NASA
Mars
Image Gallery
Jumbo,
Earth
orbit
and
Mars
approach
images
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. (Information about the planet Mars itself can be found here.)
Voyage to Mars Animation - This NASA short film (with music) depicts an automated cargo ship that travels from Earth orbit to Mars. 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.
NASA -- another image)
Automated cargo ship leaves
Earth orbit for Mars.
Exploration - images of proposed projects
NASA -- larger and
jumbo
images
A lander
aerobraking
to the surface.
Bases - images of proposed habitations
NASA larger
and
jumbo
images
Exploring
Pavonis
Mons.
Transport Vehicles - images of interplanetary vessels, planetary landers, and surface rovers
NASA -- larger and
jumbo
images
Driving through
Ganges
Chasma.
Terraforming - recent summary of the physics and biology of making Mars habitable
James Graham and Kandis Elliot, NASA
(See Terraformed Mars by Michael Carroll, NASA/JPL/CalTech)
Mosses and grasses colonizing newly established waterways,
as Mars is
warmed
and
Terraformed
(more information
here).