NASA outlines manned Mars mission
BBC News [UK]Posted: November 29th, 2007 by Thomas L. Knapp
“Nasa has released details of its strategy for sending a human crew to Mars within the next few decades. The US space agency envisages despatching a ‘minimal’ crew on a 30-month round trip to the Red Planet in a 400,000kg (880,000lb) spacecraft. Details of the concept were outlined at a meeting in Houston, Texas. … The ‘Mars ship’ would be assembled in low-Earth orbit using three to four Ares V rockets — the new heavy-lift launch vehicle that Nasa has been developing. Notionally despatched in February 2031, the mission’s journey from Earth to Mars would take six to seven months in a spacecraft powered by an advanced cryogenic fuel propulsion system. Estimates of the cost of mounting a manned Mars mission vary enormously, from $20bn to $450bn.” (11/28/07)
