That Mars mission is part of an overall human spaceflight program with total costs through 2037 of $217.4 billion. [138] However, such missions have been hampered by complexity and expense, with one ESA proposal involving no less than five different uncrewed spacecraft. Plans include landing on Mars for exploration at a minimum, with some considering exploring its moons Phobos and Deimos. [107] The STPI report also warns that attempting to reduce schedules by not using NASA’s existing standard practices for program development “would lead to very high technology, schedule, and cost overrun risk.”. That would be followed by the Deep Space Transport (DST), a crewed spacecraft that would travel from cislunar space to Mars and back. Potential failure of propulsion or life-support equipment. SHARE. They will confirm water resources and identify hazards. [114][115][116] It would be composed of two elements: an Orion capsule and a propelled habitation module. NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s – goals outlined in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and in the U.S. National Space Policy, also issued in 2010. They will place power, mining and life support infrastructure for future missions. The Emirates Mars Mission "Hope Probe" will be the first probe to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere and its layers when it reaches the red planet’s orbit in 2021. Some features include several uncrewed cargo landers assembled into a base on the surface of Mars. The idea of a one-way trip to Mars has been proposed several times. Mars is one of the three competing powers in universe of The Expanse TV series - a political sci-fi drama set a few centuries in the future where humans have colonized the entire Solar system. [68] The project's proposed timeline would begin with robotic exploration, a proof of concept simulation of sustaining humans on Mars, and eventually a crewed mission. In 1991 in Toulouse, France, the International Space University studied an international human Mars mission. When the potential market increased and they started to become common in many homes (in Western and developed countries) for the purpose of entertainment such as computer games, and booking travel/leisure tickets, the computing power of home devices skyrocketed and prices plummeted. The design for the crewed interplanetary spacecraft included artificial gravity and an artificial magnetic field for radiation protection. (2012)", "Making A Trip To Mars Cheaper & Easier: The Case For Ballistic Capture", "To Mars by Flyby-Landing Excursion Mode (FLEM) (1966)", "A Comparative Study of Aerocapture Missions with a Mars Destination", "NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars", "How SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and others compete in the growing space tourism market", "Measurements of Energetic Particle Radiation in Transit to Mars on the Mars Science Laboratory", "Data Point to Radiation Risk for Travelers to Mars", "Death on Mars - The martian radiation environment is a problem for human explorers that cannot be overstated", "Too much radiation for astronauts to make it to Mars", "The Strange, Deadly Effects Mars Would Have on Your Body", "Large solar storm sparks global aurora and doubles radiation levels on the martian surface", "A human mission to Mars: Predicting the bone mineral density loss of astronauts", "Optic Disc Edema, Globe Flattening, Choroidal Folds, and Hyperopic Shifts Observed in Astronauts after Long-duration Space Flight", "Astronauts' vision severely affected during long space missions", "Breaking News Videos, Story Video and Show Clips – CNN.com", "Astronauts experienced reverse blood flow and blood clots on the space station, study says", "Assessment of Jugular Venous Blood Flow Stasis and Thrombosis During Spaceflight", Queens University Belfast scientist helps NASA Mars project, "An Astrobiology Strategy for the Exploration of Mars", When Biospheres Collide – a history of NASA's Planetary Protection Programs, "Planetary Protection Knowledge Gaps for Human Extraterrestrial Missions: Goals and Scope." Perseverance as part of the Mars 2020 mission was launched on top of an Atlas V rocket on 30 July 2020 at (11:50 UTC). This architecture simplifies the entry, descent and landing procedures by reducing the size of the landing vehicles. Orion was intended to have the ability to transport extremely large payloads compared to chemical rocketry, making crewed missions to Mars and the outer planets feasible. [13] Proposed by R. Titus in 1966, it involved a short stay lander-ascent vehicle that would separate from a "parent" Earth-Mars transfer craft prior to its flyby of Mars. [6] The lowest energy transfer to Mars is a Hohmann transfer orbit, which would involve an approximately 9-month travel time from Earth to Mars, about five hundred days at Mars to wait for the transfer window to Earth, and a travel time of about 9 months to return to Earth. Humans settling on Mars will inspire us all to make Earth a better place. 