NASA had unveiled their plan of yet another important mission on space; the summit to Mars. The preparation, however, involves a year-long trip to the moon.
The whole course of the preparation will be divided into four phases. NASA's deputy associate administrator for policy and plans, Greg Williams, had provided some details about the first two in his talk at the Human to Mars Summit in Washington D.C.
According to Williams, the first two phases of NASA's plan involves multiple trips to lunar space. This will allow them to build a habitat which is going to be a staging area for the journey. They will be transporting building materials, a research module, an airlock and a power source.
They will be building the 'deep-space gateway', or a small space station that will orbit the moon. This station will serve as an assembly and testing area for the Deep Space Transport as reported by CNET.
NASA will then deliver the Deep Space Transport Vehicle which will later be used to carry a crew to Mars. This mission is set to occur between 2018 and 2026 and the second phase is set for 2027 according to Space.
The delivery of the Deep Space Transport will be followed by a flight to deliver the crew who would stay in the facility for a year. This will happen in around the late 2020's.
The year-long crewed mission of the Deep Space Transport on the cislunar space, or the region between the earth and moon, will be a very important highlight for this mission. According to Williams, this will part of the mission will give them the knowledge of handling the 1,000-day mission to Mars and back.
NASA plans to send a crew to Mars by 2030, but this mission still relies heavily on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. This will send all the necessary cargo and the crew to the cislunar space.
