small nuclear power plant would be the first thing sent to mars, or many arrays of solar cells. then pods of batteries, then construction materials, then equipm

small nuclear power plant would be the first thing sent to mars, or many arrays of solar cells. then pods of batteries, then construction materials, then equipment, then humans. realistically, the assembly could be done remotely, and you would want at least two habitable shielded pods with a very large excess of food/oxygen/supplies stored by the time humans arrived. This might seem impossible, but i don't think it's particularly difficult, the only major hurdle would be the budget. The rocket vessel will make a good living pod, the small nuclear reactor was studied by the US Gov in the 50s, so that shouldn't be a problem, except maybe cooling, but again that should be a solvable problem.