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How long does it take to fly to Mars from Earth in time

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If you look closely at the sky at night, you can see a rather bright red star – Mars. This mysterious planet has been worrying the minds of mankind for a long time, people on Earth are seriously thinking about a possible expedition there. Preparing for this grand event requires solving many problems, one of which is the calculation of the time required for the flight. Therefore, along with other tasks, scientists are making calculations and trying to determine how much time it takes for a person to fly to Mars from Earth.

How long does it take to fly to Mars from Earth in time

The distance between Mars and the Earth is not always the same, at different times it either increases or decreases. Therefore, scientists have determined that it will be most convenient to fly at the time when the Red Planet and the Earth are as close as possible to each other. This happens about once every two years, astronomers call this event "opposition". At the time of this closest approach, the distance between the planets is only 55 million km. It was at this time that reconnaissance ships were sent to Mars from our planet.

Famous flights to Mars

How long does it take to fly to Mars from Earth in time

  • In fact, the question of how long it takes for people to fly to Mars on a rocket from the Earth has long been resolved and the Red Planet has been repeatedly launched by spaceships. Mariner 4, created by NASA, became the first such ship in the history of mankind. Its launch took place in November 1964, and the travel time was 228 days, that is, Mariner 4 "landed" on the Red Planet in July 1965. At the same time, he managed to take some very useful and interesting photographs.
  • The next successful flight in February 1969 was the flight of another, already improved and modified ship, Mariner 6. This time, the time was only 156 days.
  • The next, third flight of the Mariner 7 took even less time – 131 days.
  • After Mariner 7, another spacecraft was launched. This happened in May 1971. This time, the Mariner 9 took 167 days to complete the flight.
  • Such expeditions are of great value in terms of obtaining new information about the Red Planet, so for the past 50 years more and more research ships have been sent to Mars. So, in 1976, two whole ships Viking 1 and Viking 2 were sent. The travel time was 335 and 360 days, respectively. Then the same expeditions were carried out in 2006, 2008 and 2012.

Why so long?

Considering that there are only 55 million km between Mars and Earth, and the speed of the spacecraft is more than 20,000 km / h, we can calculate that the flight from Earth to Mars should take 115 days. Why do theoretical calculations do not coincide with practice, and ships need almost twice as much time?

Therefore, engineers do not prioritize saving time, but saving fuel. The ship is launched along a trajectory that allows you to achieve minimal fuel consumption. And yet 100 years ago, flights beyond our planet were impossible, today everyone knows how to fly into space. So a human expedition to Mars is only a matter of time.

A video about how much to fly to Mars from Earth

Are human space flights to Mars possible?

This requires a lot of time, and people who go on such a journey for the first time will need great patience and endurance. Therefore, many specialists are working on this problem today. First, in order to carry out a human flight to Mars, it is necessary to use a radically new type of fuel. Secondly, space is a rather inhospitable place for a person whose body is highly susceptible to cosmic radiation. It accumulates in almost every part of his body and is not excreted throughout his life. If the astronaut is not protected from radiation, but he will not be able to live in space for two hours. If scientists could come up with a way that could significantly reduce travel time, then the risk of radiation exposure for the astronaut would become much less. Besides,

If we talk about how many years it will take a person to fly from Mars to Earth and back, then the following fact must be taken into account: for the return trip, you will need to wait for the next opposition, which will take quite a long time. Scientists have calculated that such an expedition could take about 16 months or 500 days.

It is also necessary to take into account that after the confrontation between the Earth and Mars, our planet will rapidly move forward. This is due to the difference in orbital velocities. And after three months, the planets will “run away" altogether, and the spacecraft will not be able to get back to Earth.

How long does it take to fly to Mars from Earth in time

However, unfortunately, such a task is not yet possible to implement. In this regard, the astronauts will have to wait on this planet for the next confrontation, during which they will be able to make a return flight to Earth. But the waiting time will be as much as 26 months. In addition, you should take into account the time it takes for the return flight (9 months), as well as the time that the ship will have to orbit around Mars (17 months).

Therefore, given the total duration of the expedition to Mars, which will be as much as 33 months, such a task is not yet possible, although scientists are already trying to figure out how a person can survive on Mars.

Thus, the distance from Earth to Mars is not the most important obstacle in achieving the goal. How many days to fly to the Red Planet depends on many factors. It is possible that very soon a person will have new technologies that will make it possible to create a super-fast ship and super-efficient fuel.

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