Mars Transportation Assessment Study

The MTAS Team was tasked by NASA leadership to establish the feasibility of transportation system options for a ~2 year opposition class human Mars mission in the 2030s to reduce overall risks to astronauts. The initial focus of the team was on nuclear systems given the known challenges of chemical systems for opposition class trajectories. The team was to assess acceptable risk and minimal development for a viable mission, and provide the Agency with guidance for potential architectures, concept of operations (ConOps), campaign, and development of the required capabilities. Further assessment of the non-nuclear alternatives is recommended as follow-on work to ensure completeness of results; but is not currently anticipated to change the overall results.