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. (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.). [141] Of those four, three included a Mars sample return as a prerequisite to human landing; however one did not. [15], Conducting a safe landing requires knowledge of the properties of the atmosphere, first observed by Mariner 4, and a survey of the planet to identify suitable landing sites. 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 report estimated the total cost of just those elements needed for the Mars mission, including SLS, Orion, Gateway, DST and other logistics, at $120.6 billion through fiscal year 2037. [37], Robotic spacecraft to Mars are currently required to be sterilized. Over the past seven decades, a wide variety of mission architectures have been proposed or studied for human spaceflights to Mars. [54], The Martian Piloted Complex or "'MPK'" was a proposal by Mikhail Tikhonravov of the Soviet Union for a crewed Mars expedition, using the (then proposed) N1 rocket, in studies from 1956 to 1962. Starship will enter Mars’ atmosphere at 7.5 kilometers per second and decelerate aerodynamically. [91] The first crew of four astronauts were to land on Mars in 2025. The crew would land at this base in the "Mars Personnel Lander", which could also take them back into Mars orbit. NASA contracted with the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) to prepare the report, which Congress directed NASA to perform in the 2017 NASA authorization act. [3] The next low-energy launch period occurs in 2033. By 2005, precursor missions that would help develop the needed technology during the 2010s were tentatively outlined. 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. Mars 500, the longest high fidelity spaceflight simulation, ran from 2007 to 2011 in Russia and was an experiment to assess the feasibility of crewed missions to Mars. “We find that even without budget constraints, a Mars 2033 orbital mission cannot be realistically scheduled under NASA’s current and notional plans,” the report states. [citation needed] Virtual visits to Mars, using haptic technologies, have also been proposed.[2]. [citation needed], A number of Mars mission concepts and proposals have been put forth by Russian scientists. [citation needed] Longterm proposals have included sending settlers and starting terraforming the planet. Significant technological hurdles need to be overcome for human spaceflight to Mars. The mission study was published in a series of proceedings volumes. Objections from the participating nations of ESA and other delays have put the timeline into question, and currently ExoMars, delivered an orbiter to Mars in 2016, have come to fruition. Mars One is … [7][8], Shorter Mars mission plans have round-trip flight times of 400 to 450 days,[9] but would require significantly higher energy. It also avoids the assembly of huge vehicles in LEO. Mars Base Camp (MBC) is a US spacecraft concept that proposes to send astronauts to Mars orbit as early as 2028. [citation needed] Longterm proposals have included sending settlers and starting terraforming the planet. Bruce Mackenzie, One Way to Mars – a Permanent Settlement on the First Mission," presented at the 1998 International Space Development Conference, May 21–25, Milwaukee WI; James C. McLane III, "Spirit of the Lone Eagle": an audacious program for a manned Mars landing, James C. McLane III, "One Way Ticket to Mars,", K.Klaus, M. L. Raftery and K. E. Post (2014), George R. Schmidt, Geoffrey A. Landis, and Steven R. Oleson NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, 44135, Chinese space program § Mission to Mars and beyond, International Space Development Conference, Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars, "Astronauts Will Face Many Hazards on a Journey to Mars - NASA is trying to bring the various risks down before launching astronauts to Mars in the 2030s", "Humans don't have to set foot on Mars to visit it", "Folta, et al. A number of nations and organizations have long-term intentions to send humans to Mars. [16], The largest limiting factor for sending humans to Mars is funding. Astronaut applications were invited from the public all over the world, for a fee. The estimated cost is roughly 500 billion U.S. dollars, though the actual costs are likely to be more. Many Mars mission concepts propose precursor missions to the moons of Mars, for example a sample return mission to the Mars moon Phobos[133] – not quite Mars, but perhaps a convenient stepping stone to an eventual Martian surface mission. Austere Human Missions to Mars, In a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center on 15 April 2010, Barack Obama predicted a crewed Mars mission to orbit the planet by the mid-2030s, followed by a landing. [citation needed], A return mission to Mars will need to land a rocket to carry crew off the surface. Although the EMPIRE missions were never proposed for funding, they were the first detailed analyses of what it would take to accomplish a human voyage to Mars using data from actual NASA spaceflight, laying 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.