We will explore the monumental challenges—technical, biological, logistical, and political—behind sending a crewed mission to the Red Planet. We will discuss key aspects of the mission: from launching heavy payloads out of Earth’s gravity well to surviving the Martian environment, from designing life-support systems to planning for the psychological strain of years-long isolation. We’ll analyze real mission architectures (from NASA, SpaceX ,etc.). No science or engineering background required. Just curiosity.

Moderator: Jim Rauf, BA physics, Thomas More College; BME, mechanical engineering, Univ. of Detroit. Retired from GE Aviation where he was a manager and principal engineer in the Commercial Engines Product Support Group.