Earth Reliant

The journey to Mars passes through three thresholds, each with increasing challenges as humans move farther from Earth. NASA and our partners are managing these challenges by developing and demonstrating capabilities in incremental steps.

Earth Reliant exploration is focused on research aboard the ISS. On the space station, we are testing technologies and advancing human health and performance research that will enable deep-space, long-duration missions.

– Human health and behavioral research

– Advanced communications systems

– Material flammability tests

– Extravehicular operations

– Mars mission class environmental control and life support systems

– 3-D printing

– Material handling tests for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) demonstrations

 

Providing Ground

In the Proving Ground, NASA will learn to conduct complex operations in a deep space environment that allows crews to return to Earth in a matter of days. Primarily operating in cislunar space, NASA will advance and validate capabilities required for human exploration of Mars.

– A series of Exploration Missions (EMs), starting with EM-1, the first integrated test of SLS and Orion, anticipated in 2018

– The Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission in 2020 that will collect a large boulder from a near-Earth asteroid, then ferry it to the Proving Ground and the Asteroid Redirect Crew Mission that will allow astronauts to investigate and sample the asteroid boulder

 

– An initial deep-space habitation facility for long-duration systems testing Autonomous operations, including rendezvous and docking and state of the art information technology solutions

– Concepts to minimize resupply needs through reduction, reuse, and recycling of consumables, packaging, and materials

– Other key operational capabilities required to become Earth Independent

Earth Independent

Earth Independent activities build on what we learn on ISS and in cislunar space to enable human missions to the Mars vicinity, including the Martian moons, and eventually the Martian surface. With humans on Mars, we will be able to advance science and technology in ways only dreamed of with current robotic explorers. Future Mars missions will represent a collaborative effort among NASA and its partners—a global achievement that marks a transition in humanity’s expansion as we go to Mars not just to visit, but to stay.

– Living and working within transit and surface habitats that support human life for years, with only routine maintenance

– Harvesting Martian resources to create fuel, water, oxygen, and building materials

– Leveraging advanced communication systems to relay data and results from science and exploration excursions with a 20-minute delay