Human mission to Mars Mars. Many Mars mission concepts propose precursor missions to the moons of Mars, for example a sample return mission to the Mars moon Phobos – not quite Mars, but perhaps a convenient stepping stone to an eventual Martian surface mission. Lockheed Martin, as part of their "Stepping stones to Mars" project, called the "Red Rocks Project", proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos. Use of fuel produced from water resources on Phobos or Deimos has also been proposed. An uncrewed Mars sample return mission (MSR) has sometimes been considered to be an essential precursor to crewed missions to Mars' surface
Mars One in 2012 was Astrobotic Technology. On 12 March 2013, Paragon Space Development Corporation was contracted to develop concepts for life support and the Mars Surface Exploration Spacesuit System, and it includes the pressure suit and the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) that permit survival outside the habitat. The suggested supplier of the suits is ILC Dover. The study was stated to be finished late summer 2013; Mars One released the results of this (ECLSS portion only) study to the public in June 2015, but did not fund its research and development. In 2013, Mars One signed a contract with Paragon