Moon to Mars objectives: the ten goals

Summary. The Moon to Mars Objectives are NASA's top-level goals for crewed exploration of the Moon and Mars, and the starting point of the architecture. NASA published them in September 2022: 63 objectives under ten goals, in four categories (science, infrastructure, transportation and habitation, operations), with nine recurring tenets alongside. Each goal has a short code (LPS, HS, HBS, PPS, SE, AS, LI, MI, TH, OP), and each objective a number and a suffix that says where it applies: "Lunar (L), Martian (M) or both (LM)". ADD Rev C and the December 2025 spreadsheets still use the 2022 wording. This page covers the goals, where the objectives came from, NASA's rationale for each goal, the eleven objectives not in the lunar decomposition, and the glossary that defines the verbs the objectives use. The other 52 objectives, with the use cases that serve each, are on Lunar objectives. The functions and assets beneath them are on Lunar function allocation. The 46 objectives in the Mars decomposition, with their Mars use cases, are on Mars objectives. How 13 science objectives trace to the decadal surveys is on Science objectives and the decadal surveys. The tenets have their own page, Recurring tenets.

What the objectives are

"NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives define the agency's broad, top-level exploration goals; they represent the desired outcomes of the Moon to Mars Architecture. The objectives are agnostic with respect to implementation; they do not specify architectural or operational solutions. Rather, they provide goals to facilitate the architecture development and a means to measure progress" (ADD Rev C, p. 15).

"The objectives are categorized into the overall goals listed below. The detailed individual objectives for each goal are available in NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives document" (p. 15). The ADD's footnotes point to the September 2022 document Moon to Mars Objectives (pp. 9, 11, 107), which has its own source page. The Objectives document was "developed with input from NASA's workforce, industry, academia, and the international space community" (p. 11).

The 2023 strategy document puts it in systems-engineering terms: the goals and objectives, with the vision, "form the 'what' NASA is aiming to achieve". They are "top-level enough to not mandate particular technical solutions or acquisition approaches, detailed enough to judge success, rigorously developed over nine months to make them resilient, and consistent with the value proposition and future trajectory" (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF p. 18).

How objectives are broken down into needs, use cases and functions is on Objective decomposition.

Vision, endeavor, goals, objectives

The 2023 strategy document sets the objectives in a hierarchy. Its "Moon to Mars Strategy Definitions" (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF p. 6):

Term	Definition
Vision	"An imaginative, aspirational future state toward which an organization strives."
Endeavor	"A near-term, aspirational accomplishment that serves as the guidepost both for progress toward a long-term vision as well as for success in strategically architected goals, objectives, and activities that advance progress toward the accomplishment."
Goal	"Target set by an organization to achieve its vision. Goals are broader than objectives, but shorter-term than an endeavor or vision."
Objective	"Statement that defines a goal more specifically and helps achieve desired outcomes."
Strategy	"Set of guiding principles designed to achieve a major aim or desired vision."
Systems Engineering	"Interdisciplinary approach to designing, integrating, and managing complex systems over their life cycles to combine synergistic components that collectively reach a desired future state."

The same box defines "Architecture" and "Wireframe"; they are on Architecture framework.

The vision is to "Create a blueprint for sustained human presence and exploration throughout the solar system". To begin, "NASA is working toward the near-term Moon to Mars endeavor, with resulting goals and objectives to guide success" (PDF p. 6). The scope "assumed neither a weighted focus on returning to the Moon nor moving swiftly on to Mars. Instead, the Moon to Mars endeavor embraces the need to do both" (PDF p. 7). Its "Current Moon to Mars Scope" figure marks "Human Presence on Mars" as only "Partial Scope" of the objectives, as the wiki reads the icons (PDF p. 7; source page).

Where the objectives came from (2022 and 2023)

The 2023 document tells the story twice: briefly in Section 4.0 (PDF p. 17) and in full in Appendix B, "Objectives Development Process" (PDF pp. 43–46). Both are in Strategy and Objectives Development. Appendix B's two figures are described on the source page.

• November 2021. "NASA leadership began to identify top-level goals and objectives". The Federated Board, NASA's cross-directorate coordination body, "facilitated approval of these goals and objectives, which were binned into four distinct tracks" (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF pp. 16–17). Appendix B adds who did it: "In accordance with the methodology principle of Architect from the Right, in November 2021, the NASA Executive Council tasked the mission directorates to draft a set of top-level goals and objectives necessary to achieve the Moon to Mars endeavor. The task would use Federated Board processes to reach consensus" (PDF p. 43). Each track was led by a mission directorate (PDF p. 43):

  Track	Led by
  Science	Science Mission Directorate. "The Aeronautics Mission Directorate supported the Science Mission Directorate with the Science objectives and was actively involved in the entire objectives development process."
  Infrastructure	Space Technology Mission Directorate
  Transportation and Habitation	Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
  Operations	Space Operations Mission Directorate

• March 2022. "The Federated Board reached consensus on an initial draft set of 45 objectives by March 2022" (PDF p. 43).

