Earth mars distance km flight time. How far to Mars? (distance to Mars). How long did various spacecraft fly to Mars

In this interesting article, you will finally find out how long it takes to fly to Mars from Earth - years, months or days? How many flight routes are there and what are their distances, how much fuel is needed for a rocket and other interesting details about the flight time to Mars.

How long does it take to fly to Mars in time

According to the calculations of specialists working on the Mars One mission, the flight time will be about 210 days, or 7-8 months.

Although no human has yet set foot on the Red Planet, a lot of unmanned spacecraft and "mars rovers" have already been here. How long did they fly from Earth to Mars in time?

To better understand the distance, how much to fly to Mars from Earth in time, you need to learn something about previous missions to this planet:

1. Mariner-4. Mariner 4 was the first to approach the Red Planet in 1964 ( Mariner-4, from English. sailor) is an automatic interplanetary station of the NASA program. One way path made up 228 days. The device took pictures of Mars from a distance of 16,800 km to 12,000 km to its surface - scientists watched with bated breath. After all, initially it was assumed that there could be water in a liquid state on Mars, which means plants and other types of life. 21 pictures were transmitted by Mariner 4, and it finally turned out that the "Red Planet" is more like the Moon than the Earth. And from living organisms there can only be mosses and lichens.
2. Mariner-6 (Mariner-6) set off in February 1969. He needed to fly 155 days. The distance to the surface of the planet this time was only 3429 km. In addition to filming, an important task was assigned to this device - to study the composition of the atmosphere and determine the temperature of the surface of Mars, based on infrared radiation indicators.
3. Mariner-7(Mariner 7) was the stand-in for Mariner 6, his journey to Mars lasted 128 days. He also studied the atmosphere and temperature of the planet.
4. In 1971 he went to Mars Mariner 9 (Mariner-9). He reached his destination in 168 days. And became the first satellite of the Red Planet. With the help of this apparatus, a map of Mars was drawn up. He worked until October 1972. until he ran out of compressed gas.
5. Viking-1 (Viking-1). The first apparatus designed to land on the Red Planet was launched on June 19, 1976, reached 304 days.
6. Viking-2 (Viking-2) launched on August 7, 1976 and reached Mars 333 days. It also consisted of an orbital station and a probe. The main task facing the vehicles of this space program was the following: the search for life. Also, about 16 thousand pictures of Mars were taken then. In the first color photographs, Mars confirmed its second name. The planet was a red desert, and even the sky seemed pink because of the dust that was raised by the wind.
7. In 1996, he began to study the planet Mars Global Surveyor(Mars Global Surveyor), which reached Mars in 308 days. It was also a NASA project, and very successful. The device entered the circular polar orbit of Mars in 1999 and was engaged in mapping the surface of the planet. Worked until 2001.
8. Mars Pathfinder (Mars Pathfinder), a US spacecraft that launched on December 4, 1996, landed on the planet on July 4, 1997. He studied Martian rocks, surface temperature, wind and took pictures.
9. Mars Express(Mars Express) - station of the European Space Agency - set off on December 25, 2003 and reached the goal for 201 days.
10. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(Martian reconnaissance) flew to Mars in August 2005, and in March 2006 entered its orbit. The road took 210 days. One of the goals facing the "Scout" was to find a place where people could land.
11. Maven(maven) - an American interplanetary probe - was launched in November 2013 and flew to Mars 307 days. His main task was to study the atmosphere of the Red Planet.

Watch a very entertaining video about Mars missions and current issues:

As can be seen from the above data, the travel time depends on the relative position celestial bodies.

The technical level of spacecraft has little effect on the speed of their movement, since no technological leap in the production of engines has occurred.

Unsuccessful flights

In addition to these fairly successful projects, there were many others that ended in failure. For example, technical problems regularly plagued " Mars", built in the USSR. Either the launch vehicle crashed, or the booster stage did not work, or communication with the vehicle was lost. BUT " Zond-2", sent Soviet Union to Mars in 1964, did not hit the region of the planet at all.

However, failures in this field pursued not only the USSR. In 1971, " Marinera-8”(Mariner-8) The United States had an accident with a launch vehicle, in 1998 the Japanese failed to launch their apparatus into Mars orbit, in 2011 there was an unsuccessful launch attempt from China.

All this spoke of how difficult it is to plan and execute such a flight. And the responsibility multiplies hundreds of times when people fly on board.

How much to fly to Mars from Earth

Of course, you want to know the simple answer right away and it is (below), but to understand how long it takes to fly to Mars from Earth, you need to understand that there are different routes.

Celestial bodies are in constant motion, the distances between them can change.

1. The farthest distance that Earth and Mars can "scatter" is 401 million km.
2. On average, the Earth is 225 million km from Mars.
3. The closest distance to Mars is 54.6 million km.

