Space launch system: Near term missions on the journey to mars

A human mission to Mars has long been an exploration goal of the United States and the international community. To achieve this goal, NASA is developing the Orion crew capsule and Space Launch System (SLS) as key elements in the eventual architecture for the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC). Both elements are designed to advance human spaceflight beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for the first time since the Apollo missions with the eventual goal of landing humans on Mars. This aggressive goal is complicated by the need to optimize the use of government resources during a period when budgets are challenged. Defining and prioritizing the technology and hardware needed is crucial to achieving the goal of landing humans on Mars. This paper will discuss potential near term missions that leverage Orion and SLS. A unique feature of the SLS/Orion system is supporting co-manifested payloads along with launching crews beyond LEO. Doing so provides new flexibility in achieving human exploration, operations, and science objectives on any given mission. Utilizing this co-manifest capability, a number of potential near term missions have been identified that will mature the elements needed for an eventual Mars mission, develop long duration mission operations techniques necessary for the Mars mission, refine life support systems, and conduct science investigations that were previously impractical. This paper will discuss a possible roadmap of missions that could be conducted over the next decade to place humans on the path to Mars.