Why did von Braun plan a polar landing?

In von Braun’s historical expedition concept, the first crew would land a glider on a Martian polar ice cap because he believed the caps were the only places where a smooth landing site could be counted on^[1]. The equatorial base site, by contrast, would be chosen later through telescope observations from Mars orbit^[2].

That separation made the first landing only the start of the surface journey: the crew would abandon its glider, travel roughly 4,000 miles overland to the selected site, and build a landing strip there for two wheeled gliders carrying the rest of the surface party^[3]. It was a proposed architecture, not a flown mission or a present-day landing recommendation^[4].

Would you also like to know how von Braun’s later, smaller Mars proposal differed from the polar-landing concept?PreguntaResposta completada. Hi ha una opció de seguiment disponible.