2004 the U.S. administration announced a new Vision for Space Exploration

Vision for Space Exploration

The Vision for Space Exploration is the United States space policy which was announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. It is seen as a response to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the state of human spaceflight at NASA, and a way to regain public enthusiasm for space...

naming a manned Mars mission as one of its milestones. No concrete plan has been decided upon, and the proposal is currently being discussed between politicians, scientists, space advocates and in the public. In 2010, a new bill was signed in the USA allowing for a manned Mars mission by the 2030s.

Challenges

There are several key challenges that a human mission to Mars must overcome:

physical effects of exposure to high-energy cosmic rays
Health threat from cosmic rays
The health threat from cosmic rays is the danger posed by galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles to astronauts on interplanetary missions.Galactic cosmic rays consist of high energy protons and other nuclei with extrasolar origin...

and other ionizing radiation
physical effects of a prolonged low-gravity environment
physical effects of a prolonged low-light environment
psychological effects of isolation from Earth
psychological effects of lack of community due to lack of real-time connections with Earth
social effects of several humans living under crowded conditions for over one Earth year
inaccessibility of terrestrial medical facilities

Some of these issues were estimated statistically in the HUMEX study.
Ehlmann and others have reviewed political and economic concerns, as well as technological and biological feasibility aspects.

While fuel for roundtrip travel could be a challenge, methane and oxygen can be produced utilizing Martian H₂O (preferably as water ice instead of chemically bound water) and atmospheric CO₂ with mature technology.

One of the main considerations for traveling to Mars from Earth or vice versa is the energy needed to transfer between their orbits. Every 26 Earth months a lower energy transfer from Earth to Mars opens, so missions are typically planned to coincide with one of these windows. In addition, the low-energy windows varies higher or lower on roughly a 15 year cycle. For example, there was a minimum in the 1969 and 1971 launch windows, rising to a peak in the late 70s, and hitting another low in 1986 and 1988, and then repeating on the same interval. A typical estimate of round-trip flight time for a manned expedition to Mars is 400 to 450 days, which could take a toll on astronauts.

20th century proposals

Over the last century, a number of mission concepts for such an expedition have been proposed. David Portree's history volume Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950 - 2000 discusses many of these.

Wernher von Braun proposal (1947 through 1950s)

Wernher von Braun

Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...

was the first person to make a detailed technical study of a Mars mission. Details were published in his book Das Marsprojekt (1952); published in English as The Mars Project
The Mars Project
The Mars Project is a nonfiction science book by German rocket physicist, astronautics engineer and space architect, Wernher von Braun. It was translated from the original German by Henry J. White and first published in English by the University of Illinois Press in 1953.The Mars Project is a...

(1962) and several subsequent works, and featured in Collier's magazine in a series of articles beginning March 1952. A variant of the Von Braun mission concept was popularized in English by Willy Ley

Willy Ley

Willy Ley was a German-American science writer and space advocate who helped popularize rocketry and spaceflight in both Germany and the United States. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.-Life:...

in the book The Conquest of Space
The Conquest of Space
The Conquest of Space is a 1949 speculative science book illustrated by Chesley Bonestell and written by Willy Ley. The book contains a portfolio of paintings by Bonestell depicting the possible future exploration of the solar system with explanatory text by Ley.Some of Bonestell's designs inspired...

(1949), featuring illustrations by Chesley Bonestell

Chesley Bonestell

Chesley Bonestell was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program...

. Von Braun's Mars project envisioned nearly a thousand three-stage vehicles launching from Earth to ferry parts for the Mars mission to be constructed at a space station in Earth orbit. The mission itself featured a fleet of ten spacecraft heading to Mars, each one carrying 70 people, bringing three winged surface excursion ships that would land horizontally on the surface of Mars. (Winged landing was considered possible because at the time of his proposal, the Martian atmosphere was believed to be much denser than was later found to be the case.)

