An Introduction to Human Mars Mission Equipment and Operations

The exploration of Mars by human crews will be a complex endeavor as illustrated by this description of NASA's current architecture for the human exploration of the surface of Mars. The surface environment, in particular the ubiquitous dust, will be an important factor in designing the systems and operations needed for a safe and effective campaign of missions to achieve this objective. This introduction describes the exploration architecture with some indication of where and how dust could affect it. The remainder of this volume describes details of these dust effects on the crews, the systems, and the operations that make up this exciting and challenging enterprise.