NASA & SPACE NEWS: President Donald Trump Wants to Land American Astronauts on Mars By 2029
By Space Coast Daily // February 5, 2025
is a crewed Mars mission by 2029 a possibility?
President Donald Trump recently announced an ambitious goal: sending astronauts to Mars within four years, aligning with the length of a presidential term.
This announcement has sparked skepticism, particularly as NASA has yet to return humans to the Moon due to ongoing delays in the Artemis 2 mission.
Given these challenges, is a crewed Mars mission by 2029 a realistic possibility?
“A Mars mission will be the most significant endeavor humans have ever undertaken,” said Volker Maiwald, an aerospace engineer with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), in an interview with Space.com.
While Trump has not provided detailed plans for this mission, it is expected to depend mainly on SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Elon Musk. Musk, who supported Trump’s election campaign, appears to have become one of his key advisors. SpaceX’s Starship rocket, still under development, is intended for Mars missions.
A recent test flight of Starship on January 16 marked its seventh launch. The Super Heavy booster successfully landed using the “chopstick” arms of the launch tower, but the upper stage exploded due to a propellant leak.
Despite this setback, Musk has stated that SpaceX aims to send uncrewed missions to Mars by 2026, followed by a crewed mission in 2028 if everything proceeds as planned.
The Challenge of Mass and Resource Recycling
The development speed of Starship is not the only concern. Maiwald and his research team recently published a study in Scientific Reports that questions whether a Mars mission aboard Starship is feasible.
Their analysis suggests that the required payload—including astronauts, equipment, infrastructure, fuel, food, water, and oxygen—would exceed the spacecraft’s carrying capacity.
One of the key issues is the ability to recycle essential resources like food, water, and air. Higher recovery rates for these consumables would reduce the amount that must be transported. Still, even with a perfect system, a 100% recovery rate is unrealistic due to inevitable losses in the process.
Producing Fuel on Mars
To minimize the spacecraft’s launch weight, astronauts would ideally generate fuel on Mars using in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). SpaceX’s Starship relies on liquid methane and oxygen, which could theoretically be extracted from Martian water ice and atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, the technology required to do this is still in its infancy.
Currently, the only ISRU experiment conducted beyond Earth is NASA’s MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), which was part of the Perseverance rover mission. MOXIE successfully extracted small amounts of oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere, but at a scale far too small to support a human mission.
According to NASA, launching just four astronauts off Mars would require 7,000 kg (15,000 lbs) of rocket fuel and 25,000 kg (55,000 lbs) of oxygen—far beyond what MOXIE has demonstrated.
To ensure astronauts have enough fuel and oxygen for their return, one option would be to send several uncrewed Starship missions carrying the necessary supplies before the first crewed landing. However, SpaceX has not publicly outlined such a scenario.
Radiation and Other Health Risks
Space radiation presents another major obstacle. Astronauts traveling to Mars would be exposed to cosmic rays and solar radiation levels up to 700 times higher than on Earth. The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has found that a six-month journey to Mars would expose astronauts to 60% of their lifetime recommended radiation dose.
Even on the Martian surface, radiation exposure remains a concern due to the planet’s thin atmosphere and lack of a protective magnetic field. While shielded areas within Starship might provide some protection during solar storms, they would not eliminate the risk entirely. Research into improved shielding materials, such as lithium-based barriers, is ongoing but still in development.
Additionally, prolonged exposure to microgravity can harm the human body. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) experience muscle atrophy and changes in eyesight, a condition known as spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).
Studies suggest that microgravity may also contribute to early-onset cataracts. Although these effects have so far been reversible after astronauts return to Earth, the long-term health risks of a Mars mission remain uncertain.
The Risk of Contaminating Mars
Beyond the challenges of sending astronauts to Mars, planetary protection is another concern. Humans carry a vast array of microbes, and a crewed mission would inevitably introduce some Earth-based microorganisms to the Martian environment.
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has strict sterilization protocols for robotic missions searching for life on Mars, but these would be difficult, if not impossible, to apply to human missions.
If Earth microbes were to contaminate Mars, they could interfere with future efforts to determine whether the planet ever hosted native life. The rush to meet an accelerated timeline could lead to shortcuts that increase the risk of contamination.
Steps Toward a Feasible Mars Mission
Maiwald’s team has outlined several steps that could improve the chances of a successful Mars mission:
■ Uncrewed Test Missions: Before sending astronauts, test missions should be conducted to evaluate technologies for producing oxygen, growing food, and generating fuel on Mars.
■ Pre-positioning Supplies: Cargo missions should be sent ahead of crewed flights to ensure habitats and essential resources are available upon arrival.
■ Advancing Life Support Systems: Developing highly efficient resource recycling systems is critical to reducing payload mass.
■ International Collaboration: Partnering with other countries could help share technological development and financial costs, though political factors might complicate this approach.
Despite these recommendations, the goal of landing humans on Mars by 2029 remains highly unlikely. Maiwald emphasizes that the necessary technological advancements require significant time and effort.
“The technology development effort is immense and time-demanding,” he told Space.com. “I can only say what I always say: I would be happy if it happens in my lifetime.”
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