MISSION PLANS
What were the missions and how many were there?

Little is said in the films about why these Astronauts find themselves where they are.  We know from the first film that they expected to be "somewhere in Orions Belt" but nothing more.  We also know that there were at least two missions and Astronaut Brent tells Taylor "we're looking for you".  Not much of a space program is it?

However there is quite a bit that can be inferred from what is not said and this is where ones imagination can be exercised.  For example, Taylor's ship is demonstrated to be fully automated.  In fact, there are no flight controls of any kind in its cockpit, only those few instruments required to monitor the basic systems and perhaps some for use after landing.  From this we can assume that there are no "pilots" onboard to use flight controls.  This means that Taylor's crew is strictly dedicated to planetary surface exploration, not spaceflight operations.  We also know from Taylor's comments that this is a "one way" mission and if that is the case, then this must only be a "first in" scouting party.  No single ship could possibly land with enough basic supplies to establish even the most primitive colony and definitely not based on a crew of four!  There must be follow-up missions coming later.  And indeed a follow-up mission does appear and it is not of the same composition as Taylor's, further suggesting a different mission plan.  Perhaps Taylor's crew are the initial "scouts" while Brents two-man mission is bringing the actual colony building materials.  Brents ship would likely be a tail landing orbital transport for shuttling supplies from orbit down to the surface.  This seems to born out by the wreckage which features tail style landing gear (taken from the full-scale Jupiter II built for "Lost in Space") and a circular blast area, as if the ship landed then toppled over.  Yet is this all?

The "Big Picture"

Six people do not a colony make!  There must be a much larger colony ship following up both these missions which would include a large population of experts from many technical fields, children, livestock, seeds, construction equipment but most of all, knowledge.  A data base of as much of human knowledge as could be assembled would be the most precious cargo they carried, after the crew themselves, on a one-way mission from Earth.  This then suggests the need for a heavy lift orbital transport of the type that would likely need a runway to land on.  So now we know two of Brents probable objectives, build a base camp and construct runways for the big landers to use.  This would all take time which means the colony ship is probably far behind the other missions, possibly by as much as a year.  Considering the expense and effort required for such an interstellar mission and its one way nature, it is also reasonable to assume that the controlling organization (ANSA) would want a safety margin.  One way to achieve such a margin would be by sending two missions like Brents.  They would both be capable of fulfilling the initial objectives and they could be sent with a suitable interval allowing the first to arrive with enough time to warn the later flight of any dangers.  The worst case scenario would be the total loss of the first mission with the second provided sufficient warning to survive.  This means that there was probably another two man crew out there like Brents that was never shown and a huge follow-up colony mission too.  But why do they need Taylor's mission?

Real Life

Considering the fact that Taylor's mission is a total failure, it would be reasonable to assume that it might not have been part of the original mission planning.  Perhaps the colony program was like most major government programs, behind schedule and over budget.  This program would have three or four (perhaps more!) times the economic impact of the US Apollo program on the country (or countries) funding it which means that after a number of years pressure would greatly increase for some tangible results.  To achieve some quick results why not salvage a heavy Mars mission robot transport which was left in a parking orbit somewhere, recondition it and send a small party as "scouts".  They could be survival specialists with a scientist thrown in for good measure and utilize a much simpler, stripped down spacecraft.  This would be a way of launching "something" to show the program was actually making progress while providing some breathing room for the elements that need more time to complete.  It would also mean that Taylor's mission was slapped together as a sacrificial lamb to political expediency.  His ship is a hastily designed lander meant more as the space equivalent of a "log cabin" rather than a true spacecraft.   Mated to a surplus interplanetary transport which has been refitted with interstellar drives, this mission has little merit and ultimately pays the price for foolhardiness.  Yet Brents much better prepared mission fails too which seems to suggest a congenital defect somewhere.  Perhaps an undetected fault in the primary computer complex which will affect all the landers to come?  Or...?

