Interplanetary vessel leaves Earth orbit for Mars with first exploration team on a six-month voyage.
Currently, there are no active plans for developing settlements on the planet Mars. Since the 1970s, however, NASA has proposed various scenarios for exploring the Red Planet. It places a habitat, fuel, and supplies on the Red Planet in advance of a much faster ship arriving with people but a smaller payload over the next two-year travel cycle. Automated cargo ship leaves Earth orbit for Mars. NASA larger and jumbo images Exploring Pavonis Mons .