A NASA manned Mars mission would cost far more than $100B, because they will require transporting all fuel for return trips, and each pound of fuel will cost ov

A NASA manned Mars mission would cost far more than $100B, because they will require transporting all fuel for return trips, and each pound of fuel will cost over $100,000 to send to Mars using cost plus contractors, ie the SLS. And that’s likely only to land a half dozen astronauts. A SLS can only accelerate 25 tons of payload to Mars intercept orbit, which means at max 10 tons to the surface.. A Mars Direct like mission, as SpaceX is planning for Starship, will send hundreds of astronauts to Mars for less than $10B by leveraging in-orbit refueling and in-situ fuel generation. Using in-orbit refueling each Starship is designed to land 100 tons of crew, supplies and equipment on Mars.