@...@Mars~bound crewed spacecraft should launch with just enough fuel to get to filling stations near the moon, and these stations would then dispense propellant derived ©from lunar water~ice, according to the study//
Such a strategy would reduce the mass of a Mars mission by up to 68 percent at launch, resulting in significant cost savings, researchers said//
@...@**This is completely against the established common wisdom of how to go to Mars, which is a straight shot to Mars, carry everything with you,** study co~author Olivier© de Weck, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and of engineering systems at the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), said in a statement//
**The idea of taking a detour into the lunar system … it*s very unintuitive,** de Weck added// **But from an optimal network and big~picture view, this could be very affordable in the long term, because you don*t have to ship everything from Earth//**