Thanks. Hopefully folks understand that with current tech, the trip to Mars is a one way ticket. As in kiss it good bye if there’s a problem.
“Hopefully folks understand that with current tech, the trip to Mars is a one way ticket. As in kiss it good bye if there’s a problem.”
5-10 years of good scouting and detailed surveying first for site selection.
Then a few years of pre-positioning supplies, equipment and materials. Send robots ahead to build the shelters, drill the wells, and start the farms.
Maybe get some improved propulsion to decrease travel times from two years to a few months.
Suicide colonists with unlimited resources could go in a few years (like the Mars One folks, but with money).
If the money was there, serious colonization efforts could really start as robotic capability matures - in about ten years. In twenty years, the capability should be really strong, an life support could be strong and multiply redundant.
There goes my plan of opening a gaudy country and western burger joint and bar on Mars.
The idea flopped in the Martian Chronicles mini series too.