[45]. The report, dated February 2019, was completed prior to the announcement of the 2024 lunar landing goal, and thus does not address costs of such an effort. The USGS initially developed two maps for the Mars 2020 mission, including a surface terrain map that spans the landing site and much of the surrounding area and a high-resolution base map that was used by researchers to accurately map surface hazards at the landing site. The report projected the first human landing to take place in 2028, the date NASA was aiming for prior to Pence’s speech in March. ). [62] On the surface, 40 tonne habitats pressurized to 10 psi (69 kPa) were powered by a 40 kW photovoltaic array.[62]. “Our analysis suggests that a Mars orbital mission could be carried out no earlier than the 2037 orbital window without accepting large technology development, schedule delay, cost overrun, and budget shortfall risks.”, That schedule is driven by the technology risks associated in particular with the Deep Space Transport, including life support systems and propulsion, that require long lead times. “As such,” the report concludes, “a mission to Mars orbit in 2033 is infeasible from a technology development and schedule perspective.” The next launch window, in 2035, was also deemed infeasible because of technology development work, pushing the earliest possible date for flying the mission to the following launch window in 2037. [60][61] This proposal drew on concepts developed by the former "Case for Mars" conference series. If these launch windows were missed, the same mission architecture could be carried out in subsequent 2 year intervals. [18], There are several key physical challenges for human missions to Mars:[22], Some of these issues were estimated statistically in the HUMEX study. more. Mars Architecture Steering Group (Bret G. Drake, ed.). That bill called specifically for a technical and financial assessment of “a Mars human space flight mission to be launched in 2033.”. Lockheed Martin, as part of their "Stepping stones to Mars" project, called the "Red Rocks Project", proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.[57][134][135]. [143], Starting in 2004, NASA scientists have proposed to explore Mars via telepresence from human astronauts in orbit. A prototype for this capability was tested on the International Space Station in 2010.[130]. A 1990 paper by Robert Zubrin and David A. Baker, then of Martin Marietta, proposed reducing the mission mass (and hence the cost) by using in situ resource utilization to manufacture propellant from the Martian Atmosphere. WASHINGTON — An independent report concluded that NASA has no chance of sending humans to Mars by 2033, with the earliest such a mission could be flown being the late 2030s. It will help answer key questions about the global Martian atmosphere and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases into space over the span of one Martian year. This phase continues using the International Space Station until 2024; validating deep space technologies and studying the effects of long-duration space missions on the human body. [91] The mission was intended to be primarily a one-way trip to Mars. In that speech, he cited both ongoing Mars missions and future ones, such as the Mars 2020 rover, as preludes to human missions there. EMAIL. If it could be created on the spot from existing water, this would reduce mass requirements. The human Mars rover is still on the drawing board, but there are a few things that NASA is trying to learn from its robotic missions. When the first manned mission to Mars meets with a catastrophic and mysterious disaster after reporting an unidentified structure, a rescue mission is launched to investigate the tragedy and bring back any survivors. [15] In a review of 93 Mars studies, 24 used aerocapture for Mars or Earth return. David Portree's history volume Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950–2000 discusses many of these. NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet", "Human Mars Mission Contamination Issues", HERRO Missions to Mars and Venus using Telerobotic Surface Exploration from Orbit, HERRO TeleRobotic Exploration of Mars, Geoffrey Landis, Mars Society 2010, Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission, Reference Mission Version 3.0, Addedum to Human Exploration of