For quite some time, Mars has been a hot topic when it comes to sending humans into outer space. Just recently, NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover landed on Mars and have been taking tests of the surface of the planet. It has even picked up what might possibly be evidence of water on Mars.
Travelling to Mars takes lots of preparation. For one, there are only four windows of opportunity that cycles every fifteen years to require the least amount of energy to transfer from an Earth orbit to the Mars orbit.
The next window for a low energy orbit transfer would occur in 2018.
It would take roughly 250 days to travel from the Earth to Mars. During the trip, astronauts are exposed to dangerous cosmic radiation, space debris, a zero gravity environment and even psychological effects from prolonged isolation.
The United States delayed its plan to send astronauts to Mars by 2020. Instead, the plan is to send a manned mission to an asteroid in 2025 and plan for a Mars trip by 2030.
Mars One, a private endeavor to set up a human colony on Mars led by Dutch entrepreneur, Bas Lansdorp, was announced on June 2012. The project's plan is to land humans on Mars to establish a permanent settlement in 2023. A new set of four astronauts would then arrive every two years.
Mars One is set up to be a one way trip to Mars for the astronauts.