In the 1956 revised vision of the Mars Project plan, published in the book The Exploration of Mars by Wernher Von Braun and Willy Ley, the size of the mission was trimmed, requiring only 400 launches to put together two ships, still carrying a winged landing vehicle. Later versions of the mission proposal, featured in the Disney "Man In Space" film series, showed nuclear-powered

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

ion-propulsion vehicles for the interplanetary cruise.

U.S. proposals (1950s and 1960s)

In 1962, Aeronutronic Ford, General Dynamics and the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company made studies of Mars mission designs as part of NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center "Project EMPIRE". These studies indicated that a Mars mission (possibly including a Venus fly-by) could be done with a launch of eight Saturn V boosters and assembly in low Earth orbit, or possibly with a single launch of a hypothetical "post Saturn" heavy-lift vehicle. Although the EMPIRE missions were only studies, and never proposed as funded projects, these were the first detailed analyses of what it would take to accomplish a human voyage to Mars using data from the actual NASA spaceflight, and laid much of the basis for future studies, including significant mission studies by TRW, North American, Philco, Lockheed, Douglas, and General Dynamics, along with several in-house NASA studies.

Following the success of the Apollo Program, von Braun advocated a manned mission to Mars as a focus for NASAs manned space program. Von Braun's proposal used Saturn V

Saturn V

The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...

boosters to launch nuclear-powered (NERVA

NERVA

NERVA is an acronym for Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application, a joint program of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and NASA managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office until both the program and the office ended at the end of 1972....

) upper stages that would power two six-crew spacecraft on a dual mission in the early 1980s. The proposal was considered by (then president) Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

but passed over in favor of the Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

Soviet mission proposals (1956 through 1970)

The Martian Piloted Complex

Martian Piloted Complex

The Martian Piloted Complex or MPK was a Soviet Union Mars expedition proposed by Mikhail Tikhonravov. It featured a six Cosmonaut crew on a 900 day mission, with a launch in 1975....

or "'MPK'" was a proposal by Mikhail Tikhonravov of the Soviet Union for a manned Mars expedition, using the (then proposed) N-1 rocket, in studies from 1956 to 1962.

Heavy Piloted Interplanetary Spacecraft

TMK

TMK was the designation of a Soviet Union space exploration project to send a manned flight to Mars and Venus without landing....

(known by the Russian acronym TMK) was the designation of a Soviet Union space exploration proposal in the 1960s to send a manned flight to Mars and Venus (TMK-MAVR design) without landing. The TMK spacecraft was due to launch in 1971 and make a three-year long flight including a Mars fly-by at which time probes would have been dropped. The TMK project was planned as an answer from the Soviet Union to the United States manned moon landings. The project was never completed because the required N1 rocket

N1 rocket

N-1 was a heavy lift rocket intended to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit, acting as the Soviet counterpart to the NASA Saturn V rocket. This heavy lift booster had the capability of lifting very heavy loads into orbit, designed with manned extra-orbital travel in mind...

never flew successfully.

The Mars Expeditionary Complex, or "'MEK"' (1969) was another Soviet proposal for a Mars expedition that would take a crew from three to six to Mars and back with a total mission duration of 630 days.

Case for Mars (1981–1996)

Following the Viking

Viking program

The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface...

missions to Mars, between 1981 and 1996 a series of conferences named The Case for Mars were held at the University of Colorado at Boulder

University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

. These conferences advocated human exploration of Mars, presented concepts and technologies, and held a series of workshops to develop a baseline concept for the mission. The baseline concept was notable in that it proposed use of In Situ Resource Utilization to manufacture rocket propellant for the return trip using the resources of Mars. The mission study was published in a series of proceedings volumes published by the American Astronautical Society

American Astronautical Society

Formed in 1954, the American Astronautical Society is an independent scientific and technical group in the United States dedicated to the advancement of space science and exploration. AAS supports NASA's Vision for Space Exploration and is a member of the Coalition for Space Exploration and the...