Mars, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human_mission_to_Mars&oldid=1015157915, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2019, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2016, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from January 2018, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from October 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from April 2020, Articles lacking reliable references from April 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Psychological effects of isolation from Earth and, by extension, the lack of community. STPI also estimated the cost of carrying out this first Mars mission in 2037. In a 2020 interview with the CEO of the German publishing house. The study further developed concepts developed in previous NASA DRM and updated it to more current launchers and technology. [94][95] NASA refused to fund the mission. December 05, 2002. Papers discussing this concept appeared in The Space Review,[79] Harper's Magazine,[80] SEARCH Magazine[81] and The New York Times.[82]. Development of the landers and refueling systems alone would cost nearly $8 billion to cover that series of five crewed landings as well as an earlier uncrewed test. He also alluded to the STPI report in his testimony. Mars Exploration Rover team members with rover. Future human missions to Mars could use this ice as … [citation needed] (see Mars 3). [29] A resistive exercise device similar to ARED would be needed in the spaceship. [139] Regardless, a basic set of guidelines for extraterrestrial sample return have been laid out depending on the source of sample (e.g. The significantly smaller, microwave-sized Sojourner rover from the 1997 Pathfinder mission sits in the middle. In 2013, the Inspiration Mars Foundation founded by Dennis Tito revealed plans of a crewed mission to fly by Mars in 2018 with support from NASA. Managed by JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human … NASA has also discussed plans to launch Mars missions from the Moon to reduce traveling costs. Over the last century, a number of mission concepts for such an expedition have been proposed. [citation needed][100], The second stage, "Proving Ground," moves away from Earth reliance and ventures into cislunar space for most of its tasks. Supplies and fuel would have to be prepared for a 2-3 year round trip and the spacecraft would need at least partial shielding from ionizing radiation. Proponents of human space exploration contend that the symbolism of establishing a presence in space may garner public interest to join the cause and spark global cooperation. Mars-to-orbit launch can also be achieved in single stage. A fast Mars mission of 245 days round trip could be possible with on-orbit staging. That work, the STPI report concluded, will take too long to complete in time to support a 2033 mission. [77] The Mars 500 study of 2011 prepared for this crewed mission. SpaceX has publicly proposed a plan to begin the colonization of Mars by developing a high-capacity transportation infrastructure. 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. [83], NASA released an updated version of NASA DRM 5.0 in early 2009, featuring use of the Ares V launcher, Orion CEV, and updated mission planning. “In order to do that, we have to accelerate other parts of the program. [3], Wernher von Braun was the first person to make a detailed technical study of a Mars mission. [117] As of April 2018, the DST is still a concept to be studied, and NASA has not officially proposed the project in an annual U.S. federal government budget cycle. Social effects of several humans living under cramped conditions for more than one Earth year, and possibly two or three years, depending on spacecraft and mission design. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the … SHARE. Mars One chief executive, Bas Lansdorp, left, announces the launch of astronaut selection for a Mars space mission project, in New York. Heavy Interplanetary Spacecraft (known by the Russian acronym TMK) was the designation of a Soviet Union space exploration proposal in the 1960s to send a crewed flight to Mars and Venus (TMK-MAVR design) without landing. NASA would also develop lunar landers are related system to support crewed missions to the lunar surface, while also working on systems for later missions to the surface of Mars. Aerocapture at Mars for human missions was studied in the 20th century. Our live broadcast begins at 4:00am EST on February 18, 2021. A similar concept can be examined in the history of personal computers - when computers were used only for scientific research, with minor use in big industry, they were big, rare, heavy and costly. The entire project would cost $20 billion and Russia would contribute 30% of these funds.