Flight routes to Mars

The orbits of the planets are circles, so you can " cutting down» path and fly in a straight line. However, when flying on a rocket, solar attraction must be taken into account. To save fuel, spacecraft will also move as far away from the star as possible.

Video: How and how much to fly to Mars and in what way

The shortest distance to Mars is 54.6 million km. This is possible if the Earth is at the point aphelion(This is the name of the place of maximum distance from the Sun.). And at the same time, the Red Planet will be as close as possible to the star - this is the point perihelion. While this mutual arrangement these celestial bodies have not yet been recorded.

In 2003, the Hubble telescope took a picture of Mars, the distance was only 55 million km.

To find out how long it takes to fly to Mars in time, you need to consider a number of factors:

• the speed of the planets;
• aircraft flight speed;
• distance from the sun;
• need for course correction for example, to avoid collisions with other celestial bodies);

The flight path is calculated so that the spacecraft is not directed directly to the planet, but to the point that it will reach after a certain period of time. In this case, it should be taken into account that it will be necessary to overcome the attraction of the Sun.

If you were offered to participate in the space program for the colonization of Mars, would you agree to go there with an expedition?

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How long does light travel to Mars?

How long does light travel to Mars? Let's count. The speed of light is 299 thousand km / s. That is, at the moment when the distance between Mars and our planet is the smallest, the light will need only about:

• 3 minutes to travel from one planet to another,
• 13 minutes- if the distance is average,
• 22 minutes- if the maximum

The fastest rocket in the history of space flight Saturn V, which accelerated to 64,000 km/h. Typically, devices develop a speed of about 20,000 km/h.

The fastest space station to date New Horizons”, launched in 2006, has a speed 16.26 km/s. She went to Pluto. If Mars had been its target, CAS would have reached the Red Planet in:

• 39 days- at a minimum distance;
• 162 days- with an average distance of Mars and Earth from each other;
• 289 days- at the maximum.

That is, at best, the journey would last a little longer than a month.

Traveling at the speed of light is impossible under any circumstances. The speed of movement of any object is measured relative to any system. Special relativity indicates that the movement of an object faster than light will look like the occurrence of the effect before the cause. Such a paradox has never been observed.

Mars One project

“Our traces will remain on the dusty paths of distant planets” - once this song was a real anthem of the USSR cosmonauts.

And, perhaps, similar prints on the paths of Mars will appear in the near future. A project has already been developed, according to which earthlings will go to the Red Planet. Mars One is funded by private investors and is leading the project Bas Lansdorp.

The project plan includes several stages:

1. Crew selection and training. 24 volunteers will take a course in psychological and technical training, which will allow them to survive during the flight to Mars. Passing at the moment.
2. Launch of artificial satellites of the Sun for communication, sending the necessary cargo to the Red Planet (residential modules, life support systems, storage and cargo blocks, a rover). The implementation period is until 2024.
3. The rover begins to prepare the base, launch power supply and life support systems. This phase will end in 2025.
4. The transit module, the MarsLander spacecraft, engine stages and other parts are launched into the Earth's orbit. The apparatus is assembled in space. MarsLander occupies a crew of 4, which directly conducts a flight to Mars. This will happen in 2026.
5. In 2027, the first crew should land on the Red Planet, take over the base and begin to colonize the planet.

In 2013, the selection of applicants began. About 202 thousand people wished to become such. A striking fact, given that this is a one-way ticket, the road will be difficult, and life on Mars will also be full of hardships. However, thousands of people are ready to become pioneers. First, 1058 people were selected, including 297 US citizens and 52 Russians. After the second round, 705 people remained in the team, and after the third - 660 people.

How many people fly to Mars according to Mars One calculations? Scientists are guided by the fact that the flight from Earth to Mars will take 7-8 months.

Regardless of how long it takes to fly to Mars from Earth, returning along the same route is impossible. To date, there is no economically viable solution to deliver to the Red Planet resources for the construction of the launch pad and the required amount of fuel. Mission sponsors don't have the money for this, even in theory.

Famous businessman Elon Musk, who is the head of the SpaceX corporation, introduced the Mars colonization program in 2016. Its implementation requires a serious reduction in the cost of flights, the construction of a new heavy rocket, the creation of a spacecraft to transport 200 people, and other innovations. All this requires serious capital and the labor of hundreds of educated people.

At SpaceX, only 50 people worked on the entire project in 2016.

Elon Musk himself emphasizes that colonization cannot occur without terraforming the planet. Life conditions on Mars should be similar to those on Earth. This process will take several hundred years. And technologies have not been invented yet, with the help of which it is possible to change the force of gravity of the planet, the gas composition of the atmosphere, etc.

Skeptics treat this project, to put it mildly, with distrust. There is not much time left until 2025, huge financial injections are required, the bill goes into billions. And while no one is ready to provide such an amount. You can recall the infamous project " Constellation". It was commissioned to be developed by NASA back in 2004 by the President of the United States. George Bush. According to the project, the ship would deliver earthlings to the Moon in 2010, the first lunar base would appear in 2024, and an expedition to Mars would start from there in 2037.