. Later conferences in the series presented a number of alternative concepts, including the "Mars Direct" concept of Robert Zubrin

Robert Zubrin

Robert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer and author, best known for his advocacy of the manned exploration of Mars. He was the driving force behind Mars Direct—a proposal intended to produce significant reductions in the cost and complexity of such a mission...

and David Baker; the "Footsteps to Mars" proposal of Geoffrey A. Landis

Geoffrey A. Landis

Geoffrey A. Landis is an American scientist, working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics...

, which proposed intermediate steps before the landing on Mars, including human missions to Phobos; and the "Great Exploration" proposal from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...

, among others.

NASA Space Exploration Initiative (1989)

In response to a presidential initiative, NASA made a study of a project for human lunar- and Mars exploration as a proposed follow-on to the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

project. This resulted in a report, called the 90-day study, in which the agency proposed a long-term plan consisting of completing the Space Station as "a critical next step in all our space endeavors," returning to the moon and establishing a permanent base, and then sending astronauts to Mars. This report was widely criticized as too elaborate and expensive, and all funding for human exploration beyond Earth orbit was canceled by Congress.

Mars Direct (early 1990s)

Because of the distance between Mars and Earth, the Mars mission would be much more risky and more expensive than past manned flights to the Moon. Supplies and fuel would have to be prepared for a 2-3 year round trip and the spacecraft would have to be designed with at least partial shielding from intense solar radiation. A 1990 paper by Robert Zubrin and David A. Baker, then of Martin Marietta

Martin Marietta

Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...

, proposed reducing the mission mass (and hence the cost) with a mission design using In Situ Resource Utilization to manufacture propellant from the Martian Atmosphere. This proposal drew on a number of concepts developed by the former "Case for Mars" conference series. Over the next decade, this proposal was developed by Zubrin into a mission concept, Mars Direct

Mars Direct

Mars Direct is a proposal for a manned mission to Mars. Proponents of the scheme have claimed it to be both cost-effective and that it can be conducted with current technology. It was originally detailed in a research paper by NASA engineers Robert Zubrin and David Baker in 1990, and later expanded...

, which he developed in a book, The Case for Mars
The Case For Mars
The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996....

(1996). The mission is advocated by the Mars Society

Mars Society

The Mars Society is an international space advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. It was founded by Robert Zubrin and others in 1998 and attracted the support of notable science fiction writers and filmmakers, including Kim...

, which Zubrin founded in 1998, as a practical and affordable plan for a manned Mars mission.

NASA Design reference missions (1990s)

In the 1990s NASA developed several conceptual level human Mars exploration architectures. One of these was NASA Design reference mission 3.0

Design reference mission 3.0

NASA Design Reference Mission 3.0 was a NASA study for a human space mission to the planet Mars in the 1990s. It was a plan for a human exploration architecture for Mars, but has since been superseded by newer NASA DRM .The study was performed by the NASA Mars Exploration Team at the NASA's Johnson...

(DRM 3.0). It was a study performed by the NASA Mars Exploration Team at the NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in the 1990s. Personnel representing several NASA field centers formulated a “Reference Mission” addressing human exploration of Mars. The plan describes a human mission to Mars with concepts of operations and technologies to be used as a first cut at an architecture. The architecture for the Mars Reference Mission builds on previous work, principally on the work of the Synthesis Group (1991) and Zubrin’s (1991) concepts for the use of propellants derived from the Martian atmosphere. The primary purpose of the Reference Mission was to stimulate further thought and development of alternative approaches, which can improve effectiveness, reduce risks, and reduce cost. Improvements can be made at several levels; for example, in the architectural, mission, and system levels.

Selected other US/NASA plans (1988-2009):

1) 1988 “Mars Expedition”

2) 1989 “Mars Evolution”

3) 1990 “90-Day Study”

4) 1991 “Synthesis Group”

5) 1995 “DRM 1”

6) 1997 “DRM 3”

7) 1998 “DRM 4”

8) 1999 “Dual Landers”

9) 1989 Zubrin, et.al*

10) 1994-99 Borowski, et. al

11) 2000 SERT (SSP)

12) 2002 NEP Art. Gravity

13) 2001 DPT/NEXT

14) 2009 DRA 5

MARPOST (2000/2005)

The Mars Piloted Orbital Station

Mars Piloted Orbital Station

Mars Piloted Orbital Station is a Russian manned orbital mission to Mars, with several proposed configurations, including using a nuclear reactor to run an electric rocket engine. A 30-volume draft proposal was produced in 2005...