• April 2022: the gap analysis. "NASA recognized the need to bridge the gap between current efforts and the new strategy." The Federated Board assessed "the draft objectives against current and planned Moon to Mars activities". The analysis "acted as an early assessment of NASA's current architecture while simultaneously serving to refine the draft objectives by identifying gaps, disconnects, and disagreements between current efforts and desired future state". Each mission directorate assessed itself first; then came "an agency-level cross-assessment". "In total, 12 objectives gaps arose, leading to the addition of five new objectives, one new overarching principle, six edits to existing objectives, and one edit to an existing goal" (PDF p. 44). These "objectives gaps" are neither technology gaps nor data gaps (open question 48).
• May 2022: release and feedback. "The original nine goals and 50 draft objectives were released to the public and the NASA workforce in May 2022 with a request for comments by June 2022" (PDF p. 17). A video came with them, featuring "Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Director of Space Architecture Spuds Vogel, and Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Jim Free" (PDF p. 44).
  • A NASA@Work campaign for the workforce "garnered 151 distinct ideas and 43 comments".
  • The public feedback form, "open for the month of May 2022", "captured 902 separate submissions", with "more than 5,000 total comments" (PDF p. 45). Section 4.0 calls these "more than 5,000 inputs" (PDF p. 17).
  • The 2022 document says an internal analysis of the 50 was "carried out in the spring" (Moon to Mars Objectives, p. 4).
• June 2022: Houston. A workshop "at Space Center Houston". "Of 40 invited, 30 organizations attended." "During this workshop, industry raised the need for architectural consistency to guide investments, along with the need for a signal from NASA that it would be the anchor tenant for services that industry would provide" (PDF p. 45, in bold in the original).
• July 2022: London. A workshop "hosted by the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) at the Royal Institute in London". "Sixteen international space agencies participated in the two-day summit." It "raised a key question beyond the objectives: how can space agencies partner with NASA?" (PDF p. 45). The 2022 document describes the two workshops as for "U.S. industry and academia" and "for our international partners" (2022, p. 4).
• September 2022: the centers. The Federated Board met "NASA field center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory leadership teams". The feedback "suggested more thoroughly defining the overarching 'why' behind the objectives". "Center leadership showed interest in how the goals and objectives will be used to drive difficult blueprint architecture decisions" (PDF p. 45).
• Key themes "across the immense database of stakeholder inputs" (PDF p. 45):
  • "Lunar science objectives were too broad and Mars-specific science was absent."
  • "Ensure that objectives have a feed forward to desired activities on Mars and destinations beyond."
  • "There is high interest in regular industry and international communication and collaboration."
  • "Define interoperability standards early on, perhaps with dedicated objectives."
• The "summer scrub". The inputs were "synthesized in an activity dubbed the 'summer scrub'". The changes it lists (PDF p. 46):
  • "Establish a single, concise statement that summarizes the process and the end state that the objectives enable: 'Define the overarching Moon to Mars objectives for NASA to drive its architecture, plans, and efforts in enabling sustained human presence and exploration throughout the solar system.'"
  • "Document the methodology principals for reference, to ensure consistency of communications."
  • "Rename the Overarching Objectives Principals to Recurring Tenets, which were expanded from four to nine" (Recurring tenets).
  • "Re-order objectives tracks: Recurring Tenets, Science, Infrastructure, Transportation and Habitation, Operations."
  • "Add rationale statements for the objectives tracks to provide context" (below).
  • "Change nomenclature from 'Mars demonstration mission' to 'Mars Initial Campaign'".
  • "Call out Lunar and Mars related objectives consistently across tracks and combine where appropriate to show linkages by using superscript L, M, or LM" (below).
• The result. "The summer scrub resulted in an increase from nine to 10 goals, with a restructure of the science goals. The number of objectives increased from 50 to 63, across the 10 goals" (PDF p. 46). By track: "Science: Six goals with 26 objectives"; "Infrastructure: Two goals with 13 objectives"; "Transportation and Habitation: One goal with 12 objectives"; "Operations: One goal with 12 objectives". These match the counts by goal below (the wiki's check).
• September 2022: release. "Stakeholders – including the Executive Office of the President and Congress and the International Space Agency – received a summary of changes and a copy of the updated objectives prior to public release. The revised objectives were officially released at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris, France in September 2022" (PDF p. 46). The 2022 document: "We grew from 50 objectives to 63, spanning multidisciplinary science, transportation and habitation, lunar and Martian infrastructure, operations, and a new domain: recurring tenets" (2022, p. 3).

