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Reference.org
NASA Design Reference Mission 3.0
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<p>NASA Design Reference Mission 3.0 was a <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> study for a human space mission to the planet <a href="/facts/Mars/AQGtVvz0">Mars</a> in the 1990s. It was a plan for a human exploration architecture for Mars, and was released in 1998 as an addendum to the early design plans released in 1994. The plan is for a series of multiple launches to send various space transportation, surface exploration hardware, and human crew to Mars, and to return the crew to Earth in the early 21st century. Various technologies are explored to launch the payloads into space, to send them to Mars, and to reduce overall weight of the mission by various technologies or techniques including nuclear, solar, aerobraking, and in-situ resource use. </p>