The project was presented during the first week of June in Florida, United States, near the Cape Canaveral base, to NASA experts for evaluation and feedback, alongside other groups from American universities such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Princeton University.
This year’s project proposes developing a manned and unmanned transportation system to Mars, including the first human mission to the planet. The group’s proposal consists of a fully reusable vehicle (cruiser) in a cyclic orbit between Earth and Mars; upon each approach to Mars, vehicles (feeders)—which are also entirely reusable—depart from the cruiser to connect it to the surface.
With this system, which in later phases could eventually form a city in space by utilizing raw materials obtained from small asteroids diverted toward the cruiser, it is possible to reduce, among many factors, the cost of transportation, which represents the greatest obstacle to the development of Mars for the benefit of humanity.
On June 2, members of the Uruguay Group gave a lecture at the ORT Centro Auditorium organized by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.