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Moon to Mars Objectives (September 2022)

Document: Moon to Mars Objectives, a 13-page NASA brochure dated "September 2022" on its cover and in every footer ("Moon to Mars Objectives • September 2022"). The foreword is signed by Pam Melroy, NASA Deputy Administrator. Files: text sources/text/docs/2022-09-m2m-objectives-exec-summary.txt; raw sources/raw/docs/2022-09-m2m-objectives-exec-summary.pdf (fetched 2026-10-01T07:22:46Z from https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/m2m-objectives-exec-summary.pdf, per sources/manifest.csv). Page numbers: the printed numbers match the PDF pages and the text file's [page N] markers. Pages 6–12 were checked against the PDF.

Name. The file name says "exec-summary", but the document's own title is "Moon to Mars Objectives". ADD Rev C calls it "NASA's Moon to Mars Objectives document" and cites this file in three footnotes (ADD Rev C, pp. 9, 11, 107). Earlier wiki pages call it "the 2022 Objectives executive summary"; it is the same document.

Summary. The source of the objectives themselves: 63 objectives under ten goals, the nine recurring tenets, a page on method and a glossary of 15 terms. It is the document ADD Rev C points to for "the detailed individual objectives for each goal" (ADD p. 15). Each objective code carries a superscript suffix, and the document says what it means: "Superscript text indicates the applicability to Lunar (L), Martian (M) or both (LM)" (p. 6). The December 2025 lunar decomposition prints 52 of the 63 objectives in this document's exact wording. ADD Rev C's goal statements and its tenet table also follow it (the wiki's comparisons, below).

Contents

Page Section Wiki home
1 Cover
2 Contents
3 Foreword (Melroy): "We grew from 50 objectives to 63"; recurring tenets as "a new domain" Objectives: where they came from
4 Background: objectives-based against capabilities-based; inputs and workshops; the five principles of the method Objectives; Objective decomposition
5 Recurring Tenets: "Common Themes Across Objectives", RT-1 to RT-9 Recurring tenets
6 Science objectives: LPS and HS goals and objectives; the superscript key Objectives (goals, suffixes, LPS-4 M); Lunar objectives (the rest)
7 Science objectives: HBS and PPS Lunar objectives
8 Science objectives: SE and AS Lunar objectives; AS-2 LM on Objectives
9 Infrastructure objectives: LI and MI Lunar objectives (LI); MI on Objectives
10 Transportation & Habitation: TH-1 to TH-12 Lunar objectives; the five Mars-only on Objectives
11 Operations: OP-1 to OP-12 Lunar objectives
12 Glossary of Terms (15 terms) Objectives: words the objectives use
13 Back cover

Categories. The page headings sort the ten goals into four groups: "Science Objectives" (LPS, HS, HBS, PPS, SE, AS; pp. 6–8), "Infrastructure Objectives" (LI, MI; p. 9), "Transportation & Habitation" (TH; p. 10) and "Operations" (OP; p. 11). ADD Rev C names the same four categories without assigning the goals to them (p. 107). The 2023 strategy document calls them "four distinct tracks" (PDF p. 17).

What the document says

  • Why objectives first. "In contrast to a capabilities-based approach, an objectives-based approach focuses on the big picture, the 'what' and 'why' of what NASA should be doing in terms of deep space exploration before prescribing the 'how' (e.g., a specific launch vehicle, technology, or acquisition approach)" (p. 4).
  • How the set was made. Senior leaders and staff from each mission directorate developed it, with inputs from "U.S. industry and academia, international partner space agencies, NASA Center leadership, and the NASA workforce via written input and two in-person workshops conducted in the summer of 2022". The workshops were in Houston, "for U.S. industry and academia", and in London, "for our international partners". The set "also addresses gaps from NASA's internal analysis on its 50 initial objectives carried out in the spring" (p. 4). The foreword speaks of "thousands of inputs" (p. 3).
  • From 50 to 63. "Our first draft of the Moon to Mars Objectives were intentionally broad, and the overwhelming responses we received encouraged us to be even broader in some areas, yet more specific in others. We grew from 50 objectives to 63, spanning multidisciplinary science, transportation and habitation, lunar and Martian infrastructure, operations, and a new domain: recurring tenets" (p. 3).
  • Not fixed. "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). NASA "will measure our progress toward achieving our Moon to Mars Objectives and periodically update them as the Artemis Campaign and future efforts evolve" (p. 4).
  • The five principles of the method (p. 4): objective-based approach; architect from the right / execute from the left; constancy of purpose; unity of purpose; enhanced communication and engagement. Quoted on Objective decomposition.

What changed by Rev C

These comparisons are the wiki's. This document is older than ADD Rev C, but it is still the document Rev C cites for the objectives.

  • Rev C follows this document's wording. The ADD's goals table (pp. 15–16) matches the goal statements here, including the places where the 2023 strategy document reworded them, such as "high priority" (2023: "high-priority") and "to support initial human Mars exploration campaign" (2023: "an initial"). The ADD's tenet table (p. 83) matches p. 5 here, apart from capitals. Details: Objectives and open question 50.
  • 52 of the 63 objectives are in the December 2025 lunar decomposition, word for word. The wiki checked each against the FE+ sheet's objective column. The only differences are final periods on HBS-3 and AS-4, which this document leaves off. The eleven not in the sheet are the ten Mars-only objectives and AS-2 LM (Lunar objectives).
  • The suffixes agree for all 52 codes in the sheet and the three Mars codes in the data-gaps sheet. The ADD once writes "TH-04-M" (p. 38) for the objective this document marks LM.
  • How codes are written. Here: "LPS-1" with the suffix in superscript. The 2025 sheets and the ADD's data-gap tables: "LPS-01 LM". The ADD's segment sections: "LI-1".
  • Names. "Lunar/Planetary Science (LPS)" here and in the ADD's acronym list (p. 292); "Lunar and Planetary Science" in the ADD's goals table (p. 15). This document writes "Lunar Infrastructure (LI)" (p. 9), as does the 2023 document; the ADD's goals table prints "(LS)" (p. 16; open question 21).
  • The glossary. ADD Appendix F carries 14 of these 15 terms, in this document's wording apart from capitals, commas, an "i.e.," in Validate and Continuous Presence's "24/7/365" (ADD p. 296), and credits them to "Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives". It replaces Architecture with the Systems Engineering Handbook definition. The terms are on Objectives; the comparison is on the Glossary.

Cited by

Oddities

As printed, PDF checked:

  • LPS-4's number is set in superscript with its suffix: the code reads "LPS-" followed by a small "4M" (p. 6). The text layer reads "LPS-4M". The 2023 document prints "LPS-4" with "M" in superscript.
  • OP-3's suffix is printed "3L" with only the "M" in superscript (p. 11). The text layer reads "OP-3LM".
  • No final period on HBS-3 (p. 7) and AS-4 (p. 8).
  • "Our first draft of the Moon to Mars Objectives were intentionally broad" (p. 3).
  • The contents page heads itself "Moon To Mars Objectives" (p. 2).

Objectives: the ten goals · Lunar objectives · Recurring tenets · Objective decomposition · Strategy and Objectives Development (2023) · ADD Rev C