The Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) will be capable of transporting 100 people per flight to Mars at a small cost of 100,000 – 200,000 dollars/person per trip. These ships are capable of getting into space and returning through vertical takeoff and landing. This ship will make the 2-month trip during every the window every 2-years. As the infrastructure on Mars progresses, more of these ships will make the trip simultaneously.

SpaceX: Interplanetary Transport System

This project comes in with the idea that SpaceX is providing the vehicle and tools for colonization but we (the rest of humanity) need to look at where on Mars this makes the most sense. The project will develop a method for finding appropriate landing sites that are near areas large enough for colonization. This means considering expanse of subterranean ice, as this is a source of fuel and drinking water. The landing zone will need to be flat and large enough to accommodate the landing of the 25m base of the ship. Surrounding mountains must be at low enough angles to accommodate Aerobraking at shallow angle through the atmosphere and then vertical landing. There will need to be an area that accommodates the size for a colony that must expand to the size of 1,000,000 people. Each person will require a large enough area for farming and green space. Assumptions on layouts of the colonies will need to be made. Such that no structure will be more than one floor. This will give the maximum size of square km required by a single human.

The project will outline the tools and processes used to search for potential landing and colonization sites on Mars for future SpaceX missions. Once found a Least cost path will be provided between the two sites to show how far materials and people may need to travel between landing site and colonization area.