• But the state of the budget of the United States caused not even a freeze, a complete rejection of this program.

Moreover, at modern development science, the risk to the crew of such a ship remains excessively high.

How much fuel is needed to fly to Mars

But let's say the flight still took place. It is already clear that canals, palaces and golden-eyed Martians, as in the stories of Ray Bradery, will not be met by volunteer astronauts on the Red Planet.

So how much fuel will a spacecraft need during its long enough flight?

An interesting project to address this issue Robert Zubin. He sees the nuclear reactor as the main source of energy for the spacecraft of the future. At the same time, the ship will carry 6 tons of hydrogen from Earth. In the future, carbon dioxide will be used, the one that is part of the Martian atmosphere. With the help of the reactor, these components will be converted into methane and water. Water, with the help of electricity, will be decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen, and hydrogen will be used to produce methane. The resulting fuel - it is assumed that the amount will exceed 100 tons - will ensure the return of astronauts to Earth. All this will make the flight relatively short - about 18 months.

The issue of fuel economy is very important.

Because it is impossible to launch a spacecraft along the shortest straight line: from Earth to Mars. The planets are constantly moving in their orbits, and if such a ship flew up to given point Mars would no longer be there. That is, the flight path must be built "in advance" of the planet, which is the ultimate goal of the path. In addition, to return, the ship must carry a huge amount of fuel.

How long does it take for a person to fly to Mars and back?

This task is facing the organizers of the flight. The faster the ship moves, the less fuel will be needed, the load on the crew will decrease - people will receive less radiation. And, of course, less oxygen, water and food will be required for the astronauts.

For the flight to take place, the speed of the spacecraft must be at least 18 km/sec.

At the same time, the return flight will take approximately 9 months, and 17 months the ship will be in orbit around Mars. After all, you need to fly back in time " confrontation when Mars and Earth come close. Waiting time may take up to 500 days.

Therefore, scientists call such a figure: it will take at least 33 months for a round-trip flight.

Considering that people now work on orbital stations for about half a year - and this is costly for their health - humanity must take a serious step forward in order to begin the exploration of Mars.

To reduce travel time, the ideas of nuclear reactors (7 months of flight), magneto-plasma rockets (5 months), as well as rockets on antimatter - the most dense fuel ( only 45 days).

Mars is very similar to Earth in its characteristics. Today there is a real opportunity to fly to this planet. A colonization project is already underway. If humanity begins to explore other worlds, then Mars will be the first of them.

Thus, the time is approaching when people will actually go to Mars.

Whether it will be a "one-way road", which will significantly save money on the flight, or the astronauts will return to their home planet - time will tell.

In general, the minimum expedition time at the current level of development of science will be 7-8 months.

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We can safely say that Mars is the only planet intergalactic spaces, which attracts the increased attention of scientists around the world. And if earlier earthlings were engaged only in the study of the planet, then recently they have seriously thought about settling the "Red Star".

In the article we will tell you how long it takes to fly to Mars, what grandiose expedition is planned to land selected volunteers on the territory of the "Fiery Planet"? What obstacles can stand in the way of its implementation?

What is the distance between Mars and Earth

The Red Planet is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second farthest from Earth. On average, Mars and Earth are at a distance 225 million km from each other. However, this is a floating value that changes regularly. This is because the planets revolve around the sun. The closest "neighborhood" was observed in 2003. Then the planets were at a distance of 56 million km from each other.

It is interesting: the maximum possible distance between Mars and Earth is 401 million km.

Who first measured the distance

Modern tools of researchers are very accurate, but in the 17th century (or rather, in 1672 they were not). Therefore, Giovanni Cassini resorted to the so-called parallax method. To do this, he stayed in the capital of France, and his fellow scientist Jean Richard went to French Guiana. It is noteworthy that the accuracy of the measurement results carried out by scientists turned out to be only 7% less than the readings of modern equipment.

What is the best time to fly

Theoretically, the best time to plan a space flight to Mars is the period when it is at the point of the orbit of Perihelion, and the Earth is at the point of Aphelion. In this case, the distance between the objects of interest to us would be almost 55 million km. But these are just “calculations on paper”. After all, mankind has never managed to witness such an alignment of the planets.

How long does it take to fly to Mars: numbers and facts

If you don't have the patience to endure a half-hour drive to the nearest mall or amusement park, don't become an astronaut.

It is known that the automatic interplanetary station NASA New Horizons, which went to Pluto in 2006, is currently the fastest vehicle in the history of space flight. It is noteworthy that New Horizons left the Earth's orbit at a speed of 58 thousand km per hour.

