With the potentially imminent advent of low-cost
heavy lift capability, Zubrin has posited a dramatically lower cost manned Mars mission using hardware developed by
space transport company
SpaceX. In this simpler plan, a crew of two would be sent to Mars by a single
Falcon Heavy launch, the
Dragon spacecraft acting as their interplanetary cruise habitat. Additional living space for the journey would be enabled through the use of inflatable add-on modules if required. The problems associated with long-term weightlessness would be addressed in the same manner as the baseline Mars Direct plan, a tether between the Dragon habitat and the TMI (Trans-Mars Injection) stage acting to allow rotation of the craft.
The Dragon's heatshield characteristics could allow for a safe descent if landing rockets of sufficient power were made available. Research at NASA's
Ames Research Center has demonstrated that a robotic Dragon would be capable of a fully propulsive landing on the Martian surface.[
citation needed] On the surface, the crew would have at their disposal two Dragon spacecraft with inflatable modules as habitats, two ERVs, two Mars ascent vehicles and 8 tonnes of cargo.
We were looking forward to a re-flown first stage and maybe even Falcon Heavy before the end of the year, but I doubt we'll see anything fly till 2017 at this rate.
