NASA presented the results of its architectural concept “Moon – Mars” in 2023. The review is part of the agency’s process to develop a roadmap for solar system exploration, including plans for a human mission to Mars.

The Moon to Mars approach is based on feedback from US industry, academia, international partners and NASA employees. The 2023 review developed the current architecture and strategies for the first human missions to Mars and highlighted seven key decisions that must be made for the successful implementation of the plan to send astronauts to the Red Planet.

“Our new document reflects the progress we have made in defining an open approach to exploration and shows how to integrate new elements as technology and capabilities evolve,” said Kathryn Koerner, Deputy Director of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission in Washington.

The newly released documents present the 2023 architecture, a detailed technical overview of NASA’s Moon to Mars approach and process, as well as a summary and 13 documents on the topics most frequently raised in NASA research.

“Last year, we were able to refine the process of developing the Moon-Mars architecture concept to unify the agency. In the coming months, we will work to fill gaps in the architecture and conduct additional reviews to make the necessary decisions that will allow human missions to Mars,” said NASA’s administrator for exploration systems development. his deputy, Nujud Meransi.

In April 2023, NASA presented an initial architecture detailing the Moon-Mars targets and their relationship to specific elements of the architecture. As part of this process, the agency held workshops where NASA leaders discussed open issues and needs, received feedback, and conducted an internal architecture review at the end of the year. NASA plans to continue improving the architecture each year as it moves forward with the Artemis campaign, which envisions establishing the foundation for long-term scientific exploration on the Moon and preparing for human expeditions to Mars.