Mars, by nature is an explorer, an adventurer, and a conqueror of frontiers. Paradoxically, mankind surrounds itself with organizations and institutions which shelter, comfort and protect. Before man sets out on a grand undertaking, he must have the collective will of an institution behind him. Historically, institutions such as the church, or a monarchy provided this necessary backbone for exploration. These organizations provided the broad based “rationale” or reason for the particular exploration, the required resources, both material and labor, and then allowed the explorer to lead the expedition with a single minded vigor. More recently, scientific exploration of our oceans has been successfully accomplished with the organizational support of a private society (Jacques Costeau) and exploration of space through government support (NASA).

This paper shall argue that in order to carry out a successful human mission to Mars, prerequisite conditions of institutional support and singly focused leaders are required. Although the argument will be made with the government in mind as the supporting institution, many analogies could be drawn to a commercial entity acting as the sponsoring institution. The required institutional support does not merely appear. Those with the dream to explore must first engender the support of the general public, align the executive and legislative branches of government, and delineate this exploration as the priority within the “sponsoring” organization (NASA). Although these three areas are loosely tied together, and many times at odds with each other or at odds themselves, they must be aligned. This is primarily a leadership challenge. The second leadership challenge, equally as difficult, is transforming the institutional support, the funding, and existing planning into the reality of operating vehicle and cargo hardware which will successfully achieve the mission.