What is the Battlestar design? I didn't see anything about that in the article.

While I think the closed loop idea is interesting, I fail to see why they can't send advance supplies. NASA could put half a dozen resupply ships enroute before and after the Mars explorer leaves. Soft landing supplies is relatively easy compared to a ship full of sensitive instruments and telemetry. Once the crew is ready to leave they could intercept their fuel in orbit. It doesn;t take a huge amount of fuel to get into Mars orbit (compared to earth.)