Which goal was added. Appendix B puts the tenth goal down to "a restructure of the science goals" (PDF p. 46) but doesn't name the new goal, and neither does the 2022 document. The 2023 document gives two durations: "spanned one year" (PDF p. 3) and "developed over nine months" (PDF p. 18) (open question 51).

The 2022 document expects change: "We will continue to revisit our objectives in the years ahead as our architecture matures, new knowledge and technological capabilities emerge, and more stakeholders come to the table" (p. 3). No source shows a revision of the 2022 set: ADD Rev C still cites it, and the December 2025 sheets use its wording (below). None of the 2026 sources (the workshop decks, the Ignition material, the Users Guide and the Moon Base pages) mentions a revision (searched).

The objectives in Appendix A

ADD Appendix A.2 adds the count and a level above the goals (ADD Rev C, p. 107, PDF checked):

• "NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives, developed through collaboration with NASA's workforce, international space agencies, industry, and academia and published in 2022, are the agency's goals for space exploration. The 63 objectives, grouped into four categories, capture increasingly ambitious exploration activities through which the agency will explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond."
• "The objectives incorporate the principles of an objective-based approach, architecting from the right and executing from the left, and constancy of purpose to build a robust, long-term exploration enterprise."
• "The objectives cover four main categories: science, infrastructure, transportation and habitation, and operations. These categories one or more goals surrounding specific subjects, each of which is comprised of multiple individual objectives." The second sentence is missing a verb, as printed (open question 21).

So the hierarchy is four categories, then the ten goals below, then 63 objectives. The ADD doesn't say which goal belongs to which category. The 2022 document does, by its page headings: "Science Objectives" (LPS, HS, HBS, PPS, SE, AS), "Infrastructure Objectives" (LI, MI), "Transportation & Habitation" (TH) and "Operations" (OP) (Moon to Mars Objectives, pp. 6–11). The Category column below follows it.

A.2 also says "The full lists of objectives and recurring tenets are available in NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives document", with a footnote to the September 2022 document. It says "The full decomposition of the objectives into use cases and functions is captured in Appendix B" (p. 107). The lunar lists are on Use cases and functions. Like p. 16, A.2 says "Section 3.4 captures assessments of the architecture's adherence to the recurring tenets"; the assessments are Section 3.5 (below).

The ten goals

"Moon to Mars Objectives: Goals", as printed (ADD Rev C, pp. 15–16). The code column uses the codes of the acronym list (pp. 291–293), where each is an "Objective Category". The category is the 2022 document's page heading (pp. 6–11).

Code	Goal	Category (2022)	NASA's wording	Page
LPS	Lunar and Planetary Science	Science	"Address high priority planetary science questions that are best accomplished by on-site human explorers on and around the Moon and Mars, aided by surface and orbiting robotic systems."	15
HS	Heliophysics Science	Science	"Address high priority heliophysics science and space weather questions that are best accomplished using a combination of human explorers and robotic systems at the Moon, at Mars, and in deep space."	15
HBS	Human and Biological Science	Science	"Advance understanding of how biology responds to the environments of the Moon, Mars, and deep space to advance fundamental knowledge, support safe, productive human space missions and reduce risks for future exploration"	15
PPS	Physics and Physical Science	Science	"Address high priority physics and physical science questions that are best accomplished by using unique attributes of the lunar environment."	15
SE	Science-Enabling	Science	"Develop integrated human and robotic methods and advanced techniques that enable high-priority scientific questions to be addressed around and on the Moon and Mars."	15
AS	Applied Science	Science	"Conduct science on the Moon, in cislunar space, and around and on Mars using integrated human and robotic methods and advanced techniques, to inform design and development of exploration systems and enable safe operations."	15
LI	Lunar Infrastructure (printed "(LS)" on p. 16; see below)	Infrastructure	"Create an interoperable global lunar utilization infrastructure where U.S. industry and international partners can maintain continuous robotic and human presence on the lunar surface for a robust lunar economy without NASA as the sole user, while accomplishing science objectives and testing for Mars."	16
MI	Mars Infrastructure	Infrastructure	"Create essential infrastructure to support initial human Mars exploration campaign."	16
TH	Transportation and Habitation	Transportation & Habitation	"Develop and demonstrate an integrated system of systems to conduct a campaign of human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, while living and working on the lunar and Martian surface, with safe return to Earth."	16
OP	Operations	Operations	"Conduct human missions on the surface and around the Moon followed by missions to Mars. Using a gradual build-up approach, these missions will demonstrate technologies and operations to live and work on a planetary surface other than Earth, with a safe return to Earth at the completion of the missions."	16

