Planetary Society which is the largest non-governmental organization conducted a workshop called “Humans orbiting Mars” from March 31 to April 1 in Washington.

The aim of this workshop was to discuss technical feasibility, affordability, sustainability and cost of sending a manned mission to mars.

There were 70 attendees in the workshop.

The result of the workshop was presented on April 2 where they came up with the manned mission to the mars moon first then followed by the manned mission to mars.

The manned mission will be orbiting mars moon Phobos in 2033, and later in 2030’s manned mission to mars will be followed.

The panelists are comparing the mission with NASA Apollo 8 mission where the astronauts first entered the moons orbit before the Apollo 11 mission where the humans landed on moon.

“We believe we now have an example of a long-term, cost-constrained, executable humans-to-Mars program,” Scott Hubbard, a professor in the Stanford University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of The Planetary Society’s board of directors, said in a statement.

The phobos orbital mission will last for 30 months, with nine months of travel and 12 months in the orbit.

The astronauts would be able to operate the rovers on the mars surface and could also study the other moon of mars, Deimos.

The panelist said that the orbital mission would help in gaining experience before humans land on mars.

The independent cost estimate showed that such program would fit in the NASA’s budget as NASA ends its lead role in the International Space Station.