Principal Author John K. Strickland. Jr. is responsible for a majority of the text of both books in the series and some of the tables and designs covering the cis-lunar infrastructure. Co-Author Sam Spencer is responsible for all ISRU chapters and calculations.

The original design work on the Access to Mars (AtM) ferry system lasted from June, 2010 to January 2011, and was done by John Strickland and Engineer Raghavan Gopalaswami, a retired aerospace engineer living near Hyderabad, India. ‘Gopal’ also evaluated most of the aerospace aspects, entry simulations and engineering diagrams for the Ferry Design and for its entry behavior. This project would never have started in its current form without him. He received a Master of Science (M.S.) Degree in Rocket Technology from the Cranfield University Institute of Technology, U.K. in 1970, and completed the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School, U.S.A in 1984. He pioneered research, design and development of liquid propellant rocket propulsion systems in India all through the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was twice recipient of Awards from the former President of India (Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam), for innovative contributions to rocket propulsion development. He retired in 1994 as CEO of an aerospace industry company.

Many other people, including Keith Henson, Gordon Woodcock, Fred Becker, Henry Spencer and Anita Gale made many suggestions and advice during the fall of 2010. Henry Spencer has helped again in 2016 with a clearer explanation of how the Oberth effect works.

Gerald D. Nordley and David Komar have provided assistance in making the planetary departure and Oberth calculations more accurate and improving the explanation of how they work.

Artist Marcus Mashburn of Mountain Home, Idaho worked very hard in 2012 to translate my verbal descriptions and diagrams of a landed Mars ferry into a realistic painting.

John’s brother Edwin Strickland has provided extensive computer-related assistance with some of the images used in the original (2011) article.

‘Hop’ Hollister David of Ajo, Arizona, assisted greatly with tips for using mathematical methods for solving some of the orbital mechanics problems including the Oberth maneuver calculations.
Chris Carson of the Dallas area helped me verify some of the Oberth calculations.

Dr. Doug Plata described his concept of operating a Mars mission from a high elliptical Mars orbit (HEMO) which inspired my concept for a minimal propulsion mass crew return vehicle system when combined with the Oberth maneuver.

Tim Cash has provided help in calculating the correct numbers for the Mars artificial magnetosphere system, which is operated by superconducting cables, and has converted formulae into Excel format which enabled refinement of the numbers.