Let's make simple calculations based on these data and find out how much this NASA interplanetary station would fly to Mars:

• with the so-called "opposition" (when Mars and the planet Earth are as close as possible to each other), the duration of the trip would be 39 days;
• with an average distance of about 162 days;
• and at the maximum distance of the planets from each other, a flight to Mars will take 289 days.

Attention: all calculations were made in a straight line and, of course, these are only theoretical calculations. It must be understood that neither Earth nor Mars stand still. It is impossible to send a rocket or other spacecraft from point A directly to point B (due to the fact that the planets are constantly moving in their orbits around the Sun). To hit the target, it is necessary to take into account the trajectory of the Red Planet. Otherwise, the mistake can be too costly.

List of major space missions

November 28, 1964 was a significant date in the history of flights to Mars. After all, it was on this day that the American spacecraft Mariner 4 NASA went to the "Red Planet". The unit arrived at the object of study on July 14, 1965. It was then that the first series of images of Mars was taken, consisting of 21 photos. It is noteworthy that the total flight time was 228 days.

No less successful was the flight of Mariner 6, which set off on February 25, 1969 to conquer the expanses of Mars. The duration of the trip was 156 days.

But the next spacecraft Mariner 7 needed 131 days to achieve the goal.

The duration of the flight of the Mariner 9 spacecraft, which successfully entered the orbit of Mars, was 167 days.

Viking 1 is the first spacecraft to land on the surface of the Red Planet. It happened in 1975, and the total duration of the flight is 304 days.

At a similar pace, exploration of Mars has been going on for the past 50 years. Every space journey takes from 150 to 350 days. For example, in 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flight took place, which lasted 210 days. And in 2008 Phoenix Lander returned to Earth in 295 days.

Is it possible to travel to Mars at the speed of light

Most likely, such a question visited you while reading the article. Recall that this value is 299,792 km per second or 1 billion kilometers per hour. And this means that the sun's rays reflected from the surface of Mars will reach our planet:

• with "opposition" - for 3 minutes;
• at an average distance - during 12.5-13 minutes;
• at the minimum approach - approx. 22 minutes.

Since there is no other limit to the speed at which earthlings can move, other than the speed of light, let's imagine that we still managed to bypass the problems associated with the construction of ultra-high-speed rockets and spaceships. However, in this case, we face a much more serious problem. The fact is that the human body, which consists mainly of water, is not ready for such serious tests of speed.

And even if humanity discovers a physical law capable of giving us such an acceleration, it is necessary to understand that we will have to quickly pick up speed, and just as quickly reduce it. And such fluctuations pose a mortal danger to the fragile human body. There may be: fainting, partial or complete loss of vision and other symptoms. Many of them are familiar to aircraft pilots. Moreover, even fatal cases are known when pilots crashed due to a black veil before their eyes or loss of consciousness.

How to get to the planet with minimal fuel consumption

The primary task facing engineers is not to reduce the time spent in intergalactic space, but to save fuel. NASA engineers have been following a method called the Hohmann trajectory for decades. This method implies the minimum fuel consumption. To begin with, engineers launch a rocket or satellite into solar orbit.

After some time, the orbit intersects with the orbit of the "Red Planet" and it finds itself at the desired point in its orbit. Of course, before the launch of the satellite, it is necessary to make serious calculations in order to correctly calculate the speed of Mars.

How to fly faster

Unfortunately, a 250-day flight poses a serious danger to astronauts. During the flight, they will be constantly exposed to background radiation. In addition, storms occur on the Sun. A similar phenomenon can kill all crew members in a matter of hours in outer space.

One solution that engineers see is the production of nuclear missiles. It is on such devices that the first people will go to Mars.

It is interesting: At the moment, some world-famous scientists believe that if you equip a spacecraft with a nuclear-powered engine, it will be possible to reduce the duration of a trip to Mars to 39 days.

At the moment, former astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz is developing another technology that will allow people to relatively quickly overcome the distance from Earth to Mars. If he manages to introduce variable-momentum magneto-plasma rockets, the space journey to the "Red Planet" will last 5 months.

How many years will it take for a man to set foot on Mars?

In 2013, it became known about the new Mars One project, which will launch the first spacecraft with passengers on board in 2026. And although about 200 thousand inhabitants expressed their desire to participate in such an important expedition for earthlings, after several qualifying rounds there will be no more than 20 of them. It is known that everything that happens on the territory of the planet, which is a lifeless desert, will be broadcast online.

Responsibility for the technical basis of the project rests with Lockheed. It was she who developed the lander for the NASA satellite that landed on Mars in 2008. It is known that in this case the flight to the fourth planet from the Sun will take 7-8 months.

It is interesting: about a quarter of the candidates who expressed a desire to go to Mars are Americans, residents of Russia and other CIS countries are only 4%.

