Mars Direct ULTRALIGHT version

Robert Zubrin strike back

he proposed a new Version of his Mars Direct plan
this time with Hardware of SpaceX

Falcon 9 Heavy launchs
one “Earth return Module” in Mars orbit (RP-1/LOX fuel)
one “Mars ascent stage” to Mars surface (Dragon capsul & equitment on rocketstage and landingsystem)
the MAS fuel it self by prozessing carbon dioxide zu LOX
if MAS its LOX tanks are full a
Dragon capsul is launch to Mars with 2 (TWO) astronaut on board
for next 150 days they life in 10 cubic meter space inside Dragon
then the Capsul land next to MAS
The crew stay over 1000 day on Mars and use inflatable Habitat to expand lifing space
on end of mission the crew use MAS to get in Mars Orbit
rendevous with “Earth return Module” and return to earth with Dragon capsul of MAS

IMHO consider this Ultralight as insane
the Orginal Mars Direct was already “on the limit”
here he want to put two astronauts in strait tin cans, each got 5 cubic meter for 300 days
the chance to survive is ZERO in case of a misslanding Dragon on Mars to far from MAS

Source
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25132.0

it sounds good

That is insane from my point of view…

I’d like to comment on Zubrin article, but WSJ has paywall
Anyway I think that astronaut safety is too much in danger. I think we could all agree we’d like to see an human jump on Mars, but not at all costs.
Besides, an incident of any kind during the mission could mean the future harsh opposition of the public opinion. Too much to loose in missions like these. We need a strong and commited plan, not a scifi nerd stunt.

Oh no Zubrin!!! Again…

I stopped reading his article after the words “mars habitat”.

The only reasonable mission (but barely!) would be a trip to Mars and back on free-return trajectory. Anything more than that in this architecture is close to suicide.

I’m thinking of two astonauts, eventually on Mars surface, saying " Yeah!!! We got it!! …And now what, for next 999 days???"

This mission profile is too risky, only a sort of space cowboys can jump in.
I think we don’t need this approach at all.