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 developing the technology needed, it is unclear what the astronauts would be training for. Mars One has stated that the teams selected will be undergoing a battery of training, ranging from psycho-social skills to engineering and scientific observation. Mars One funding comes from astronaut application fees, donations, undisclosed private investment, intellectual property (IP) rights, and mostly, the potential sale of future broadcasting rights. Over three quarters of the funds would reportedly go to concept design studies. Mars One states that "income from donations and merchandise have not been used to pay salaries". To date, no financial records have been released