Well another consideration is the additional time added to the Mars trip. Right now, going directly from Earth, around Earth a bunch of times, then straight to Mars will be 6-9 months one way, which I believe the opportunity to come back would be ~2 years after arriving (I may be wrong here). So, assuming we are doing a round trip and not one way, it&#x27;s already a 3 year trip ish? Either way, I see building a launching space station orbiting earth as the best way. Use smaller rockets like the falcon 9, get a bunch of fuel into orbit, build the ship from many parts and trips, then launch from Earths orbit. Make the built ship reusable for many Mars trips. Like in the Martian...