August 2005:

A unmanned multistage rocket will be launched with a single hydrogen and oxygen burning engine. It will be launched directly from Earth with no Low Earth Orbit (LEO) docking. It will carry a 45 metric ton payload, an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV). The vehicle is designed to carry a future crew of astronauts back from the surface of Mars to a direct splashdown in Earth's waters. On its journey to Mars the ERV will carry a small nuclear reactor mounted atop a light truck, an automated chemical processing unit along with a set of compressors, and a few scientific rovers. The ERV's crew cabin will store a life support system, food, and other necessities to sustain a crew of four on the 8 month journey back to Earth. Its two propulsion tanks are essentially empty, carrying just 6 tons of liquid hydrogen propellant production feed stock to be used to produce fuel on Mars.

February 2006:

The ERV will reach Mars after a 6 month voyage. Its average rate of speed will be 27 kilometers per second. The craft will use the aeroshell to brake into orbit. A few days will be spent in orbit to allow the flight controllers to perform a final systems check. Then, when the landing site is clear of haze and strong winds, the craft will be targeted back into the atmosphere for final entry. After using the aeroshell to brake (see diagram at right) a parachute will pop open and start the spacecraft on a gentle descent toward the surface of Mars . As the spacecraft approaches the surface, retro-rockets will kick in to gently deliver the ERV to the ground.

As soon as it lands and all systems are confirmed nominal, the ERV will get to work making fuel for the return trip to Earth. Out of a side door the light truck carrying the small nuclear reactor will roll out. Using a small TV camera onboard, the mission controllers from Houston will slowly drive the truck a few hundred meters away from the landing site. Once controllers have reached an acceptable distance, the reactor will be moved from the truck's bed to a natural depression in the ground or a crater.Then the reactor will start up and begin to feed energy by wire to the chemical processing plant in the main ERV craft. Using a hundred kilowatts of electricity the plant will start to produce rocket propellant by using the 95% carbon dioxide atmosphere to react with hydrogen brought from Earth to make H4 (methane gas) and H2O (water).

At the end of 6 months of successful operation, 108 tons of methane gas will be held in the fuel tanks. This will be enough to operate the ERV combustion powered ground vehicles (cars and rovers) to be used on the surface.

September 2006:

Now, more than a year after its launch, a fully fueled spacecraft will sit on Mars awaiting the arrival of a crew. The engineers who monitored every single step of the chemical production process will signal the go ahead for the next step in the Mars Direct program to proceed. The ERV will deploy small robots, to examine and photograph the terrain within the close vicinity of the ERV. The crew of the Mars Direct mission will play a big role in navigating these robots for this is the land they will eventually end up on. After months of exploration an ideal landing spot will be selected. Then one of the ERV's robots will place a radio transponder at the site to help the crew safely land.

October 2007:

Two field scientists and two mechanics will be launched towards Mars. They will not see home for at least two and a half years The crew will reside in a large drum, 5 meters high and 8 meters in diameter with roughly 1,000 square feet of living space. This is a very comfortable living space, and it should be. This will be where the crew will live for the next 6 months. It will contain a closed loop life support system capable of recycling oxygen and water, whole food for three years plus a large supply of dehydrated emergency rations, and a pressurized ground car, powered by a methane/oxygen internal combustion engine. To the left is a chart that shows how much fluids and food a human consumes and excretes (click for bigger picture).While the habitation module travels to Mars, an artificial gravity environment will be implemented. A small rocket on one end of the ship will fire causing the ship to revolve at two revolutions per minute. This will generate enough centrifugal force to provide the crew with a Martian gravity simulation for the rest of the trip.

April 2008:

180 days later the crew will arrive. The vehicle will areobrake into orbit. The habitation module will then separate from the shell of the ship and enter the atmosphere. The radio beacons will ensure a safe and precise landing. Shortly thereafter, a second ERV will follow, landing roughly 800 kilometers away. This ERV will be for the second manned mission. When that mission arrives, a third ERV will follow, allowing for a third manned mission and so on... As the missions proceed, a network of exploratory bases will eventually be established, turning large areas of Mars into human territory. The first crew will spend 500 days on the surface of Mars. Even with such a substantial amount of surface time, the crew's days will be filled with projects that will vastly expand our knowledge of the planet and pave the way toward future exploration. Above all, the astronauts will search out easily extractable sources of frozen water, permafrost, and, even better, subsurface bodies of geothermally heated liquid water. Ice or water is the key, because once water is found, it will free future Mars missions from the need to import hydrogen from Earth. Experimentation with agriculture will be another high priority. The large land vehicle will be taken out for week-long, geological expeditions that will look for signs of life. It will drop off small "disposable" rovers for the base crew to independently explore Mars at many different sites.

September 2009:

At the end of a year and a half on the surface of Mars, the crew will board the ERV and blast off to receive a hero's welcome on Earth six months later. They will leave behind MarsBase 1.

May 2010:

Shortly after the crew from MarsBase 1 lands on Earth, a second crew will arrive at Mars. This crew will carry out some of the same operations as the first; the only difference is they will explore the unknown area around their Base. But, at some point, they would revisit MarsBase 1, not just for sentimental reasons, but to continue necessary scientific investigations in that region.

Conclusion:

Every two years a new crew will arrive at a predetermined destination and then set up for the next mission. That's an average launch rate of 1 per year. Using just 10 percent of the available heavy lift capability on Earth,this is certainly affordable and ultimately sustainable. As an added bonus, the same type of launch vehicles and habitats used in the Mars Direct program can be used in establishing an Earth moon base. A rough cost estimate to develop all the required hardware for the Mars Direct program is about 20 billion dollars, with each individual mission costing about 2 billion dollars. While this is certainly a great sum of money to spend in a span of 10 years, it will only represent 7 percent of the anticipated combined military and civilian space budgets. Furthermore, this money could drive our economy forward in just the same ways as the money spent on science and technology in the Apollo program contributed to the high rates of economic growth of America during the 60's.