NASA’s Ambitious Mars Mission: Preparing for the 2030s with Scientific Exploration and Lunar Training

NASA’s plans to send humans to Mars by the 2030s mark a groundbreaking step in space exploration, with the mission focusing on scientific discovery. As part of this ambitious goal, the space agency aims to send astronauts on a round trip to Mars, covering up to 250 million miles (402 million kilometers) in about six to seven months each way. According to current estimates, astronauts may spend around 500 days on the planet’s surface before returning to Earth.

A key aspect of preparing for this mission is NASA’s Artemis program, which will return humans to the Moon within this decade. Artemis is designed to serve as a preparatory stage, helping astronauts practice and develop the necessary skills for living and working on Mars. NASA’s plans for Mars revolve around scientific exploration and discovery, with the ultimate goal of answering important questions about Mars' past and present.

“I’m an atmospheric scientist and former NASA researcher involved in establishing the scientific questions a Mars mission would investigate,” notes one of the scientists involved in planning the mission. These questions include investigating whether Mars ever hosted life and understanding why the planet looks the way it does today. Mars is especially intriguing from both a geological and atmospheric perspective. The red planet, which formed 4.6 billion years ago, once had liquid water and a dense atmosphere, similar to Earth’s early environment. Around 3.8 billion years ago, Mars likely had oceans, lakes, and rivers.

Today, however, Mars’ surface is dry, with only frozen water at its poles and a thin atmosphere composed of 95% carbon dioxide. The planet’s atmosphere is also filled with dust, giving it a reddish hue. Although robotic missions have revealed much about Mars’ surface, many mysteries remain. A key challenge for future astronauts will be studying the planet’s northern lowlands and southern highlands, which differ significantly in elevation and geologic features. Mars also boasts the largest volcanoes in the solar system and deep craters from past asteroid impacts, which could provide clues about the solar system’s formation.

To help guide future human missions, NASA formed the Human Exploration of Mars Science Analysis Group. This panel, co-chaired by NASA scientist James B. Garvin, assessed the key scientific questions that need to be answered on Mars. Among the top priorities is determining whether life exists on the planet today and understanding what caused Mars to lose its liquid water and atmosphere over time.

The mission to Mars will rely on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft, both of which were developed specifically for deep-space exploration. “The Space Launch System and Orion successfully launched on Nov. 16, 2022, as part of the Artemis I mission,” and the spacecraft orbited the Moon for six days before splashing down on Earth in December 2022.

NASA’s Artemis program, named after Apollo’s mythological twin sister, will return humans to the lunar surface by 2026 through Artemis III. The mission will land astronauts at the Moon’s south pole, where scientists believe there may be large deposits of subsurface ice that could be mined for water. Living and working on the Moon for months at a time will help astronauts prepare for the more distant and challenging mission to Mars. Although a manned mission to Mars remains years away, NASA’s efforts to return to the Moon will be instrumental in developing the necessary skills and technologies for the red planet.