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Loading contentClose to Earth, mission control and a waiting ambulance are never far away; at Mars, a crew is largely on its own. Deep-space missions must be able to diagnose and treat illness, repair their own systems, and make decisions without waiting for Earth — a shift from ground-controlled operations toward genuine self-sufficiency.
Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.