Our Progress and Plans on the
Journey to Mars
Over the next 10 years, commercial partners will likely increase their presence
in LEO by providing more products and services to government and nongovernmental customers. A mature market provides reliable, on-demand,
low-cost services, freeing NASA resources for more complex missions and
system development. These commercial service providers help NASA execute
an ambitious deep-space human exploration strategy within the agency’s
anticipated budgets.
The Proving Ground
Starting early next decade, NASA will be part of a larger international
community of exploration and commercial activity in the Proving Ground—a
resilient, evolvable effort to extend human presence beyond LEO. NASA
identified several objectives for Proving Ground missions, which are critical
steps on the journey to Mars. These objectives range from demonstrating
Category
Proving Ground Objectives
Title
Transportation
Crew
Transportation
Transportation
Heavy Launch
Capability
Transportation
In-Space
Propulsion
Transportation
Working in Space
Deep Space
Navigation and
Communication
Science
Working in Space
Deep Space
Operations
Working in Space
In-Situ Resource
Utilization
Staying Healthy
Deep Space
Habitation
Staying Healthy
Crew Health
17
Objective
Provide ability to transport at least four
crew to cislunar space.
Provide beyond LEO launch
capabilities to include crew, comanifested payloads, and large cargo.
Provide in-space propulsion
capabilities to send crew and cargo
on Mars-class mission durations and
distances.
Provide and validate cislunar and Mars
system navigation and communication.
Enable science community objectives.
Provide deep-space operations
capabilities:
• Extravehicular activity (EVA)
• Staging
• Logistics
• Human-robotic integration
• Autonomous operations
Understand the nature and distribution
of volatiles and extraction techniques,
and decide on their potential use in the
human exploration architecture.
Provide beyond LEO habitation
systems sufficient to support at least
four crew on Mars-class mission
durations and dormancy.
Validate crew health, performance,
and mitigation protocols for Marsclass missions.