[3] As of late 2019, the DST is still a concept to be studied, and NASA has not officially proposed the project in an annual U.S. federal government budget cycle.

[13][14] It would use a lunar flyby to build up speed and then using solar electric propulsion (SEP) it would accelerate into a heliocentric orbit.

[4] The spacecraft would be expected to undergo 100–300 days of DST Habitat crewed operation before[3] it starts a one-year long flight test (shakedown cruise) in cislunar space in 2029 at the earliest.

[3] In August 2019, the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) delivered a report commissioned by NASA in 2017 specifically for a technical and financial assessment of "a Mars human space flight mission to be launched in 2033" using the DST.

[5] The report estimated that the total cost of the elements needed for the Mars mission, including SLS, Orion, Gateway, DST and other logistics, at $120.6 billion through fiscal year 2037.