Funding the First Human Expedition to Mars

Osorio, George
mailto:osorio#d#george@ssdgwy.mdc.com

In: Proceedings of The Founding Convention of the Mars Society, edited by Zubrin, RM, and Zubrin, M. Univelt, Incorporated. (1998)

A proposition is made that, given past experience with government space exploration programs, the first human expedition to the Red Planet can be funded entirely from private or commercial sources without depending primarily on financial support from the US government. The steps needed to obtain such funding are described and suggested examples are considered, including plausible Mars exploration scenarios. Based on the information presented, a case is made for proceeding directly with the development of a human expedition to Mars, funded entirely from private sources, while leaving the robotic missions to NASA/JPL and other government entities, including internationals.

Keywords

Private Funding and Commerical Investment