A year on Mars lasts for about Earth days or sols Mars days. The distance between Mars and Earth will vary greatly depending on where each planet is in its orbit. At its closest approach to Earth in , Mars was about That's about the exact same distance it'll be from Earth when the planets have another close approach in Those happen roughly once every two years. As Space. Though, the closest we've seen the two was When the planets are as far away from each other as possible, they could be as many as million miles apart.
For reference, on average, Earth is about 93 million miles away from the sun. There are a whole lot of factors at play, like the distance and how you think you're getting there. A rocket you made up or on the path which NASA has sent rovers? Of particular relevance, Perseverance is about to complete this trip.
It took the rover about seven months to get from Earth to Mars. Perseverance launched on July 30, , and is slated to arrive at the red planet on February 18, That's days, which is less than the days it took curiosity to get to Mars in Though, that's not the fastest, either. Mariner spacecraft 6, 7, and 9 all got there in days or less, per Space.
As NASA notes in the handy diagrams above, Mars is 4, miles in diameter, which pales in comparison to Earth's 7, miles. On average, the distance between Earth and Mars is million miles, according to Nasa. Unmanned spacecraft travelling to Mars have taken anywhere from days to days to reach the red planet.
According to physics professor Craig Patten, of the University of California, San Diego, a trip could be shortened by burning more fuel, but it would not be advisable. Currently, the space agency is following a five-step plan for getting astronauts there, but the likely outcome will be at least a three-year journey to and back from the planet.
The health of astronauts going to Mars is a major challenge for scientists and researchers for a few reasons. According to Dorit Donoviel, director at Translational Research Institute for Space Health, the first reason is because the length of the trip.
Because astronauts will be away for roughly three years, it means that any health issues that arise must be able to be dealt with away from Earth, making even the most minor illness cause for concern. So, we are going to have to contend with situations where they are going to have to provide their own healthcare.
Researchers must also consider the psychological effects of the journey, which will see astronauts confined to small spaces for extended periods of time. Accordingly, we can estimate the time it would take to complete this orbit by averaging the lengths of Earth's orbit and Mars' orbit. Therefore, it would take about one and a half years to complete the elliptical orbit above solid and dashed parts! Since it would be nice to spend some time at Mars, we are only interested in the one way trip solid line which is half of the orbit, and would take half the time of the full orbit, or about nine months.
So it takes nine months to get to Mars. It is possible to get to Mars in less time, but this would require you to burn your rocket engines longer, using more fuel. With current rocket technology, this isn't really feasible. You have to plan ahead to make sure that by the time you reach the distance of Mar's orbit, that Mars is where you need it to be!
Practically, this means that you can only begin your trip when Earth and Mars are properly lined up. This only happens every 26 months. That is there is only one launch window every 26 months.
After spending 9 months on the way to Mars, you will probably want to spend some time there. If you were to continue on your orbit around the Sun, then when you got back to where you started, Earth would no longer be where you left it!
In order to get out of your elliptical orbit around the Sun, and into Mars orbit, you will again need to burn some fuel. If you want to explore the surface of Mars, you will also need fuel to get your lander off the surface of Mars. On the first trip to Mars, it is necessary to bring all of this fuel with you to Mars. Maybe someday we could manufacture rocket fuel on Mars. In fact, you can only land a small part of the ship on Mars, because landing everything on the surface and lifting it off again would require enormous amounts of fuel.
Therefore, you will probably leave part of the ship, including all the supplies for the trip home, orbiting Mars, while part of the crew goes to explore the surface. Just like you have to wait for Earth and Mars to be in the proper postion before you head to Mars, you also have to make sure that they are in the proper position before you head home.
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