About a year ago, The Planetary Society hosted a workshop exploring the political, financial, scientific, and public outreach opportunities provided by orbit-first approach to sending humans to Mars. Our resulting report featured a JPL-led concept that would get humans to Mars orbit by 2033, maximize the use of existing hardware, and provide a pathway for coalition-building between industry, government, and the scientific community. An independent cost estimate by the Aerospace Corporation indicated the the plan could fit within the existing human spaceflight budget as long as it grew with inflation.

Roughly a year later, Lockheed Martin revealed their take of the orbit-first concept with Mars Base Camp, an orbiting laboratory around Mars that could host six humans in Mars orbit as soon as 2028. It utilizes the SLS for launches, solar electric propulsion to pre-position cargo at Mars, and two Orion spacecraft for human sorties to the moons of Mars, as well as providing a means for astronauts to control rovers on the surface.