Notes on the table:

• LS or LI. The goals table on p. 16 prints "Lunar Infrastructure (LS)". The acronym list gives "LI: Lunar Infrastructure, Objective Category" (p. 292), and every objective code the wiki has seen uses LI (for example LI-07 L). The 2022 and 2023 objectives documents both write "Lunar Infrastructure (LI)" (2022, p. 9; 2023, PDF p. 26). The wiki uses LI. Recorded in open question 21.
• Names differ slightly in the acronym list: "Lunar/Planetary Science" for LPS (p. 292), as in the 2022 document (p. 6), and "Physics and Physical Sciences" for PPS (p. 293). The table uses the goals table's names.
• Destinations in the wording. PPS is the only goal whose wording names the Moon alone ("unique attributes of the lunar environment"), and MI the only one that names Mars alone. LI is about lunar infrastructure but ends "while accomplishing science objectives and testing for Mars". The other seven name both the Moon and Mars.
• The same wording as 2022. All ten statements match the 2022 document word for word; the ADD only drops the final period of HBS. The 2023 document rewords five of them slightly (HS, HBS, PPS, MI, TH; below).
• Plain-language versions. The 2023 and 2024 executive overviews describe each goal in one line of their own, not in these words. For example, Lunar Infrastructure is "Enable government, industry, academia, and international partners to participate in a robust lunar economy and facilitate science" (2024 overview, PDF p. 19). They call HS "Heliophysics" and SE "Science Enabling". All ten lines are on the 2023 overview's source page; the wiki treats them as summaries, not as the goals.

Why each goal: NASA's rationale (2023)

The 2023 strategy document gives a rationale for each goal. Quoted from Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF pages as shown; shortened where marked.

Goal	Rationale, as printed
LPS (p. 20)	"Billions of years of solar system events are recorded within the regolith and craters of the lunar surface, making the Moon a cornerstone to planetary science. Access to the lunar interior from large impact craters and studies of volcanism on the Moon (and subsequently, on Mars) yield new discoveries about planetary differentiation and geologic history. Strategic science and sampling campaigns by crewed missions enable new insights into planetary formation, evolution, bombardment history of the inner solar system, and prebiotic chemistry leading to new theories on habitable biospheres and the search for life in our solar system and beyond."
HS (p. 21)	"Observing the space environment from the Moon and Mars allows for measurements of the solar wind not possible from Earth. These measurements are fundamental to unlocking an understanding of the nature of the Sun, the dynamic processes of space weather, and building knowledge valuable for comparative planetology and habitability. Lunar and Martian regolith contains a scientific record of the history of solar activity as seen at the surface of bodies in the solar system."
HBS (p. 22)	"Missions beyond low-Earth orbit represent an opportunity to gather data to characterize the effects of the Moon, Mars, deep space, and the operational environment on astronauts and biological systems that enable learning about and addressing key elements of NASA's Five Hazards of Human Spaceflight." Exposure "to the environments in and around extraterrestrial bodies (beyond the Earth and the International Space Station) are critical to investigating and understanding how living systems respond and adapt to the hazards of spaceflight." (shortened)
PPS (p. 23)	"The Moon unlocks transformative scientific research in astrophysics, fundamental physics, and physical sciences that cannot be accomplished on Earth or in low-Earth orbit." "For astrophysics, the radio quiet far side of the Moon allows for sensitive low frequencies radio astronomy observations of the Universe". "The surface of the Moon enables investigations into the physics of regolith and planetary dusts". "Understanding the dynamics of physical systems in lunar and Martians environments is essential for in-space/lunar and Mars surface manufacturing, deep space propulsion, in-situ resource utilization, and sustaining human health." (shortened)
SE (p. 24)	"A certain level of infrastructure and operations must exist to enable discipline-specific science objectives listed in the LPS, HS, HBS, and PPS goals to be achieved. The Science-Enabling objectives address the most critical capabilities and operations to accomplish transformative science investigations on and around the Moon and Mars."
AS (p. 25)	"Applied Science objectives aim to show how dedicated science investigations lay the groundwork to enable other organizations to effectively design architectures or buy down risk associated with humans or robotic assets operating safely and effectively on planetary surfaces."
LI (p. 26)	"This goal articulates the foundational capabilities and services required to support continuous human presence and exploration of the Moon. The intention is to enable access and support across the entirety of the Moon's surface, not limiting exploration to one location or region that constrains scientific gain or extension to Mars." "It supports the creation of markets and services that can endure with commercial value. Finally, this goal reinforces the key drivers for lunar exploration, which are scientific gains and practice for Mars." (continued below)
MI (p. 27)	"To enable the potential for human presence and exploration of Mars beyond one mission, this goal acknowledges that foundational capabilities and services will be needed to properly prepare for and support this challenging endeavor. As technologies mature and the Mars architecture evolves, the exact meaning of the word 'campaign' and the supporting objectives will be further defined." MI-1 to MI-3 are "power; communications; and position, navigation and timing". "MI-4 reflects the importance of long-lead technology developments demonstrating the use of in-situ resources for repeated exploration missions and future sustained presence."
TH (p. 28)	"This goal enables all other human exploration goals in that it addresses three fundamental aspects of human exploration: transportation of crew and cargo to and from a destination, maintaining crew health and safety during the journey, and maximizing crew productivity to best accomplish the vision." (groupings below)
OP (p. 31)	"NASA's Moon to Mars Operations goal and objectives are intended to reflect NASA's operational interpretation of U.S. government policy by describing the key accomplishments that will lead to the fulfillment this policy in human exploration. The operational objectives both encompass and enable all other human exploration goals and objectives while focusing on the total system performance, crew health and safety, and the responsible use of resources."