(or MARPOST) is a Russian

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

proposed manned orbital mission to Mars

Mars

, using a nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...

to run an electric rocket engine. Proposed in October 2000 by Yuri Karash from the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics as the next step for Russia in space along with the Russian participation in the International Space Station

International Space Station

, a 30-volume draft project for MARPOST has been confirmed as of 2005. Design for the ship proposed to be ready in 2012, and the ship itself in 2021.

ESA Aurora programme (2001+)

The European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

had a long-term vision of sending a human mission to Mars by 2030. Laid out in 2001, the project's proposed timeline would begin with robotic exploration, a proof of concept

Proof of concept

A proof of concept or a proof of principle is a realization of a certain method or idea to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle, whose purpose is to verify that some concept or theory that has the potential of being used...

simulation of sustaining humans on Mars, and eventually a manned mission; however, objections from the participating nations of ESA and other delays have put the timeline into question.

ESA/Russia plan (2002)

Another proposal for a joint ESA mission with Russia is based on two spacecraft being sent to Mars, one carrying a six-person crew and the other the expedition's supplies. The mission would take about 440 days to complete with three astronauts visiting the surface of the planet for a period of two months. The entire project would cost $20 billion and Russia would contribute 30% of these funds.

USA Vision for Space Exploration (2004)

United States President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

announced an initiative of manned space exploration on January 14, 2004, known as the Vision for Space Exploration

Vision for Space Exploration

. It included developing preliminary plans for a lunar outpost by 2012 and establishing an outpost by 2020. Precursor missions that would help develop the needed technology during the 2010-2020 decade were tentatively outlined by Adringa and others. On September 24, 2007, Michael Griffin, then NASA Administrator, hinted that NASA may be able to launch a human mission to Mars by 2037. The needed funds are to be generated by diverting $11 billion

Vision for Space Exploration

from space science missions to the vision for human exploration.

NASA has also discussed plans to launch Mars missions from the Moon to reduce traveling costs.

Project Constellation

Project Constellation

Constellation Program is a human spaceflight program within NASA, the space agency of the United States. The stated goals of the program were to gain significant experience in operating away from Earth's environment, develop technologies needed for opening the space frontier, and conduct...

included an Orion Mars Mission.

NASA Design Reference Mission 5.0 (2007)

NASA released initial details of the latest version conceptual level human Mars exploration architecture in this presentation. The study further developed concepts developed in previous NASA DRM and updated it to more current launchers and technology.

NASA Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009)

NASA released an updated version of NASA DRM 5.0 in early 2009, featuring use of the Ares V

Ares V

The Ares V was the planned cargo launch component of the Constellation program, which was to have replaced the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also planned to carry supplies for a human presence on Mars...

launcher, Orion CEV

Orion (spacecraft)

Orion is a spacecraft designed by Lockheed Martin for NASA, the space agency of the United States. Orion development began in 2005 as part of the Constellation program, where Orion would fulfill the function of a Crew Exploration Vehicle....

, and updated mission planning. In this document.

NASA Austere Human Missions to Mars (2009)

Extrapolated from the DRMA 5.0, plans for a manned mars expedition with chemical propulsion. Austere Human Missions to Mars

Mars Society Germany - European Mars Mission (EMM) (2005)

The Mars Society Germany proposed a manned Mars mission using several launches of an improved heavy-lift version of the Ariane 5

Ariane 5

Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...

