It'll never happen, at least in our lifetime (the next 50 years). NASA has projected that a round trip flight to Mars would take a crew of six 9 months. That means the water needed for a crew of six would require a container bigger than the actual spaceship housing them.

And if something goes wrong during the 9 months, like a Solar Flare, there's no rescuing them. It'll mean certain death. Currently, NASA just doesn't have the technology to pull this off.

First of all, they need to reduce the round trip time to less than a month and figure out a way to protect the astronauts from the radiation from Solar Flares.

Right now, a trip to Mars is just a dream. Won't happen in the next 100 years, imho.

Quote Originally Posted by Edgeman View Post
It may look a little underwhelming but this little craft's lofty goal is to take astronauts out of an Earth orbit for the first time since the 1970s - and possibly land man on Mars.

In front of more than 450 guests and dignitaries, Nasa officially unveiled the Orion crew capsule at a 'welcoming ceremony' at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Despite funding and planning cuts at the space agency, the capsule is part of a concerted effort to kickstart a new era in deep space exploration by humans.






http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...auts-Mars.html