Logistics considerations for a human mission to Mars

Throughout the history of mankind, humans have ventured beyond their home base and source of support, and explored the unknown. Humans are again poised to venture beyond their home base of Earth. This venture will rival the journeys of the early explorers especially in terms of mission duration and isolation from sources of supply and assistance. This next journey may be to Mars. The NASA Human Mars Mission (HMM) presents a multitude of technological challenges that must be addressed in order to safely send and return a crew to Mars. Once the manned phase of the mission is committed to launch, orbital mechanics will drive the crew to be away from Earth for a minimum of two years. There will be no re-supply and only a limited mass and volume allotment for logistics materials. The crew will have limited resources and capabilities available to them to maintain and repair the flight vehicle and the surface systems. Logistics will be one of the more significant challenges the program must investigate, research, and eventually overcome. The program must provide for the long-term logistics supportability of vehicle systems and associated hardware where supply from Earth is non-existence. The crew will be asked to perform tasks normally not required of “today´s” astronauts. Much like the early explorers, the crew must be able to handle all situations autonomously. This logistics challenge can be met by developing robust, redundant systems and by incorporating creative logistics solutions into the flight vehicle and surface system designs early in the program