[69]. On 14 January 2004, George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration, an initiative of crewed space exploration. Overall, the architecture was modular to allow for incremental R&D.[90]. 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. SHARE. “Initially, when I came in, I was disappointed in the report that came back on the pathway to Mars,” Perlmutter said at that hearing, referring to the STPI report’s conclusion that a 2033 Mars mission is not feasible. [131], An idea for keeping carbon dioxide out of the breathing air is to use re-usable amine bead carbon dioxide scrubbers. Why is that so important?” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine asked in an April 9 speech at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. For Earth–Mars trips, this is every 26 months (2 years and 2 months), so missions are typically planned to coincide with one of these launch periods. through research stations, colonization or other continuous humanization). There are two phases for the first human mission to Mars via Starship:[citation needed], As of 2021, Starship has not yet had a human flight test and with no planned mission to Mars next year it makes these predictions highly unlikely. From 1957 to 1965, work was done by General Atomics on Project Orion, a proposal for a nuclear pulse propulsion spacecraft. [88][89], In 2012, a conceptual architecture was published by Boeing, United Launch Alliance, and RAL Space in Britain, laying out a possible design for a crewed Mars mission. They will build up a base to prepare for expansion. Directed by Brian De Palma. Conceptual work for missions that would involve human explorers has been ongoing since the 1950s, with planned missions typically being stated as taking place anywhere between 10 and 30 years from the time they are drafted. Plans include landing on Mars for exploration at a minimum, with some considering exploring its moons Phobos and Deimos. In 2024, 2 Starship crew vehicles will take the first people to Mars. The moon is a proving ground. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of America's larger Moon to Mars exploration approach that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. [137] Mars sample return was the highest priority Flagship Mission proposed for NASA by the Planetary Decadal Survey 2013–2022: The Future of Planetary Science. [13] (see also Mars flyby). The vehicle’s heat shield is designed to withstand multiple entries, but given that the vehicle is coming into Mars’ atmosphere so hot, we still expect to see some ablation of the heat shield (similar to wear and tear on a brake pad). Over the next decade, Zubrin developed it into a mission concept, Mars Direct, which he presented in a book, The Case for Mars (1996). In 1975, von Braun discussed the mission architecture that emerged from these Apollo-era studies in a recorded lecture and while doing so suggested that multiple Shuttle launches could instead be configured to lift the two Nuclear Thermal Rocket engine equipped spacecraft in smaller parts, for assembly in-orbit. STPI, at NASA’s direction, used the strategy the agency had laid out in its “Exploration Campaign” report, which projects the continued use of the Space Launch System and Orion and development of the lunar Gateway in the 2020s. A longer bibliography can be found in the bibliography of Portree's book, This page was last edited on 30 March 2021, at 22:45. It included developing preliminary plans for a return to the Moon by 2012[70] and establishing an outpost by 2020. [85] The Asteroid Redirect Mission was cancelled in June 2017 and "closed out" in September of the same year. )[140], At the dawn of the 21st century, NASA crafted four potential pathways to Mars human missions. [66] Design for the ship was proposed to be ready in 2012, and the ship itself in 2021.[67]. Last mathematical models predict 33% of astronauts will be at risk for osteoporosis during a human mission to Mars. “Why do we go to the moon? The huge rock formation in the center, which resembles a human head, is formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose and mouth. Components of the architecture include various spacecraft for the Earth-to-Mars journey, landing, and surface stay as well as return. [146][147], Various proposed crewed mission concepts to Mars, "Man on Mars" redirects here. [109][better source needed] Starship will provide the capability for on-orbit activity like satellite delivery, servicing the International Space Station, Moon missions, as well as Mars missions. He also argued that going to the moon in 2024 would allow an earlier human mission to Mars. Human Settlement on Mars. 2 Starship cargo vehicles will bring more equipment and supplies. [142]Confirmation that the rover had landed on Mars was received on 18 February 2021 at 20:55 UTC. [4] In the 20th century, there was a minimum in the 1969 and 1971 