Elon Musk's plans to populate the "Red Planet"

The head of the world famous company Tesla and SpaceX has similar plans. However, he stated that the first humans would land on Mars in 2024. His project is massive. After all, he set a serious task for the engineers - to build a spacecraft that can simultaneously accommodate 200 people and carry 450 tons of cargo.

Of course, the pioneers will have the great honor of becoming the first people to set foot on the surface of Mars. However, they should not be envied.

What difficulties await a manned expedition:

1. Experts believe that the most difficult for the crew members will be in the psychological sense. Unfortunately, the processes that occur in the central nervous system in the absence of contacts with close and dear people have not been studied so far.

   On a note: earlier in Russia, the Mars-500 project was carried out, during which six volunteers were trapped in a confined space for 500 days. Especially for the experiment, Russian scientists built a prototype spacecraft. As a result, many of the people were diagnosed with various sleep disorders and depression.

2. Representatives of the mission will need to constantly keep their body in good physical shape. The fact is that in space, muscles, bones, and even the cardiovascular system of the human body function differently. To support their work, you should exercise every day for 2-3 hours.
3. Many people who live as if on autopilot, thinking only about their pressing affairs and problems, do not even pay attention to what surrounds us: the sun's rays, clouds, stars in the night sky and ... fresh air. Unfortunately, the members of the space crew who will have the opportunity to visit Mars will be deprived of such happiness. The fact is that the atmosphere on the "Red Planet" is very rarefied (about 1% of the Earth's). More than 95% it consists of carbon dioxide with a small amount of oxygen.
4. It is known that before each mission to Mars, all rovers are thoroughly wiped and disinfected. Such measures are necessary to prevent terrestrial infection from reaching the surface of Mars. But if an astronaut becomes infected with an unknown disease on the Red Planet, unfortunately, we will not be able to take him back. Such a tough and even a little ruthless measure is necessary in order to prevent the development of an unprecedented infection and not provoke an outbreak on Earth. Alas, the sick astronaut is destined to die away from family and friends.
5. It is better for people who dream of offspring not to leave the Earth and not to go to Mars. Since scientists do not yet know how pregnancy and labor will proceed in Martian conditions. Are mutations possible?
6. Gravity hurts. It is known that on the territory of Mars gravity is two-thirds less than on Earth. A person gets used to everything - both good and bad. During the time of adaptation to Martian gravity, the process of atrophy of the muscular and skeletal systems will occur. Therefore, returning home - to the native Planet - will cause the crew members not only tears of joy, but also true physical torment.
7. Perhaps one of the most serious dangers that awaits the expedition of Mars is radiation. The fact is that on the "Red Planet" there is no magnetic field, therefore, every time you enter its rusty brick surface, you will be exposed to radioactive radiation.

Now you know how far Mars is from our Planet, and how long it will take to get into orbit. Of course, due to the overpopulation of the Earth, humanity will be forced to look for new "promised lands" for its further existence. However, for now, an expedition to the Red Planet is being conducted to study the features of Mars and its differences from our habitat. Since the "Fire Star" to this day is a little-studied object of intergalactic expanses.

Mars The World That Wasn't

In the video you will learn about what hypotheses scientists are building about the origin of Mars. What was this cold and lifeless desert like before? Is there water there, and is the planet habitable?

From Earth to Mars in 4 minutes. 19 sec.

In this video you will see the flight of the rover to Mars. It landed on a lifeless planet exactly 229 days after launch. You will see a flight to Mars at the speed of light.

mars red planet

Humanity has known about Mars since the time of ancient civilizations. Even the ancient Chinese called the planet "Fire Star". But despite the fact that Mars has been studied for a long time and despite dozens of flying vehicles sent into its orbit, people have not managed to find out most of the secrets hiding "under the cover" of the Earth's space counterpart.

How much to fly from Earth to Mars we will understand in this article. On April 12, 1961, a man for the first time left his native planet and flew into space.

It was the world-famous USSR cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Since then, a considerable part of the intellectual resource of civilization has been directed to the study of extraterrestrial space.

There has already been a flight to the Moon, but not yet to Mars, although the world scientific community is already actively discussing this topic. For example, the CEO and part-time chief engineer of SpaceX, Elon Musk, plans to make the first flight to one of the closest (after Venus) neighbors of the Earth within 3-5 years.

In addition, according to the calculations of the same Musk, in about 20 years it will be possible to get to Mars in 80 days. However, in the current realities, it will most likely take a little more time.

Distance

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun after Mercury, Venus and Earth.

It may take one amount of time to get to Mars today, but another amount to get to Mars tomorrow.

The fact is that the distance between the planets is not a fixed value. The distance changes due to the movement of the planets in their orbits. The planets are farthest from each other when they are on opposite sides of their paths.

Under such circumstances, Mars would be more than 400 million kilometers from our planet. The minimum theoretical distance is about 54 million kilometers, but it has never been recorded.

