This paper presents an analysis of the impact of ISRU, reusability, and automation on sustaining a human presence on Mars, requiring a transition from Earth dependence to Earth independence. The study analyzes the surface and transportation architectures and compared campaigns that revealed the importance of ISRU and reusability. A reusable Mars lander, Hercules, eliminates the need to deliver a new descent and ascent stage with each cargo and crew delivery to Mars, reducing the mass delivered from Earth. As part of an evolvable transportation architecture, this investment is key to enabling continuous human presence on Mars. The extensive use of ISRU reduces the logistics supply chain from Earth in order to support population growth at Mars. Reliable and autonomous systems, in conjunction with robotics, are required to enable ISRU architectures as systems must operate and maintain themselves while the crew is not present. A comparison of Mars campaigns is presented to show the impact of adding these investments and their ability to contribute to sustaining a human presence on Mars. In order to achieve the Earth independence that is required in pioneering, the study team adopted the motto, "Don't Manage Scarcity; Exploit Abundance." In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) involves extracting and utilizing local resources so that they do not need to be delivered from Earth. ISRU is a critical capability for Earth independence, and Mars has several resources in its atmosphere, surface, and even gravitational influence that can be exploited. The atmosphere can be used to reduce the energy of an entering vehicle. Aerocapture and aeroentry use the atmosphere to decelerate a vehicle without using propellant that would nominally be delivered from Earth, reducing the propellant requirements. Gravity assists, which can be considered gravitational ISRU, at the Moon or Mars also reduce the propellant requirements. Also, the 95 percent carbon dioxide and three percent nitrogen content of the Martian atmosphere can be acquired and utilized to produce useful materials and gases. 2 Water is in the regolith and subsurface of Mars, which permits the production of propellant (methane, hydrogen, other hydrocarbons, and oxygen) and crew consumables (water, oxygen, nitrogen, and food). When combined with