Mars mission logistics

[gofer]

Apologies if it has been discussed (I couldn't find a reference), but what would be the 'information processing' requirements of a possible mission to Mars?<br /><br />What I mean is that currently both the ISS and the Shuttle orbiter (don't have any other reference points) are "constantly supervised" by the ground. The doctors, the engineers, etc... are all supervising these LEO manned objects. The telemetry, many decisions are made on the ground as to the schedule of the astronauts, health monitoring, system monitoring, food distribution, etc..., they are sort of tied to the Earth knowledge base.<br /><br />But the trip to Mars is long and is full of unknowns. Will the ships systems be self-sufficient, the crew all-trained in the ship's components, repair kits established, etc... to be independent from Earth. What about the throughput of the comm. up/down links (enormous amounts of telemetry) Will we need a sufficiently sophisticated AI computer (HAL?!) to control minute to minute operations of the ship, or will it still significantly rely on the Earth personnel processing? Will we need more deep space beacons/re-translators to relay the telemetry? I think the ship's AI and the crew training/composition will be the 2 key points.<br />