Two explorers stop to inspect a robotic lander and its small rover in this artist’s concept of a future Mars mission. Credit: NASA

Are we on a good path toward developing and implementing a human mission to explore Mars? It’s widely understood that development for such a mission must begin now to have a mature program architecture and effective integration of science and engineering. NASA has provided the outlines of an Artemis framework for the moon and has been conducting a series of workshops to define the organizing principles for a moon-to-Mars human exploration effort. Our goal here is to suggest steps that should be taken to develop a successful, long-term human Mars program.

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Bruce Jakosky is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Washington, has almost 50 years’ experience as a Mars researcher, and was the Principal Investigator of the MAVEN spacecraft mission that has been orbiting...

G. Scott Hubbard has held key roles at NASA, including director of Ames Research Center, first Mars Program director, founder of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, and the agency’s sole member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Hubbard, now retired,...