Wernher von Braun was one of the most influential rocket scientists and space advocates of the 20th century. As the leader of Nazi Germany’s rocket program during World War II, he was a controversial figure. But he later became a key architect of the American space program, including the Saturn V rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the Moon.
What is less well known is that von Braun was also one of the first to develop detailed technical plans for sending humans to Mars. His seminal work, Das Marsprojekt (The Mars Project), provided the basic template for a crewed Mars mission that is still relevant today, over 70 years later. This article explores von Braun’s visionary Mars expedition design and how it helped pave the way for current plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet.
Early Concepts for Spaceflight to Mars
As a youth in the 1920s, von Braun became fascinated with the possibilities of space travel from reading science fiction by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. He was also inspired by the early technical writings of Hermann Oberth, whose 1923 book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (By Rocket to Space) laid out the fundamentals of rocket propulsion and spaceflight.
Von Braun joined the German rocket society Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR) in 1929 as a means to pursue his interest in building rockets capable of space travel. In 1930, while still a student, he began working with Oberth on liquid-fueled rocket engines. After the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, von Braun went to work developing ballistic missiles for the German army, earning a doctorate in physics along the way.
But spaceflight remained von Braun’s true passion. In the midst of World War II, he began to sketch out a novel based on a technically comprehensive plan for an expedition to Mars, complete with detailed engineering diagrams and calculations. He completed the manuscript for Das Marsprojekt in 1948, after he had surrendered to the Americans and was brought to the U.S. as part of Operation Paperclip.
Details of Das Marsprojekt
Von Braun’s Mars Project, as described in the appendix to his novel, called for a massive expedition involving ten 4,000 ton spaceships built in Earth orbit. Assembled near a wheel-shaped space station at an altitude of 1,730 km, the fleet would carry a crew of 70.
The ships would use nitric acid/hydrazine propellant and be powered by both a rocket engine and a solar-powered mercury turbine. This was an unorthodox but as it turned out prescient choice, as similar propellants are still used today. The solar-thermal power system did not catch on, however.
Launching in November 1981, the mission would reach Mars after a 260 day journey. Upon reaching Mars orbit, the crew would spend 10 weeks studying the planet and sending probes to the surface to look for life and scout landing sites.
Three winged landers, each carrying a crew of three, would then descend to the surface, relying on both aerodynamic braking and retrorockets to touch down safely. The landers would serve as the crew’s base for 30-60 days of exploration using a small pressurized rover.
After completing their surface mission, the astronauts would blast off and rendezvous with the orbiting mothership. The flotilla would then embark on a return trajectory via Venus, using the planet’s gravity to slingshot them back to Earth, where they would arrive in August 1983.
In total, the mission would spend about 2 years and 9 months traveling through space. The expedition would be made possible by orbital assembly of the ships, an innovation that is still central to NASA’s current plans for reaching Mars.
Paving the Way for Future Missions
While von Braun’s Mars Project never left the realm of speculative fiction, it had a profound impact on spaceflight in both the popular imagination and the technical approach to interplanetary travel.
In a series of articles for Collier’s magazine in the early 1950s, von Braun brought his vision of Mars exploration to a wide audience. Beautifully illustrated by space artists like Chesley Bonestell, the Collier’s series helped inspire a generation of young engineers and scientists, planting the seeds for the space race to come.
Von Braun further raised public interest in Mars through several collaborations with Walt Disney that brought space travel to television. Behind the scenes, the appendix to Das Marsprojekt, published separately in English as The Mars Project in 1953, provided the technical foundation that von Braun and others would build upon in subsequent decades.
As von Braun later wrote, he was sure that humans would one day walk on Mars, but probably not for a century or more. In the meantime, he tirelessly promoted the cause of space exploration, first as an army rocket engineer and later as the first director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
There, von Braun oversaw the development of the mighty Saturn V rocket that would power the Apollo missions to the Moon. In a very real sense, it was a stepping stone toward his ultimate goal of Mars. Even as the lunar landings took center stage, von Braun continued to advocate for an expedition to the Red Planet as the logical next step.
In August 1969, just weeks after the triumph of Apollo 11, von Braun pitched an ambitious integrated space program to the Space Task Group chaired by Vice President Spiro Agnew. His plan envisioned the development of reusable nuclear shuttle vehicles and an orbital base station to enable a series of Mars landing missions starting in the early 1980s.
Political and budgetary realities meant that von Braun’s grand vision would not come to pass. After overseeing the first successful launches of the Saturn V, he was sidelined to an administrative position at NASA headquarters in 1970. Frustrated, he left the agency two years later. Von Braun died in 1977, his dream of Mars unrealized but his legacy secure.
An Enduring Template for Mars Exploration
In the decades since von Braun’s seminal work, subsequent NASA design reference missions have echoed many of the same basic elements he laid out in Das Marsprojekt: a multi-ship mission profile, the use of orbital assembly and staging, and a long-term surface exploration phase.
While the technologies have evolved, the fundamental architecture remains remarkably similar. Chemical propulsion has won out over more exotic alternatives, but the idea of splitting the crew between a transportation vehicle and dedicated landing craft is a direct descendant of von Braun’s concept.
Even his proposed crew size and mission duration are not far off from NASA’s latest plans, which call for an initial landing mission in the 2030s involving at least four astronauts spending up to 30 days on the surface. Larger crews and a permanent base could follow in the mold of von Braun’s vision.
Perhaps most significant is von Braun’s pioneering use of in-space assembly and refueling, which is now seen as an essential part of any realistic plan to reach Mars. Building a ship in orbit that is too large to launch from Earth is an idea that has stood the test of time.
“What is astonishing is that von Braun’s scenario is still valid today,” wrote historian Michael J. Neufeld of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Neufeld, who has written extensively about von Braun’s career, noted that the aerospace community is “still struggling with the same architectural questions” about how to send humans to Mars.
Summary
Wernher von Braun’s Mars Project was a work of fiction, but it was grounded in rigorous engineering analysis and an expansive vision of human spaceflight. At the dawn of the space age, it provided the first technically credible roadmap for a voyage to another planet.
Von Braun’s greatest genius was not in the technical details, but in his ability to envision the future and inspire others to help make it a reality. He was a tireless advocate for space exploration at a time when the very idea seemed like science fiction to most.
Through his plans, writings and collaborations with artists and filmmakers, von Braun helped launch the space program and shape our conception of what it would take to reach Mars. While he did not live to see his vision realized, his work continues to inform our best thinking about how to get there.
As we stand on the threshold of a new era of human spaceflight, von Braun’s legacy is as relevant as ever. His Mars Project remains a reminder of the power of imagination to drive progress and the importance of dreaming big. As he once said, “I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution.”
With careful planning, international cooperation and sustained political will, the first human mission to Mars may not be impossible after all. And when the history of that epochal journey is written, Wernher von Braun will deserve a prominent place as one of the key visionaries who showed us the way.
