This document communicates NASA’s strategy and progress to learn about the Red Planet, to inform us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet. Together with NASA’s partners in academia and commercial enterprises, NASA’s vision is to pioneer Mars and answer some of humanity’s fundamental questions: • Was Mars home to microbial life? Is it today? • Could it be a safe home for humans one day? • What can it teach us about life elsewhere in the cosmos or how life began on Earth? • What can it teach us about Earth’s past, present, and future?

President Donald Trump signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transition Authorization Act of 2017, the first comprehensive NASA authorization act passed in seven years by Congress, authorizing $19.5 billion in funding for deep space exploration and human travel to Mars by 2030. NASA will lead our nation and our world on a journey to Mars. Like the Apollo Program, they will embark on this journey for all humanity. Mars is the horizon goal for pioneering space; it is the next tangible frontier for expanding human presence. Mars have found valuable resources for sustaining human pioneers, such as water ice just below the surface. Mars had conditions suitable for life, but will it our new home?" Table of Contents: Basic Facts About Mars Journey to Mars - Introduction Journey to Mars - Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration: Our Goal Our Approach: Pioneering Principles Three Phases on Our Journey to Mars Our Strategy for the Journey to Mars Our Progress and Plans on the Journey to Mars Pioneering Challenges Government's Authorization of the Plan - An Act to Authorize the Programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and for Other Purposes

President Donald Trump signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transition Authorization Act of 2017, the first comprehensive NASA authorization act passed in seven years by Congress, authorizing $19.5 billion in funding for deep space exploration and human travel to Mars by 2030. NASA will lead our nation and our world on a journey to Mars. Like the Apollo Program, they will embark on this journey for all humanity. Mars is the horizon goal for pioneering space; it is the next tangible frontier for expanding human presence. Mars have found valuable resources for sustaining human pioneers, such as water ice just below the surface. Mars had conditions suitable for life, but will it our new home?" Table of Contents: Basic Facts About Mars Journey to Mars - Introduction Journey to Mars - Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration: Our Goal Our Approach: Pioneering Principles Three Phases on Our Journey to Mars Our Strategy for the Journey to Mars Our Progress and Plans on the Journey to Mars Pioneering Challenges Government's Authorization of the Plan - An Act to Authorize the Programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and for Other Purposes

This book explores the practicality of using the existing subsurface geology on the Moon and Mars for protection against radiation, thermal extremes, micrometeorites and dust storms rather than building surface habitats at great expense at least for those first few missions. It encourages NASA to plan a precursor mission using this concept and employ a “Short Stay” Opposition Class mission to Mars as the first mission rather than the “Long Stay” concept requiring a mission that is too long, too dangerous and too costly for man’s first missions to Mars. Included in these pages is a short history on the uses of caves by early humans over great periods of time. It then describes the ongoing efforts to research caves, pits, tunnels, lava tubes, skylights and the associated technologies that pertain to potential lunar and Mars exploration and habitation. It describes evidence for existing caves and lava tubes on both the Moon and Mars. The work of noted scientists, technologists and roboticists are referenced and described. This ongoing work is moreextensive than one would think and is directly applicable to longer term habitation and exploration of the Moon and Mars. Emphasis is also given to the operational aspects of working and living in lunar and Martian caves and lava tubes.

This book explores the once popular idea of 'Flexible Path' in terms of Mars, a strategy that would focus on a manned orbital mission to Mars's moons rather than the more risky, expensive and time-consuming trip to land humans on the Martian surface. While currently still not the most popular idea, this mission would take advantage of the operational, scientific and engineering lessons to be learned from going to Mars's moons first. Unlike a trip to the planet's surface, an orbital mission avoids the dangers of the deep gravity well of Mars and a very long stay on the surface. This is analogous to Apollo 8 and 10, which preceded the landing on the Moon of Apollo 11. Furthermore, a Mars orbital mission could be achieved at least five years, possibly 10 before a landing mission. Nor would an orbital mission require all of the extra vehicles, equipment and supplies needed for a landing and a stay on the planet for over a year. The cost difference between the two types of missions is in the order of tens of billions of dollars. An orbital mission to Deimos and Phobos would provide an early opportunity to acquire scientific knowledge of the moons and Mars as well, since some of the regolith is presumed to be soil ejected from Mars. It may also offer the opportunity to deploy scientific instruments on the moons which would aid subsequent missions. It would provide early operational experience in the Mars environment without the risk of a landing. The author convincingly argues this experience would enhance the probability of a safe and successful Mars landing by NASA at a later date, and lays out the best way to approach an orbital mission in great detail. Combining path-breaking science with achievable goals on a fast timetable, this approach is the best of both worlds--and our best path to reaching Mars safely in the future.

This book is dedicated to the nascent discussion of the legal aspects of human exploration and possible settlement of Mars, and provides fresh insights and new ideas in two key areas. The first one revolves around the broader aspects of current space law, such as intellectual property rights in outer space, the legal implications of contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence, legal considerations around the freedom of exploration and use, and the International Space Station agreement as a precedent for Mars. The second one focuses on the creation and management of a new society on Mars, and includes topics such as human reproduction and childbirth, the protection of human rights in privately-funded settlements, legal aspects of a Martian power grid, and criminal justice on the red planet. With multiple national space agencies and commercial enterprises focusing on Mars, it is more than likely that a human presence will be established on the red planet in the coming decades. While the foundation of international space law, laid primarily by the Outer Space Treaty, remains the framework within which humans will engage with Mars, new and unforeseen challenges have arisen, driven particularly by the rapid pace of technological advancement in recent years. To ensure that space law can keep up with these developments, a new scholarly work such as the present one is critical. By bringing together a number of fresh international perspectives on the topic, the book is of interest to all scholars and professionals working in the space field.