Wernher von Braun wanted to go to Mars before most people even believed we could reach the moon. It wasn't just a vague "wouldn't it be cool" kind of dream, either. He had the math. He had the logistics. Honestly, he had a vision that makes our current SpaceX vs. Blue Origin era look a little bit cautious.
If you look back at his 1952 book Das Marsprojekt (The Mars Project), it’s basically a technical manual for a mission that was meant to happen in the 1960s. He wasn't thinking about a tiny capsule with two or three brave souls. No, von Braun was thinking big. Like, "ten massive ships and 70 crew members" big. It’s wild to think about now, especially since we're currently struggling to get a handful of people back to the lunar surface.
Why Wernher von Braun Mars Calculations Still Hold Up
Most people know him as the architect of the Saturn V. The guy who got us to the moon. But for von Braun, the moon was just a pit stop. He saw the Wernher von Braun Mars mission as the ultimate goal of human engineering.
In The Mars Project, he did something nobody had really done before: he proved it was physically possible using chemical rockets. He calculated the propellant requirements, the orbital mechanics, and the weight of every single kilogram of oxygen his crew would need. He used slide rules. No supercomputers. Just raw physics and a lot of coffee.
The most fascinating part is how he planned the journey. He didn't want to fly straight there. That’s too expensive in terms of fuel. Instead, he utilized what we now call a Hohmann transfer orbit. Basically, you launch from Earth and "coast" in a long elliptical arc until you intersect with Mars. It takes about eight months. He knew that in 1952.
The Armada Strategy
Von Braun didn't believe in putting all his eggs in one basket. His plan called for an armada.
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- Seven transport ships carrying the crew and supplies.
- Three "cargo" ships that would carry the landing craft.
- A total of 70 people.
Think about that for a second. 70 people. That’s a small village. He figured that if one ship had a mechanical failure or a leak, the crew could just jump ship to another vessel in the fleet. It was about redundancy. Safety in numbers. It’s a stark contrast to the "one-shot" missions NASA favored during the Apollo era.
The Colliers Articles and Selling the Dream
Science is one thing. Public relations is another. Von Braun was a master of both.
He teamed up with Collier’s magazine in the mid-1950s to produce a series of articles titled "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!" These weren't just dry technical papers. They featured stunning illustrations by Chesley Bonestell. These images—sleek, silver rockets and massive rotating space stations—defined what the future looked like for an entire generation.
He even worked with Walt Disney. Seriously. He appeared on television specials like Man in Space and Mars and Beyond. He used the medium of animation to explain complex orbital mechanics to American families in their living rooms. He knew that if he wanted the budget for a Wernher von Braun Mars expedition, he needed the taxpayers to fall in love with the idea of the "Final Frontier."
What He Got Wrong (And What He Got Right)
Looking back with 21st-century eyes, some of his ideas seem a bit "steampunk."
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For starters, he thought the Martian atmosphere was much thicker than it actually is. He planned for the landing craft to have huge wings so they could glide down to the surface like airplanes. We know now that the Martian air is about 1% as thick as Earth's. Gliding isn't really an option; you need parachutes, retro-rockets, or "sky cranes" like the ones used by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
He also underestimated the radiation. He didn't really account for the long-term effects of cosmic rays on the human body during a three-year round trip. Lead shielding is heavy, and weight is the enemy of any rocket scientist.
But he got the "staging" right. He knew we needed a permanent space station in Earth orbit to serve as a shipyard. You don't launch a Mars ship from the ground; you build it in vacuum. This is a concept we are only now starting to revisit with the idea of the Lunar Gateway.
The 1969 Post-Apollo Pitch
After the success of Apollo 11, von Braun tried one last time. He presented a plan to President Nixon’s task force that would have put boots on Mars by 1982.
It was a refined version of his earlier work. It used nuclear thermal rockets (NERVA), which are much more efficient than chemical ones. He had it all mapped out. But the political will wasn't there. The Vietnam War was draining the budget, and the public was starting to lose interest in "space races." The plan was shelved. NASA's budget was slashed, and we pivoted to the Space Shuttle—a vehicle designed for low Earth orbit, not deep space.
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Why We Still Study His Plans
When Elon Musk talks about a "Mars Colonial Transporter" or a fleet of Starships, he is basically channeling Wernher von Braun. The core philosophy is the same: mass-production of ships, large crews, and the necessity of making life multi-planetary.
Von Braun’s work teaches us that the biggest hurdles to Mars aren't necessarily technical. We’ve had the math for seventy years. The hurdles are psychological and financial. It’s about the "will" to do it.
His 1952 calculations serve as a "floor" for all modern mission planning. Every time a NASA engineer looks at a Mars trajectory, they are walking in the footsteps of a man who figured it out before we even had a satellite in orbit. It's a testament to the power of a clear vision.
Moving Toward a Real Mars Mission
If we actually want to see a human footprint in the red dust, we have to look at the Wernher von Braun Mars legacy with both respect and a critical eye. We can't use his winged gliders, but we can use his "Armada" mentality.
- Shift away from the "Flags and Footprints" model. A single-ship mission is too risky. We need a fleet of cargo and crew vessels.
- Utilize Orbital Assembly. Launching everything from Earth in one go is a dead end. We need to build and fuel ships in orbit.
- Nuclear Propulsion is the Key. Chemical rockets are too slow. To keep the crew healthy, we need to cut the travel time in half.
- Public Engagement Matters. Science needs a storyteller. Without the "Collier’s" equivalent of today—social media, immersive VR, transparent communication—the public won't support the decades of funding required.
The blueprint is sitting there, dusty but still readable. We have the computers he didn't have. We have the materials science he could only dream of. The only thing missing is the collective decision to actually turn the key.
Instead of just theorizing, the next logical step for anyone interested in the technical reality of this journey is to study the Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0. This is NASA's modern "spiritual successor" to von Braun's plan. It breaks down the current strategy for long-stay missions, nuclear thermal propulsion, and how we might actually survive the radiation. It's the 2020s version of The Mars Project, and it shows exactly how close—and how far—we are from making the 1952 dream a reality. Study the propulsion delta-V requirements in that document; it’s where the real physics of the future is being written.