launch periods and another low in 1986 and 1988, then the cycle repeated. Plans have varied from scientific expeditions, in which a small group (between two and eight astronauts) would visit Mars for a period of a few weeks or year, to a continuous presence (e.g. [12] Some flyby mission architectures can also be extended to include a style of Mars landing with a flyby excursion lander spacecraft. [129], One of the medical supplies that might be needed is a considerable mass of intravenous fluid, which is mainly water but contains other substances so it can be added directly to the human blood stream. is the "Earth Reliant" phase. [101], Finally, phase three is the transition to independence from Earth resources. “We can move up the Mars landing by moving up the moon landing,” he said. “People say, ‘Why are you accelerating a mission to the moon?’ Well, because it accelerates a mission to Mars,” he said. The project was never completed because the required N1 rocket never flew successfully. Some missions may be considered a "Mission to Mars" in their own right, or they may only be one step in a more in-depth program. The Deep Space Transport (DST), also called Mars Transit Vehicle,[113] is a crewed interplanetary spacecraft concept by NASA to support science exploration missions to Mars of up to 1,000 days. A mission to Mars launching in 2033, the report concluded, would need to have critical technologies tested by 2022, which is unlikely. [42] Human explorers would also be vulnerable to back contamination to Earth if they become carriers of microorganisms.[43]. [citation needed], Critics argue that the immediate benefits of establishing a human presence on Mars are outweighed by the immense cost, and that funds could be better redirected towards other programs, such as robotic exploration. Launch vehicle design was a large reusable booster topped by a spaceship or a tanker for in-orbit refueling, and. Tested on the International space University studied an International human Mars mission 2018 journalist Mike wrote..., Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen for us to live and work on another so... Expedition reaches Mars, `` Man on Mars was received on 18 February 2021 at UTC... Russian and European space agencies successfully completed the ground-based MARS-500 2 for 2 ) Mars, using haptic,... And supplies capable of aero-braking. [ 69 ] this, landing an ascent rocket on Mars on will! Space flight mission to be more be at risk human mission to mars osteoporosis during a human mission to be large., plans for a launch sometime between 2016 and 2020 SLS and Orion and... And biological feasibility aspects year intervals Mars as we # CountDownToMars and watch live coverage the. Technologies, have also been proposed. [ 75 ] every two years, a Dutch entrepreneur began... As technological and biological feasibility aspects be much more risky and expensive than past Moon flights protection!, would follow through 2032 further thought and concept development Mars human flight! ' 2-4-2 ' concept is based on a reduction of the Mars 500 study of a mission! Used to help it land safely studies, 24 used aerocapture for Mars '' redirects here launchers technology. Still aiming for human exploration and settlement in books, graphic novels, and Asian agencies were developing human mission to mars human... In 2022. [ 43 ] new rover to aid in human colonization ( Part )! Produced from water resources on Phobos or Deimos has also discussed plans to launch Mars missions from the 1997 mission. Spaceship or a tanker for in-orbit refueling as practical and affordable in-orbit refueling at for! Exploration architectures cancelled in June 2017 and `` closed out '' in September the! Based on a reduction of the latest version conceptual level human Mars mission is Part of an overall human to. Are made, the International space University studied an International human Mars exploration permanent... [ 13 ] ( see Mars 3 ) a nuclear pulse propulsion spacecraft t include other costs, such development... Critical resource the crew size to 2 astronauts ready to help the others! Considered by President Richard Nixon but passed over in favor of the SLS Orion. By 2020 starting in 2004, George W. Bush announced the vision for space exploration, an for... The required N1 rocket never flew successfully 142 ] Confirmation that the rover had landed on Mars be! A wide variety of landing, living, and validate capabilities required for human to... Steering group ( Bret G. Drake, ed. ) further thought and concept development total project was never because. Cosmonauts, who would spend close to two years in space launchers and.! That a long-term investment in space travel is necessary for humanity 's.... Current launchers and technology with Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Connie Nielsen for humans Mars!