Mars Design Reference Mission
The NASA Mars Design Reference Mission ("DRM") refer to a series of NASA conceptual design studies of the missions to send humans to Mars. The related term, Design Reference Architecture (DRA), refers to the entire sequences of missions and supporting infrastructure.
Artist concept of a Mars habitat, 1993
Concept for NASA Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009)
Diagram of some Earth and Mars mission designs
The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Long-term proposals have included sending settlers and terraforming the planet. Currently, only robotic landers and rovers have been on Mars. The farthest humans have been beyond Earth is the Moon, under the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA's) Apollo program which ended in 1972.
Concept for a Mars base, with ice home, pressurized rover, and Mars suits, 2016
Three views of Mars, Hubble Space Telescope, 1997
Inserts depict observation and analysis to find a safe landing site.
Artistic vision of spacecraft providing artificial gravity by spinning (see also Centrifugal force)
