The answer depends on a number of things, ranging from the position of the planets to the technology that would propel you there. Let's examine a few of the most important points. To determine how long it will take to reach Mars, we must first know the distance between the two planets. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, and the second closest to Earth Venus is the closest.
But the distance between the two planets is constantly changing as they travel around the sun. In theory, the closest that Earth and Mars would approach each other would be when Mars is at its closest point to the sun perihelion and Earth is at its farthest aphelion.
This would put the planets only However, this has never happened in recorded history. The closest recorded approach of the two planets occurred in , when they were only The two planets are farthest apart when they are both at their farthest from the sun, on opposite sides of the star.
At this point, they can be million miles million km apart. Related: What is the Temperature on Mars? Light travels at approximately , miles per second , km per second. 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. The trip to Mars will take about seven months and about million miles million kilometers. The mission is timed for launch when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars.
That is, it takes less power to travel to Mars at this time, compared to other times when Earth and Mars are in different positions in their orbits. As Earth and Mars orbit the Sun at different speeds and distances, once about every 26 months, they are aligned in a way that allows the most energy-efficient trip to Mars.
During the cruise phase, engineers have five opportunities plus one backup maneuver and one contingency maneuver to adjust the flight path. Additionally, because both Earth and Mars have elliptical orbits and Mars' is more elliptical than Earth's , some of our close approaches are closer than others. The most recent notable close approach was Oct. So how long does it take to travel the almost 40 million miles to Mars?
That depends on your speed. For example, the Perseverance rover traveled at a speed of about 24, mph about 39, kph and the journey took seven months , but that's because of where the Earth and Mars were at the time Perseverance was launched and where they were when it landed. If you could travel as fast as the New Horizons spacecraft which is famous for visiting Pluto back in , you could potentially reach Mars in as little as 39 days depending on the alignment of the planets and the 36, mph 58, kph speed that New Horizons reached.
Since no human has traveled to Mars yet, we don't have exact numbers on how fast it's possible to go — because remember, you need to slow down as you get closer to Mars.
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