Included on that flight was a pressurized rover for exploring the surface in a shirtsleeve environment, and a SpaceX Dragon, Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). Eventually, the crew will use the MAV to leave Mars and rendezvous with the Earth Return Vehicle (ERV).
In 2017, the second unmanned Falcon Heavy deposited the fully fueled, fully stocked ERV into Mars’ orbit. The third launch, happening this year, will consist of the manned crew module (the habitat: Bolo One), which is supplied with just enough fuel to last them until they reach Mars. This will be a lengthy expedition. The time line for the journey consists of six-months traveling to Mars, eighteen months spent on the surface, and then a six-month traverse back to Earth: two-and-a-half years total. The final launch will occur two weeks after Bolo One lifts off, and will propel an identical workshop/fuel processor to the planet. This is the mission these six brave pioneers have chosen to undertake. And so, here in May of 2018, they are about to make that next giant leap.
Back in July of 2011, at the end of the Space Shuttle era, the Obama Administration was vacillating between the George W. Bush Return To The Moon initiative and a manned mission to Mars. Mars appeared to be a much better target, but NASA’s timetable for a manned mission was set in the sphere of the 2030s. Then, an association of private investors came forward with a unique proposal. This group, who became known as The Sponsors, would front money for the radically new equipment from SpaceX. The Sponsors devised their plan based on economic analysis from the 1980s, which showed that for every dollar spent on the Apollo Program, seven dollars had been put back into the economy in creation of new products, spin-offs, and jobs. An updated study has now put that figure at more than fourteen dollars per dollar spent.