Send cargo craft ahead and park in orbit, even land so they know everything they need is there and intact on the surface before they leave Earth. Maybe try out some solar-sail tech or solar-wind tech for the cargo craft. Also send some to the satellites as well. Make it a serious operation and not some shoestring deal. You’re a long ways from a gas station or a Walmart when you get to Mars.
Wasn’t there a plan to send a fuel production plant to Mars before manned travel there?
Ben, that was the core of Zubrin’s “Mars Direct” plan. NASA killed it because it could be done with existing technology, so no lucrative rakeoffs for private contractors and no revolving door for the corrupt administrators. Of course, whether it was worth doing is another matter.