Early Human Missions
See also: Vision for Space ExplorationIn 1952, Wernher von Braun described in his book Das Marsprojekt that a fleet of 10 spaceships could be built using 1000 three-stage rockets. These could bring a population of 70 people to Mars.
Early real-life human missions to Mars however, such as those being tentatively planned by NASA, FKA and ESA would not be direct precursors to colonization. They are intended solely as exploration missions, as the Apollo missions to the Moon were not planned to be sites of a permanent base.
Colonization requires the establishment of permanent bases that have potential for self-expansion. A famous proposal for building such bases is the Mars Direct and the Mars Semi-Direct plan, advocated by Robert Zubrin.
Other proposals that envision the creation of a settlement, yet no return flight for the humans embarking on the journey have come from Jim McLane and Bas Lansdorp (the man behind Mars One).
The Mars Society has established the Mars Analogue Research Station Programme at sites Devon Island in Canada and in Utah, United States, to experiment with different plans for human operations on Mars, based on Mars Direct. Modern Martian architecture concepts often include facilities to produce oxygen and propellant on the surface of the planet.
Read more about this topic: Colonization Of Mars
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