In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope, placed in orbit around the earth, recorded a distance of 56 million kilometers between Earth and Mars.

Required time

The speed of light reaches almost 300 thousand kilometers per second. Therefore, light from Earth to Mars will get in:

• in the case of the minimum distance - 3.03 minutes;
• in the case of an average distance - 12.52 minutes;
• in the case of the maximum distance - 22.37 minutes.

NASA's New Horizons is currently considered the most powerful spacecraft. It is capable of speeds up to 58,000 km/h, which is more than 18,000 times slower than the speed of light.

Given the real power of New Horizons, we can calculate the amount of time it will take for it to get from Earth to the fourth planet from the Sun:

• in the case of a minimum distance - a little more than 39 days;
• in the case of an average distance - 162 days;
• in the case of the maximum distance - a little more than 289 days.

It's important to know: it is worth considering the fact that the calculations are made from the condition of movement in a straight line from one planet to another. Therefore, time data may differ slightly when planning a real flight.

Over the past few decades, the space industry has slowed down in its development.

After all, after landing on the moon on July 16, 1969, there were no more such resonant events related to space.

In the 21st century, greater leaps have been made in other areas, such as the development of consumer electronics and communications networks.

This course of history does not suit NASA and SpaceX, who are trying to catch up and actively develop the space industry. Some even plan to turn Mars into a colony, but this may not happen earlier than in 100 years.

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How long is the flight to Mars? This question hooked me while watching the next documentary film about the solar system and about the future expedition to Mars. When (I really hope that not if) it takes place, it will be a giant breakthrough for mankind and the beginning of a real space age. I tried to find the most interesting information on this topic and here's what happened ...

How far is Mars from Earth? How long does it take to fly to Mars? In our article we will try to find out: How many kilometers from Mars to Earth? How long does it take to fly to Mars?

To determine how long it will take to fly to Mars, we need to identify a number of factors: to begin with, to determine the current position of the planets, gradually moving to the use of high-tech devices necessary for flight.

How far is Mars from Earth? How many km will have to be covered? As is known from the initial physics course, in order to determine the time of movement between objects, you need to know the distance between them. In our case, the objects are planets. Mars is one of the so-called "terrestrial" planets, in terms of proximity to the Sun, Mars is in fourth place. But in proximity to the Earth, Mars is the second, it was overtaken by Venus.

Since the Sun holds the planets at different distances (orbits), the remoteness of Mars and the Earth also changes.
In 2003, the distance was 55 million km. A picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope at this time.
Theoretically, the maximum approach of Mars to the Earth is possible under certain conditions: Mars is at the point of the orbit of Perihelion, and the Earth is at the point of Aphelion. In this case, the distance would be 54.6 million km (33.9 million miles).
Unfortunately, humanity has not yet been lucky enough to witness such an alignment of the planets.

As mentioned in our article earlier, the closest planet Mars and planet Earth were in 2003. The maximum remoteness of the planets is possible when the planets are on the opposite sides from the sun. In this arrangement, the interplanetary distance will be 401 million km. The average distance is 225 million km.

From the same introductory physics course, we know that the speed of light is approximately 186,000 miles per second. or 299 thousand km / s.
That is:

• if Mars and Earth are as close as possible to each other, the rays, reflected from Mars, will hit the Earth in 3 minutes;
• if the planets are in the middle point of approach - about 13 minutes;
• if the planets are as distant as possible - 22 minutes.

A very interesting film about the future flight to Mars (I wanted to watch it quickly, but I spent the whole film like this):

On January 19, 2006, the fastest automatic space station New Horizons was launched. Its speed is 16.26 km/s. The mission of the interplanetary ship was to study Pluto.
By sending the New Horizons interplanetary spacecraft at the same speed to Mars, it will reach its destination:

• At the smallest distance - in 39 days.
• At the middle point of remoteness - in 162 days.
• At the greatest distance - 289 days.

All of the above distance calculations are approximate, as they were made in a straight line. In fact, the ship will cover a greater distance, since the planets do not stand in one place, their movement is due to rotation around the Sun.
To send rockets to Mars, scientists need to calculate the movement of interplanetary stations and the location of the planet at the time of the approach of the satellite.

If you want to determine the most convenient date for the next flight to Mars, use the 3D model solar system.

Below is a short list of interplanetary stations and travel times to the red planet

1. "Mariner 4" - the first spacecraft to study Mars from a flyby trajectory 1964. The journey was 228 days;
2. "Mariner-6" and "Mariner-7" -1969 the first one reached in 155 days, the second in 128 days.
3. Mariner-9 artificial satellite Mars in 1971 the first mapped Mars - arrived in 168 days.
4. "Viking-1" in 1976 - in 304 days it flew, landed, took pictures, studied the atmosphere and soil, and transmitted information to Earth;
5. "Viking 2" -1975 - the search for life, the journey took 333 days.
6. "Mars Global Surveyor" - 1996 - an artificial satellite of Mars - 308 days.
7. "Mars Pathfinder" - 1997 - the first rover - 212 days.
8. “Mars Express” (satellite, has been operating in orbit around Mars since December 25, 2003) - 201 days.
9. "Martian Scout" - reconnaissance satellite (2006) - 210 days.
10. "Maven" the tenth satellite (09/22/2014) - explores the atmosphere - was on the way to Mars for 307 days.