How LI's nine objectives are grouped (PDF p. 26): "One objective for each major infrastructure technology reflects the expectation that these capabilities will be achieved on different time scales and phased accordingly, and that their completion will be assessed by different metrics."

• "LI-1 through LI-3 address the overarching 'utilities,' that will be needed to support continuous lunar presence: power; communications; and position, navigation, and timing. These areas are fundamental elements that are essential to multiple scales of exploration throughout the build-up of assets on the lunar surface."
• "LI-4 through LI-6 describe additional primary capabilities that will enable robust exploration and sustained presence: mobility, precise landings, and manufacturing and construction." The list runs in the reverse order of the objectives: LI-4 is manufacturing and construction, LI-6 mobility.
• "LI-7 and LI-8 are the advanced capabilities that suggest industrial scale production and a fundamental shift to the use of lunar surface resources for sustainment and reduced logistics from Earth."
• "LI-9 explicitly calls out some of the functions that will provide resilience and situational safety for astronauts and assets."

How TH's twelve objectives are grouped (PDF p. 28), into what the rationale calls "three groupings":

• "TH-1 through TH-8 address humanity's reach beyond low-Earth orbit, to the lunar vicinity and its surface, and to the Mars sphere of influence and its surface."
• "TH3, TH7, TH9, and TH10 enhance the crew's capabilities beyond transport and survival at the destinations." For example, "optimizing human/robotic interrelationships to maximize exploration efficiency."
• "TH11 and TH12 realize benefits to humanity through human exploration by outlining the need for increased cargo/payload return from the exploration destinations." "As the exploration timeline progresses, increased cargo return from the lunar surface will benefit space economy opportunities."

TH-3 and TH-7 fall in the first two groupings, as printed.

Where the first three LPS objectives come from

Two 2024 white papers, older than Rev C, say where the science objectives come from:

• The decadal survey's three themes. The 2023–2032 planetary science decadal (Origins, Worlds, and Life) "prioritizes three overarching science themes": "Solar System History", "Geologic Processes" and "Water and Volatiles". "NASA adopted these themes as the basis for the first three Lunar and Planetary Science Objectives documented in NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives" (Humans in Space, p. 3).
• Decadals in general. "The National Academies' decadal reports, which establish science priorities for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, were the source material for the Moon to Mars science objectives" (Priority Science Objectives, p. 1). That paper ties six lunar science challenges to "LPS-1", "LPS-2" and "LPS-3" (its Table 1; Utilization Systems).

The wording of LPS-1 to LPS-3 is on Lunar objectives: solar system origin and early history, geologic processes, and volatiles. Reading the papers' "LPS-1" to "LPS-3" as those three is the wiki's. The priority-science paper points to Appendix C of the 2023 Strategy and Objectives Development document (its "p. 46") for the next level down: "each science objective may be further decomposed down to strategic research topics and specific investigations" (p. 2). That "p. 46" is a printed page number, PDF p. 47.

Appendix C (2023). The appendix traces 13 science objectives (LPS, HS, HBS and PPS, but not SE or AS) to the decadal surveys and the Human Research Program's Integrated Research Plan. For each it gives the decadal questions or goals and the research recommended under them. It has its own page, Science objectives and the decadal surveys (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF pp. 47–77).

