The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
NASA's Strategic Analysis Cycle 2021 (SAC21) Human Mars Architecture
Abstract
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Mars Architecture Team (MAT) was challenged to develop a mission architecture capable of transporting humans to the surface of Mars and back as fast-and as soon-as practical. This challenge represented a significant departure from previous approaches that minimized Earth-launched mass and maximized in-space transportation efficiency, often resulting in roundtrip missions of three years or more in duration. In the interest of crew health, MAT's cross-Agency team of subject matter experts was challenged to develop an architecture capable of shortening crew time away from Earth to about two years. MAT was given specific mission constraints, such as number of crew, as well as mandates to minimize surface infrastructure as much as possible and to incorporate nuclear transportation options. The resulting MAT-developed concept, referred to here as the Strategic Analysis Cycle 2021 (SAC21) architecture, leverages Artemis elements and emerging commercial capabilities for cargo and logistics launches, and features a hybrid Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP)/Chemical transportation system able to complete the 1.8 billion kilometer round-trip journey to Mars and back in 760 to 850 days transit time for the 2039 Earth departure opportunity. Three Mars Descent Systems (MDS), each capable of landing about 25 metric tons of useful cargo on the surface of Mars, would be pre-deployed in advance of crew departure from Earth; two of these MDS's would deliver a partially fueled Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a fission power system, surface mobility, and additional MAV propellant. To minimize surface infrastructure, only two of the four Mars crew would descend and live in an MDS-landed pressurized rover, exploring the martian surface for 30 martian days, or sols, before returning to Mars orbit aboard their MAV and rejoining the other two crew on the Deep Space Transport for the Earth return voyage. Specifics of many of these architecture elements are detailed in separate technical publications; this paper outlines the end-to-end integrated architecture performance and concept of operations, including synergies with Artemis lunar architecture elements. It is important to note that NASA does not have a formal human Mars program and no decisions have been made; the architecture described here is intended to fill in an often-overlooked corner of the trade space, helping to complete the menu of options available to decision-makers as they chart the course for humans to Mars.
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Human exploration of Mars, Design Reference Architecture 5.0
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“In parallel, several Mars-focused elements will be launched in preparation for the Mars surface missions [9].”
BackgroundPerspectives for Crewed Missions to Mars: Exploration from Orbit and/or Short Stay
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“More detailed information on mission concepts under consideration can be found in “Reference Surface Activities for Crewed Mars Mission Systems and Utilization” [3, 4] and “NASA’s Strategic Analysis Cycle (SAC) 2021 Human Mars Architecture” [5].”
BackgroundMethodPreparing for SpaceX Mission to Mars
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“…of launches [10], on mass ’scrubbing’ prior architectures [11], and on explicitly constraining endurance, number of crew and surface infrastructure [9] suggest that the guiding principle has been to carry a ’minimum viable’ number of crew, and that this was motivated by a perception that, in this…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialHuman Missions to Mars Using the Starship
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Self-citationAssessment of a Surface Water Transportation System Concept for ISRU Operations on Mars
Congiardo, J., Buckles, B. C., Felt, A., et al. (2024) · AIAA SciTech Forum · doi:10.2514/6.2024-2541 · Cited by 2
Self-citationMars as a Science Base: Towards a Small Permanent Outpost
Chatzitheodoridis, E., Vera, J.-P. P. D., Keresztúri, Á., Mason, N. J., Possnig, C., Puumala, M. M., Sivula, O., Viso, M., Detrell, G., Ditrych, O., et al. (2024) · Space and society · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-66881-4_7 · Cited by 3
Landing Site Selection for the First Human Mission to Mars
Donald, R. (2026) · IgMin Research · doi:10.61927/igmin333 · Cited by 1
Expanding a Family of Mars Chemical Transportation Elements With a Large Vertical Lander Concept
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Self-citation60+ Years of Humans to Mars Mission Planning
Rapp, D. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-20726-6_3
Assessment of a Mars Surface Cryogenic Transportation System
Congiardo, J., Lewis, M. E., McCleskey, C. M., et al. (2025) · AIAA SciTech Forum · doi:10.2514/6.2025-0513
Self-citationProgress in Planetary Protection Development for Crewed Mars Missions
Spry, J. A., Siegel, B., Lalime, E. N., et al. (2025) · Proceedings - IEEE Aerospace Conference · doi:10.1109/aero63441.2025.11068471
“These factors were applied to the SAC21 concept hardware using lander mass data in Polsgrove et al., 2016 [16] & 2019 [17], Rucker et al., 2022 [18] and Trent et al., 2022 [19].”
Metadata
- Authors
- Rucker, M. A., Craig, D. A., Burke, L. M., Chai, P. R., Chappell, M. B., Drake, B. G., Edwards, S. J., Hoffman, S., McCrea, A. C., Trent, D. J., & Troutman, P. A.
- Affiliations
- Johnson Space Center (US)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US)
- Glenn Research Center (US)
- Langley Research Center (US)
- Marshall Space Flight Center (US)
- The Aerospace Corporation (US)
- Venue
- 2022 IEEE Aerospace Conference (AERO)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2022-03-05
- Pages
- 1-10
- ISSN
- 1095-323X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4302342374
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 23.34
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Aerospace Conference (AERO) (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- NASA Glenn Research Center's COMPASS
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's ACO team
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Exploration and Technology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Keywords
- human Mars missions, Mars architecture, nuclear electric propulsion, Mars Ascent Vehicle, Artemis, crew health
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