If you want to fly to Mars and how long to fly to Mars you already know, but perhaps something else is unknown, so it will not be superfluous to familiarize yourself with some more facts:
The Mars One project plans to send earthlings to Mars with subsequent colonization of its surface. Whether this flight will be a one-way ticket, we will try to figure it out.

In 2013, out of 202,000 applicants, Mars One selected 1,058 potential astronauts in the first round, of which 705 remained in the second round, and 660 people in the third. As a result, by the end of the qualifying race, there will be 6 groups of 4 people. By 2025, the first group of astronauts will land on Mars, subsequent groups will go to the Launch Window, which opens every 2 years, in the Goman-Vetchinkin orbit.

About the Mars One project in the video:

So, let's look at what you need to know about, eager to move to Mars.

How long does it take to fly to Mars? How fast and iridescent will the flight be?

Mars One Corporation claims that it knows how long to fly to Mars and this period for those whom the lights will choose will be 7-8 months. All this time, the astronauts will be practically without amenities and in a cramped, confined space. But, if you are not annoyed by the constant hum of fans, computers and life systems, and you think that washing is a useless task, then you can enjoy the oppressive blackness on the other side of the window to your heart's content. In addition to this idyll, if a solar storm catches you, you will have to hide in a space much smaller than 20 square meters. meters (area for living).

Will the psyche work?

Roscosmos together with Russian Academy Sciences from 2007 to 2011 carried out the Mars-500 project, in which a team of volunteers was in isolation for 520 days. Despite the fact that the members of the experiment could leave the project at any time, some still had a nervous breakdown. What will happen in real conditions?

Will your body survive?

Today, astronauts stay on the ISS for no longer than 6 months, as muscles and bones, under the influence of microgravity, atrophy and lose mass. And what will happen to the astronauts flying to Mars, because the flight is more than 200 days?

And how do you like a day and a year on the Red Planet?

If you do not have time to do everything planned within the Earth, then on Mars you will have such an opportunity. A day on Mars lasts 40 minutes longer, and a year of 687 days, which, of course, many will see an advantage, since compared to Earth, youth will last twice as long.

Will you return home?

Let's remember the expedition to the moon, the Apollo astronauts said that as they moved away from the earth, they experienced increasing excitement and anxiety. This state can be described with the phrase: “It’s as if all the joy has been sucked out.”

Dreams of gravity

Yes, gravity is an exciting thing, I imagine how donuts dream of fluttering like fluffs driven by the wind. On Mars, this is almost real, since gravity is two-thirds less than Earth's. There is only one “but”, during the time until you get used to the Martian gravity, muscle and bone tissue will atrophy, and return to native land become physical pain.

If you want children, stay on Earth

Mars One strongly recommends that you do not have children on Mars yet. Firstly, nurseries, kindergartens have not been built yet, Secondly, pediatricians have not been brought in. But seriously, while scientists do not know whether the attempt to conceive a child in Martian conditions will succeed, and if so, how successful it will remain a mystery. Conception, gestation and childbirth on Earth is not the most harmless occupation, to say nothing of Mars.

Sports fanatic? Mars for you!

In space conditions, shirking sports is practically a death sentence for your body. The whole human body works differently than on Earth. Muscle and bone mass atrophies very quickly, you need to keep yourself in shape constantly. 60 minutes in the hall on the ground will seem like children's classics. Future Martians will have to work on their bodies for at least 2 hours (checked by ISS astronauts)

Fly to Mars - do not try to get sick!

Do not be afraid, of course, they will give you a first-aid kit with you, perhaps even better than on a hike. It will definitely contain a bandage, an antiseptic, an antibiotic and much more, but what will happen to you if your teammates do not figure out what is throwing you all over the spacecraft?

I am glad that before departure, all equipment is disinfected so that you do not populate space with terrestrial viruses and bacteria. And you heard well when the doctors said that if you catch an infection on Mars, they won’t let you go home, since there is nothing to drag an unexplored, alien sore into the house, we have enough studied earthly ones.

Gourmets, think

I wonder how much pizzerias and sushi bars will charge for delivering pizza to Mars? But what about paella from your favorite restaurant or fabado? Very simple - forget it. You will carry vegetable seeds with you and eat what you can grow on Mars.