It is this kind of back story that allows us to further explore the hardware involved.  With these design criteria we could now create the vehicles which were never shown and design the missing portions of those that were.  Of course this is only one scenario, I encourage those who are interested to establish their own "back stories" and make designs to fit.  This is one of the fun aspects of this particular science fiction subject.  Thankfully the original film makers left much to our own imaginations and therefore permitted us a wide latitude for creativity.

MISSION SUMMARY: My Version

For reasons unstated it has been decided to mount an interstellar colonizing effort.  Determined to be too massive of an undertaking for one nation, a consortium of nations is created to underwrite the program via a new space agency; the Allied National Space Agencies.  ANSA  will manage the combined international efforts from a central headquarters and be responsible for all policy and planning decisions.

After the successful construction of bases on the Moon and Mars by several nations, there is already a huge space industrial infra-structure to support this epic scale project.  Soon the target solar systems are identified by Lunar farside observatories and it is decided to create three complete colony missions.  One going to each of three target solar systems.  These missions will be comprised of two first-in scout missions followed by a huge single colony ship.  The scouts mission will be equipped to assemble the initial construction base from modular elements and build the runways required for the heavy lift transports being brought by the colony mission.  The two scout spacecraft will be launched 30 days apart and each will carry the means to complete the entire First Phase mission.  Twelve months later the colony mission will arrive and then Second Phase full scale construction will commence on the new world, leading to a fully self-sufficient colony.

The Two-Man Scout Missions

The scout missions are comprised of two basic spacecraft each, a lander (Sparrow III) and an interstellar transport.  The lander is a self-contained reusable orbit-to-surface transport vehicle which will not only transport the required cargo pods down to the surface but will also provide the needed habitat for the astronauts while enroute.  They are tail lander designs, fully equipped to locate an appropriate landing site and make independent planetary landings on unprepared terrain.  Each one features hibernation systems for the crew, a basic laboratory, small living space and internal "up" cargo bay for transporting limited payloads back into orbit.  The main cargo pods will be loaded automatically by systems onboard the interstellar transport and carried externally on the back of the lander.  Once on the surface, the pods can be lowered vertically down the loading rails and pulled out horizontally until resting level on the ground.  After being emptied of cargo, each pod is designed to be used as a prefab building, similar to a Quonset hut.  Plans and Renderings

The interstellar transport section carries the loaded cargo pods, a variety of satellites for the new world and extra fuel for replenishing the lander.  It also contains a limited maintenance and repair facility for the lander as well as spare parts supply.  The primary structure of the transport is an open latticework tower around which all other components are mounted, the Sparrow being at the extreme forward end.  The largest of these components are the fuel tanks for the interstellar journey, followed by the radiation shielding for the main drives and lastly, the drive section itself.  Plans and Renderings

The Colony Ships

The colony ships are similar in configuration to the scout interstellar transports but on a grandiose scale.  Equipped for a crew of 6,000, (about the same as a modern-day nuclear aircraft carrier) the colony ship features a complete space habitat for its crew, including a large rotating section for simulated gravity.  The colony ship is equipped with every type of lander and is capable of completing the entire mission on its own, if the first two missions are lost.  The onboard auxiliary spacecraft compliment includes tail-landers, heavy lift landing craft and huge fully automated, onetime use cargo landing pods.  Plans and Renderings

The Late Comers

When setbacks and budget overruns occur it is decided to prepare a simplified first-in scout mission to mollify political fears that the program will never be launched and prove that the money has not been wasted.  Three old Mars interplanetary transports will be modified and up-rated to provide the interstellar propulsion for these "quickie" missions.  They will each be staffed by three survival experts and one scientist who will be responsible for preparing an initial surface condition survey for the follow up missions.  The crew will travel in suspended animation, with the entire flight being handled by the onboard computers up to and including the landing.  They will be awakened at one point midway through the flight to check on the ships systems and make observations of interstellar conditions.  After that they are relying totally on the computers to complete the flight.  Built in a hurry, many feel these new missions are a hopeless, foolhardy gamble.  Still, there are no shortage of volunteers and the missions go forward to an uncertain future...  Plans and Renderings