Recurring tenets

"The objectives also include recurring tenets, cross-cutting themes that inform the entire exploration endeavor" (ADD Rev C, p. 16). RT ("Recurring Tenet") is listed as an "Objective Category" in the acronym list (p. 293), but it is not one of the ten goals. The 2022 document calls them "Common Themes Across Objectives" and "a new domain" (pp. 3, 5).

The ADD assesses the architecture against nine tenets, RT-1 International Collaboration to RT-9 Commerce and Space Development. Their wording, the 2022 and 2023 versions, the 2023 rationale, the ADD's assessment of each, and one page per tenet are on Recurring tenets (ADD Section 3.5, pp. 83–103).

p. 16 says "Section 3.4 assesses how the architecture addresses these recurring tenets", but the assessments are Section 3.5 in the contents (p. 6) and the body (p. 83); 3.4 is "Element Definition and Pre-Formulation" (open question 21).

The 63 objectives

All 63 are in the 2022 document (Moon to Mars Objectives, pp. 6–11). The lunar objective decomposition spreadsheet (December 2025) has 52 of them, on Lunar objectives. The Mars objective decomposition spreadsheet (December 2025) has 46, on Mars objectives. The eleven not in the lunar sheet are below. Counts by goal and suffix are the wiki's, from the 2022 document:

Goal	Objectives	L	LM	M	In the lunar sheet	In the Mars sheet
LPS	4		LPS-1 to LPS-3	LPS-4	LPS-01 LM to LPS-03 LM	all four
HS	4		HS-1 to HS-4		all four	all four
HBS	3		HBS-1 to HBS-3		all three	all three
PPS	2	PPS-1	PPS-2		both	PPS-02 LM
SE	7		SE-1 to SE-7		all seven	all seven (three with no use case)
AS	6		AS-1 to AS-6		all but AS-2	all six (AS-02, AS-04, AS-05 with no use case)
LI	9	LI-1 to LI-9			all nine	none
MI	4			MI-1 to MI-4	none	all four
TH	12	TH-1, TH-2, TH-3, TH-9, TH-11	TH-4, TH-8	TH-5, TH-6, TH-7, TH-10, TH-12	the seven L and LM	the seven LM and M
OP	12	OP-1, OP-6	OP-2 to OP-5, OP-7 to OP-12		all twelve	the ten LM
Total	63	17	36	10	52	46

So the lunar sheet holds every L objective (17) and every LM objective but one (35 of 36), and no M objective. The one LM objective it leaves out is AS-2 LM. The Mars sheet holds every LM objective (36) and every M objective (10), and no L objective. Between them the two sheets cover all 63. AS-2 LM is in the Mars sheet, but with "BLANK" for its use cases, so no use case serves it in either sheet. Neither the sheets nor the ADD says why (Mars objectives; open question 62).

The eleven objectives not in the lunar decomposition

In the 2022 wording, PDF checked (Moon to Mars Objectives, pp. 6, 8–10). Ten are Mars-only. The "ADD Rev C" column gives where the ADD names each; the data-gap column is from the data-gaps spreadsheet's Objective column (data gaps index).

Code	Objective (2022)	ADD Rev C	Data gaps
LPS-4 M	"Advance understanding of the origin of life in the solar system by identifying where and when potentially habitable environments exist(ed), what processes led to their formation, how planetary environments and habitable conditions have co-evolved over time, and whether there is evidence of past or present life in the solar system beyond Earth."	p. 37: Mars allows "investigating the origins of life and the existence of past or present life elsewhere in the solar system (LPS-4), which cannot be addressed on the Moon"
AS-2 LM	"Coordinate on-going and future science measurements from orbital and surface platforms to optimize human-led science campaigns on the Moon and Mars."	not named (search of the text)
MI-1 M	"Develop Mars surface power sufficient for an initial human Mars exploration campaign."	p. 38, "developing power (MI-1)"
MI-2 M	"Develop Mars surface, orbital, and Mars-to-Earth communications to support an initial human Mars exploration campaign."	p. 38
MI-3 M	"Develop Mars position, navigation and timing capabilities to support an initial human Mars exploration campaign."	p. 38
MI-4 M	"Demonstrate Mars ISRU capabilities to support an initial human Mars exploration campaign."	p. 38, "demonstrating ISRU capabilities (MI-4)"	DN-001 M
TH-5 M	"Develop transportation systems that crew can routinely operate between the Earth-Moon vicinity and Mars vicinity, including the Martian surface."	p. 38
TH-6 M	"Develop transportation systems that can deliver a range of elements to the Martian surface."	p. 38	all six Mars data gaps
TH-7 M	"Develop systems for crew to explore, operate, and live on the Martian surface to address key questions with respect to science and resources."	p. 38	all six Mars data gaps
TH-10 M	"Develop integrated human and robotic systems with inter-relationships that enable maximum science and exploration during Martian missions."	p. 38, "systems that pair human and robotic explorers (TH-10)"
TH-12 M	"Develop systems capable of returning a range of cargo mass from the Martian surface to Earth, including the capabilities necessary to meet scientific and utilization objectives."	p. 38, "systems that return cargo from Mars to Earth (TH-12)"

