Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to A One-Way, One-Person Mission to Mars

It seems a bit silly.
TB — (archived)

If you accept the premise that they can land sufficient supply ships to keep this guy alive for however long, why can't they land a return vehicle ahead of time along with the fuel needed?

The easiest way to do a Mars mission is by setting up both orbital and surface infrastructure in previous unmanned flights (return boosters, landing vehicles in orbit, supply depots/rovers on the surface, you name it) so that basically all you have to send is some people to Mars orbit in a large space capsule. You can take your time getting the preparations to Mars, and if one supply flight fails, you can just repeat it.

Heck, with a little effort you could probably set up a whole orbital Mars space station in the years prior to the manned flight, along with a big ground shelter system.

Needless to say, you could also use this approach on the Moon.

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