On: The Shape of a Mars Mission

[kibwen]

This is irrelevant and completely ignores the OP. We've had rockets capable of going to Mars since the 60s. More rockets do not solve the problem. Cheaper rockets do not solve the problem. Please read the article.

[Robotbeat → kibwen]

Please read my comment. More mass makes solving virtually every challenge of Mars missions far, far easier.

[avmich → kibwen]

Biggest problems are microgravity, radiation and lack of redundancies of various kinds. All are solvable by adding payloads.