. Roughly 5 launches would be required to send a crew of 5 on a 1200 days mission, with a payload of 120,000 kg (260,000 lb)

The One-Way Trip Option (2006)

In 2006, former NASA engineer James C. McLane III proposed a scheme to initially colonize Mars via a one way trip by only one human. Papers discussing this concept appeared in The Space Review

The Space Review

The Space Review is a free online publication, published weekly with in-depth articles, essays, commentary and reviews on space exploration and development. It was founded in February 2003 by Jeff Foust, the current editor, publisher and regular writer....

, Harper’s Magazine, SEARCH Magazine and The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

Mars to Stay (2006)

Mars to Stay is the proposal that astronauts sent to Mars for the first time should stay there indefinitely, both to reduce mission cost and to ensure permanent settlement of Mars. Among many notable Mars to Stay advocates, former Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

astronaut Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...

has been a particularly outspoken promoter, suggesting in numerous forums "Forget the Moon, Let’s Head to Mars!" .

MarsDrive mission design (2008)

The MarsDrive

MarsDrive

MarsDrive, founded in 2005, is an international non-profit space organization with a worldwide membership and branches across North America, Europe and Australasia...

Organization has been working at a series of new human mission designs starting with Mars for Less

Mars for Less

Mars for Less is a proposal for a near-term human Mars expedition that involves the use of existing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles...

. Their current design program under Director of Engineering Ron Cordes has discarded many of the Mars for Less elements and is a work in progress as of June 2008. Some of their design philosophy is focused on using current or near term existing launch vehicle systems, permanent human settlement, conceptual EDL systems and enhanced surface ISRU. Their proposed methods of funding the mission are also an alternative to the current plans with a private consortium approach being investigated.

USA's Mars by the mid-2030s (2010)

In a major space policy speech

Barack Obama space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center

The space policy of the Barack Obama administration was announced by U.S. President Barack Obama on April 15, 2010, at a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center. He committed to increasing NASA funding by $6 billion over five years and completing the design of a new heavy-lift launch...

at Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

predicted a manned Mars mission to orbit the planet by the mid-2030s, followed by a landing:

The United States Congress has approved manned missions to the Moon, followed by Asteroid exploration in 2025 and Mars in the 2030s.

Hundred Year Starship (2010)

In October 2010 NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden introduced the Hundred Year Starship initiative, a project to embark on a one-way mission from Earth to Mars by 2030. The astronauts would be sent supplies from Earth on a regular basis.

Russian mission proposals (current)

A number of Mars mission concepts and proposals have been put forth by Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n scientists. Stated dates were for a launch sometime between 2016 and 2020. The Mars probe would carry a crew of four to five cosmonauts, who would spend close to two years in space.

In late 2011, Russian and European space agencies successfully completed the ground-based MARS-500

MARS-500

Mars-500 was an international multi-part isolation experiment simulating a manned flight to Mars. The experiment's facility was located at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia. A total of 640 experiment days were scheduled between 2007 and 2011,...

. The biomedical experiment simulating manned flight to Mars was completed in Russia in July 2009.

Preparedness

A number of nations and organizations have long-term intentions to send humans to Mars. The state of their readiness is summarized below.

The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

has a number of missions currently exploring Mars, with a sample-return planned in the near future. The US does not have a launcher capable of sending humans to Mars, although the Orion spacecraft, currently under development by NASA, could ferry astronauts from the surface of Earth to join a Mars-bound expedition in Earth orbit and then back to Earth's surface once the expedition has returned from Mars. NASA has used the Haughton impact crater
Haughton impact crater
Haughton impact crater is located on Devon Island, Nunavut in far northern Canada. It is about in diameter and formed about 39 million years ago . The impacting object is estimated to have been approximately in diameter. Devon Island itself is composed of Paleozoic shale and siltstone overlying...

on Devon Island
Devon Island
Devon Island , claimed to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada's sixth largest island, and the 27th...

as a proving ground due to the crater's similarity with Martian geology. According to New Scientist
New Scientist
New Scientist is a weekly non-peer-reviewed English-language international science magazine, which since 1996 has also run a website, covering recent developments in science and technology for a general audience. Founded in 1956, it is published by Reed Business Information Ltd, a subsidiary of...

