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Why did NASA’s 1997 Mars Reference Mission matter?

Why the 1997 Mars Reference Mission mattered: it cut SEI-era brute force with aerobraking, ISRU for ascent propellant, 600-day surface stays, and no heavy on-orbit assembly, making Mars look less like a giant one-off and more like a repeatable mission path[1].

  • Figure 25—Mars Base 1: the crew docks its Habitat on the surface with a second Habitat and begins a 600-day stay. They use a pressurized rover (left) to explore up to 500 kilometers from base. (NASA Photo S93-45582)
  • Figure 23—NASA’s 1993 Mars mission plan: after landing on Mars, the automated propellant factory manufactures liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellants for the conical Mars Ascent Vehicle it carries on top. (NASA Photo S93-50643)
Space: Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950-2000

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