Nonprofit group aims to send manned mission to Mars by 2018

New Scientist : The Inspiration Mars Foundation just announced an ambitious plan to launch two people, one man and one woman, on a trip to Mars by 5 January 2018. The entire trip would take 501 days, long enough to circle Mars once at a distance of about 160 km and then return to Earth. Once the vehicle is launched, an inflatable module will be deployed, where the couple will live and control the spacecraft. One of the biggest concerns will be radiation exposure, because such a trip will break the record for the longest continuous time spent in space by humans. Another danger will be the return trip to Earth; the spacecraft will be traveling so fast that it will have to orbit Earth for 10 days just to slow down to a still-record-breaking 14 km/s before it reenters the atmosphere. The organization has formed a partnership with NASA to tap into its technologies and experience in space travel.