, an argon
Argon
Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...

plasma
Plasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...

-based VASIMR
Variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket
The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket is an electro-magnetic thruster for spacecraft propulsion. It uses radio waves to ionize and heat a propellant and magnetic fields to accelerate the resulting plasma to generate thrust...

rocket could reduce the transit time to less than 40 days.
The European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

has sent robotic probes, and has long-term plans to send humans but has not yet built a human-capable launcher. There is a proposal to convert ESA's existing Automated Transfer Vehicle
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...

(ATV) for crewed launches.
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

(and previously the Soviet Union) has sent a large number of probes. It can send humans into Earth-Orbit and has extensive experience with long-term manned orbital space flight due to its space station programs. Russia does not have a launcher capable of sending humans to Mars, although the Kliper
Kliper
Kliper is a partly reusable manned spacecraft, proposed by RSC Energia.Designed primarily to replace the Soyuz spacecraft, Kliper has been proposed in two versions: as a pure lifting body design and as spaceplane with small wings...

program was proposed as the Russian-European counterpart to the United States' Orion Spacecraft. A simulation of a manned Mars mission, called Mars-500
MARS-500
Mars-500 was an international multi-part isolation experiment simulating a manned flight to Mars. The experiment's facility was located at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia. A total of 640 experiment days were scheduled between 2007 and 2011,...

, was completed in Russia in November 2011.
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's robotic missions to Mars have so far failed.
China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

plans to cooperate with Russia in sending robotic sample return mission to Phobos
Phobos (moon)
Phobos is the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. With a mean radius of , Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos...

. China was the third country after Russia and the USA to launch humans into Earth orbit.

Criticism

Some scientists have argued that attempting manned flight to Mars would actually be counterproductive for science. In 2004, the Special committee on the funding of Astrophysics, a committee of the American Physical Society

American Physical Society

The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...

, stated that "shifting NASA priorities toward risky, expensive missions to the Moon and Mars will mean neglecting the most promising space science efforts".

The debate over whether or not life existed, or indeed still exists on Mars has not been settled. Consequently, a manned mission could contaminate the Martian surface with foreign microbes and compromise the search for indigenous Martian lifeforms.

Mars analogs

Several "missions" have been undertaken on Earth to simulate the conditions astronauts would experience during a future mission to mars. Among these are:

Mars-500
MARS-500
Mars-500 was an international multi-part isolation experiment simulating a manned flight to Mars. The experiment's facility was located at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia. A total of 640 experiment days were scheduled between 2007 and 2011,...
Concordia Station
Concordia Station
Concordia Research Station, which opened in 2005, is a research facility that was built 3,233 m above sea level at a location called Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, Antarctica...
Mars Analogue Research Station Program
Mars Analogue Research Station Program
The Mars Analog Research Station Program is an international effort spearheaded by The Mars Society to establish a network of prototype research centers where scientists and engineers can live and work as if they were on Mars, to develop the protocols and procedures that will be required for human...
Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition
Australia Mars Analog Research Station
Australia Mars Analog Research Station
The Australia Mars Analog Research Station is a project being planned by the Mars Society to conduct geological exploration under constraints similar to those found on Mars, to develop field tactics based on those explorations, to test habitat design features and tools, and to assess crew...
European Mars Analog Research Station
European Mars Analog Research Station
The European Mars Analogue Research Station is the third in the Mars Society's Analogue Research Stations.The unit is primarily funded by the United Kingdom, with the Euro-MARS science programme operated by a consortium of European Mars Society Chapters comprising the UK, France, The Netherlands,...
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station is the first of two simulated Mars habitats established and maintained by the Mars Society.-Background:...

See also, :Category:Human spaceflight analogs

External links

Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission Design Reference Mission 1.0
Reference Mission Version 3.0, Addedum to Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Mission 3.0
Mars Expeditions List of all manned mission projects
a longer bibliography can be found in the bibliography of Portree's book, available in pdf format from NASA.

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