The Mars Direct plan total mass is 53.8 tonnes. Of that 10.4 is consumables. The consumables during transit would be actually be about two thirds because the plan also makes use of in-situ resources for O2 and water. So roughly 7 tonnes of a 53.8 tonne mission is required due to the long trip time to Mars. That's less than 15% of the total. Since the delta v to land on Mars is actually smaller with aerobraking than landing on the Moon, the energy requirements to land the same amount of mass at either destination would be close enough that one launch vehicle design could work for either destination and the same amount of mass. You could probably cut corners and get one to work for the moon that would be marginally too small for Mars delivery. Pretty stupid planning if you chose that approach.
Regards,
Mark
Space/Science » in reply to If you had a memory for detail
Consumables Mass Fraction
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