The architecture's four phases start with science on the completed International Space Station from 2010 and end in the 2030s. The first phase, broadly starting now and running until 2020, sees the development of the Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS), robotic lunar landers, the ExoMars rover mission and a three-crew, 20,540kg "Man-Tended Free Flyer" (MTFF) low-Earth orbit research station. The next decade could also see a man-rated Ariane 5 launch a crew capsule developed with no Russian involvement.
The second and third phases cover the 2020s and establish lunar communications and navigation constellations, an international lunar outpost, the 8.54m (28ft)-long low lunar orbit Lunar Space Station with 33m³ (1,163ft³) of habitable volume, a lunar-capable CSTS, continued MTFF use, Mars sample return mission and the deployment of the 50,000kg to LEO Ariane rocket. The fourth phase sees a manned Mars mission with Marships assembled at a LEO station.
Source: Flight International
