Planning a crewed Mars mission means balancing crew size, cargo, propulsion energy, life support, and return fuel against cost and risk. The Mars Mission Feasibility Simulator brings those pieces into one end-to-end estimate so an ambitious concept becomes concrete fleet, cost, and feasibility numbers you can discuss.
It models the full round trip — outbound and return delta-v, transit and surface time, consumables, and whether you manufacture return propellant on Mars — and reports a fleet size, base and risk-adjusted cost, and a feasibility score.
Departure delta-v is lower from the Moon than from Earth because of the Moon's shallow gravity well, so the tool applies a smaller energy penalty when you select a lunar departure. Total mission days combine a typical outbound cruise, a long surface stay tied to the synodic return window, and the return cruise.
Life-support mass grows with crew and duration, while return propellant depends heavily on whether it is made on Mars: local production applies a large mass credit, sharply reducing the fleet you must launch. The tool converts total useful mass into ships via the payload and refuel assumptions, applies your risk margin, and derives a feasibility score that rewards ISRU and lunar departure and penalises thin margins.
A six-person crew with 100 tonnes of cargo, making return propellant on Mars, needs a markedly smaller fleet than the same mission carrying return fuel from Earth — because the ISRU mass credit removes most of the propellant you would otherwise launch. Turning ISRU off visibly raises the ship count, cost, and risk, which is the central argument for propellant production on the surface.
Representative outbound and return figures that change when you depart from the Moon instead of Earth; they are illustrative, not trajectory-optimised.
Making return propellant on Mars removes most of the mass you would otherwise ship from Earth, which cascades into fewer ships and lower cost and risk.
No — it is a composite indicator for comparing scenarios, with a separate rough success-probability readout beside it.
Yes — enabling lunar departure lowers the required departure energy and shows how a cislunar staging base helps.
No. Everything runs locally in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
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