The ADD pages are Humans to Mars material (ADD Rev C, pp. 37–38). All eleven are in the Mars decomposition spreadsheet, in this wording (the wiki's check). The use cases it maps to each are on Mars objectives; AS-2 LM has none there either.

The suffixes: L, M and LM

Answered by the source. "Superscript text indicates the applicability to Lunar (L), Martian (M) or both (LM)" (Moon to Mars Objectives, p. 6, PDF checked). The 2023 document says the same: "Superscripts indicate applicability to Lunar (L), Martian (M), or both (LM)" (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF p. 18). So LI-07 L applies to the Moon, TH-07 M to Mars, SE-07 LM to both.

• The 2025 sheets agree. Every suffix in the lunar decomposition (52 codes), the Mars decomposition (46 codes) and the three Mars codes in the data-gaps sheet match the 2022 suffixes (the wiki's check).
• One ADD exception. The ADD's Humans to Mars section writes "TH-04-M" (p. 38) for the objective the 2022 document marks TH-4 LM. The ADD doesn't explain it, and the wiki doesn't either.
• The suffix is applicability, not subject. Some LM objectives name neither body, and two L objectives mention Mars (TH-3 L, "Mars analog activities"; OP-1 L, "prior to the initial human Mars exploration campaign"): their activities happen at the Moon (Lunar objectives). That reading of the two is the wiki's.

Function and use-case IDs also end in L or M, but there the letter marks the lunar or the Mars list (Use cases and functions).

The 2022 wording is the current wording

The 2023 strategy document restates all 63 objectives and nine tenets, with small edits. The newer December 2025 documents use the 2022 wording, not the 2023 edits. The comparisons are the wiki's, PDF checked:

Where	2022 (and ADD Rev C, Dec 2025 sheet)	2023
HS goal; PPS goal	"high priority"	"high-priority"
HBS goal	"to advance fundamental knowledge, support safe, productive human space missions and reduce risks"	"…, to support safe, productive human space missions, and to reduce risks"
MI goal	"to support initial human Mars exploration campaign"	"to support an initial human Mars exploration campaign"
TH goal	"the lunar and Martian surface"	"the lunar and Martian surfaces"
LPS-2	"the geologic processes that affect planetary bodies by determining the interior structures, characterizing the magmatic histories"	"the geologic processes affecting planetary bodies by determining interior structures, characterizing magmatic histories"
HBS-2	"crew health & performance systems"	"crew health and performance systems"
OP-1	"on the surface of the moon"	"on the surface of the Moon"
OP-2	"operations, training and interaction … a Martian surface team considering"	"operations, training, and interaction … a Martian surface team, considering"
RT-1	"partner with international community" (ADD: "Partner with…")	"Partner with the international community"
RT-8 name	"Leverage Low-Earth Orbit"	"Leverage low-Earth orbit"

Sources: 2022 pp. 5–11; 2023 PDF pp. 19–31; ADD Rev C pp. 15–16 and 83; the lunar decomposition's "FE+ Use Cases to Objectives" sheet, checked for all 52 objectives (it adds final periods to HBS-3 and AS-4, which the 2022 document leaves off). The meaning doesn't change anywhere. Following SCHEMA's newer-wins rule, the wiki treats the 2022 wording as current, because that is what the December 2025 documents print (open question 50).

A third wording inside the 2023 document. Its Appendix C tables don't use Section 5's edits. They print LPS-2 and HBS-2 in the 2022 wording, and two objectives in words found in neither version: HS-3 "cislunar, near-Martian, and near-surface environments" and PPS-1 "deep space and deep time" (PDF pp. 70, 76, PDF checked). Details are on Science objectives and the decadal surveys.

