The Ares Program

The 2045 Ares program calls for 18 missions, mostly launching components.  The Prometheus module contains fuel, food, and is docked to four other vessels: the Command Module Icarus, the two boosters, and the orbiter Perseus, which docks with the lander Orion. Large solar panels augment the fuel cells.  Inside the round space are two centrifuges giving the crew gravity, their rotation gradually slowing to reduce gravity to Mars' 38%.

Ares 11 takes a crew to the moon to test the ship. When Ares 12 arrives at Mars, a crew of four use the Orion to take a giant leap for mankind. A crew then transfers to Habitat, the four-module base of operations launched prior, and lands on the surface. With its own food and fuel stores it will support the large crew through the Martian winter.

Also launched early are three spacecraft designed to brew rocket fuel. They help land Habitat then launch individually to refuel Prometheus. There are three, but just one contains enough fuel for the mission home.