The 1963 TRW study was done at NASA Ames. The final report is still on the library shelf (the paper is getting brittle with age) but still quite interesting to read. The rocket science back then was darned good. Not being distracted by computers probably allowed people to be more creative.

One of the key points of the TRW study was an Apollo Command Module type capsule was not suitable as an Earth return vehicle from Mars (Lift-over-drag ratio was too small). That was common knowledge amongst aeronautical engineers in 1963.

Vince's final comment cuts too close to the bone:

"...sixty years of studies without end - an objective that is always "20 years from now"?"

How did we dig ourselves into this hole?

Gary