Words the objectives use (NASA's glossary)

The 2022 document defines 15 words used in the objectives (Moon to Mars Objectives, p. 12, PDF checked). The 2023 document reprints them as the "Objectives Glossary" and adds: "These definitions apply to the goals, objectives, and recurring tenets and do not supersede other definitions used by NASA in their specific contexts" (Strategy and Objectives Development, PDF p. 33). The 2022 wording:

Term	Definition (2022)	2023 differs
Architecture	"A set of functional capabilities, their translation into elements, their interrelations and operations. The architecture enables the implementation of various mission scenarios that achieve a set of given goals and objectives."	comma after "interrelations"
Campaign	"A series of interrelated missions that together achieve agency goals and objectives."
Continuous presence	"Steady cadence of human/robotic missions in subject orbit/surface with the desired endpoint of 365/24/7 operations."	"desired future state" for "desired endpoint"
Demonstrate	"Deploy an initial capability to enable system maturation and future industry growth in alignment with architecture objectives."
Develop	"Design, build, and deploy a system, ready to be operated by the user, to fully meet architectural objectives."
Explore	"Excursion-based expeditions focused on science and technology tasks."
Global	"Infrastructure and capabilities that support human and robotic operations and utilization across the subject planetary surface."
Incremental	"Building compounding operational capabilities within the constraints of schedule, cost, risk, and access."	adds "to achieve a goal"
Live	"The ability to conduct activities beyond tasks on a schedule. Engage in hobbies, maintain contact with friends and family, and maintain healthy work-life balance."
Mission	"A major activity required to accomplish an Agency goal or to effectively pursue a scientific, technological, or engineering opportunity directly related to an Agency goal. Mission needs are independent of any particular system or technological solution."	"agency" in lower case
Mobility	"Powered surface travel that extends the exploration range beyond what is possible for astronauts to cover on foot. Spans robotic and crewed systems, and can be accomplished on and above the surface."
Routine	"Recurring subject operations performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a unique reason."
Scalability	"Initial systems designed such that minimal recurring DDT&E is needed to increase the scale of a design to meet end state requirements."	spells out "Design Development Test and Evaluation (DDT&E)"
Utilization	"Use of the platform, campaign and/or mission to conduct science, research, test and evaluation, public outreach, education, and industrialization."
Validate	"Confirming that a system satisfies its intended use in the intended environment (Did we build the right system?)."

Develop or demonstrate. The two verbs set different bars: "Develop" means "to fully meet architectural objectives"; "Demonstrate" means "an initial capability". In the 2022 list, LI-1 to LI-3 and LI-9 begin "Develop", and LI-4 to LI-8 begin "Demonstrate"; MI-1 to MI-3 "Develop", MI-4 "Demonstrate"; OP-8 to OP-11 "Demonstrate" (the wiki's reading of the verbs).

In ADD Appendix F. Rev C's glossary carries 14 of these 15 terms, each marked "(Definition from Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives)", in the 2022 wording apart from capitals, commas and an "i.e.," added in Validate. Continuous Presence there ends "24/7/365 operations" (ADD p. 296). Architecture is the one not carried: Appendix F uses the Systems Engineering Handbook definition instead. The comparison is on the Glossary, which links here rather than copying the table (open question 52).

Objective codes used in the wiki so far

The data-gap spreadsheet traces each data gap to objective codes: 20 codes in all, under eight of the ten goals (AS, HS, LI, LPS, MI, OP, SE, TH; none under HBS or PPS). The reverse table is on the data gaps index. The 17 lunar codes among them are all in the lunar decomposition, so their titles are on Lunar objectives. The three Mars codes (MI-04 M, TH-06 M, TH-07 M) are above.

How codes are written. The 2022 and 2023 documents write "LPS-1" with the suffix in superscript. The 2025 sheets and the ADD's data-gap tables write "LI-07 L". The ADD's segment sections write "LI-1", and once "TH-04-M" (pp. 25, 28, 38). The wiki reads all three as the same objective when the goal and number match.

Related pages

Lunar objectives · Lunar function allocation · Mars objectives · Science objectives and the decadal surveys · Objective decomposition · Recurring tenets · Why Moon to Mars · Architecture framework · Humans to Mars · Data gaps index · Moon to Mars Objectives (2022) · Strategy and Objectives Development (2023) · NASA's Strategy and Objectives web page · ADD Rev C source page

Sources

Moon to Mars Objectives (2022), pp. 3–12 · Strategy and Objectives Development (2023), PDF pp. 3, 6–7, 16–31, 33, 43–47, 70, 76 · ADD Rev C, pp. 6, 9, 11, 15–16, 25, 28, 37–38, 83, 107, 291–293 · Data gaps spreadsheet, Objective column · Lunar objective decomposition spreadsheet, "FE+ Use Cases to Objectives" · Mars objective decomposition spreadsheet, "Use Cases to Objectives" · Humans in Space, p. 3 · Priority Science Objectives, pp. 1–2 · 2023 executive overview, PDF p. 5 · 2024 executive overview, PDF p. 19