The year is 2054. Explorers from the planet Earth have reached MarsMars and found vast waterWater ice reserves in Valles Marineris. Using cargo shuttles operating from lunar and highly elliptical Earth orbits, equipment for prospecting and extracting these resourcesResources has been transported to MarsMars orbit. The shuttles resemble great containerized cargo ships on Earth’s oceans and are poweredPower by nuclearNuclear reactors that generate between 1 and 2 megawatts (MW) of electrical powerPower to drive the plasma thrustersThrust. Large cargo landers have been used to establish a permanently tended outpost near the deposits. The crew of 20 scientists and engineers live in two surface habitats and rely on a pressurized rover to provide the surface mobility needed to support operations around the martian extraction and processing site, which is located approximately 10 km from the outpost. The outpost powerPower consumption is about 500 kilowatts (kW) and includes a composite generation network of modular nuclearNuclear reactors, solar panels, and fuel cells.