Fresh air is good for health

It's not about Mars either. 96% of the atmosphere on Mars is CO2 (carbon dioxide) with tiny traces of oxygen. And storms that continue for hours with probably toxic sand cannot be called healthy at all. No way, on a quiet Martian evening, you can’t walk before going to bed without a rather boring spacesuit.

How do you like life without the Internet?

SMS messages from Mars will arrive with a delay of 6 minutes, there is nothing to talk about phones, it will slow down for almost half an hour, who can stand such a conversation? With the internet, the story is just as sad. The sites will be only those that you have time to ask to download before the flight, but you won’t be able to surf the web.

Radiation

Another unpleasant surprise prepared by the Red Planet. Due to the absence of a magnetic field, every time you go to the surface, you will be exposed to huge radioactive radiation.
In general, the outlook is not bright. Even if you miraculously do not get sick on Mars or are cured in an amazing way, you will still find yourself alone away from loved ones and relatives.

But such is the fate of all the pioneers and their name will be inscribed in the history of the planet Earth, and no matter how long it takes to fly to Mars, centuries will be remembered and legends will be made about them. Whether it is worth it or not is up to everyone who wants and can fly, although the selected 660 volunteers seem to have already made their choice.

History of flights to Mars

The planet Mars is perhaps one of the most mysterious in ours. A bright red star, which can be seen even with the naked eye in the night sky, has attracted the attention of scientific astronomers, priests, poets since ancient times, pagan gods were named after it. But most of all controversy and discussion, of course, is the question of the presence of life on this planet (even if it is the simplest unicellular organisms). Much has been said and written about this, including on ours. In a word, the planet Mars is still fraught with many mysteries, and in order to solve them, humanity will have to explore Mars in more detail and in detail, perhaps the day when a person’s foot will first enter the red planet is not far off. But for this to happen, it is necessary to solve very important pressing issues: to develop the technology of such flights, to implement it, to take into account many important nuances, such as the effect of cosmic radiation on astronauts, and, of course, to correctly calculate both the flight path and how long it takes to fly to Mars from the earth.

In fact, everything is not so simple here, because both the Earth and Mars move in their orbits around the Sun with different speed, respectively, the distance between them constantly changes. Once every two years, this distance is minimal, since our planets approach as close as possible, such an approach in astronomy is called opposition, this is how it looks in the picture

Confrontation of Mars and Earth.

It is obvious that a spacecraft should be sent to Mars precisely at the moment of opposition, when the distance between Earth and Mars is minimal.

All this, of course, is important, but now let's answer our main pressing question: how long does it take for a person to fly to Mars? So, given the latest modern technologies such a flight will take from 150 to 300 days, taking into account the launch speed, the positions of the planets, the flight path. Moreover, a very important factor here is the availability of fuel, the more it is, the faster the flight will be.

History of flights to Mars

Attempts to send a shuttle to Mars have already been made by NASA, the first unmanned spacecraft to fly on the Earth-Mars route was called Mariner 4 and was launched at the end of November 1964. He flew to Mars on July 14, 1965, while taking 21 detailed photographs of the surface of the "red planet", these photos were the first of their kind in history. The one-way flight to Mars itself took 228 days.

Mariner 4 is the first spacecraft to visit Mars.

The second flight, which was carried out by the Mariner 6, was already much faster, the ship took off from the Earth on February 25, 1965, and after 156 days of flight, on July 31 it reached Mars. The next ship Mariner 7 flew to the "red planet" in just 131 days.

But Mariner 9 became the first terrestrial spacecraft that went into Martian orbit, the flight there took him 167 days.

Difficulties of flying to Mars

And yet, the available flight durations to Mars are still very long, but could they be faster? Let's calculate: the distance between our planets is approximately 55 million kilometers, while the latest spacecraft are capable of moving at a maximum speed of 20 thousand kilometers. kilometers per hour, it turns out that the flight from Earth to Mars will take at least 115 days. But this is ideal, but practice, unfortunately, differs from ideal conditions, and according to it, such a flight takes twice as long. Why so?

• Firstly, that the Earth and Mars do not stand still, but constantly move in orbit, and you can’t just launch a rocket from point A to point B. Because if you launch a ship to where Mars is now, while it flies the planet will go further along orbit, and therefore you need to aim ahead of where Mars only appears, for this, again, you need to very carefully calculate the flight path, because a mistake can be very costly.
• Another difficulty when flying on Mars is fuel, or rather its limitations. Assuming that our spacecraft has unlimited fuel, we can simply fly directly to Mars, accelerating to the middle of the path, and then deploy all the nozzles and slow down. But this will require an incredible amount of fuel and, as a result, incredibly giant ship to carry all this fuel.

How to speed up the flight to Mars

Now NASA's leading scientists and designers are working on the issues of accelerating flights to Mars, and indeed flights within our solar system. However, a 250-day trip to Mars could be acceptable, because at one time Columbus, who discovered America, and other brave navigators of the era of great geographical discoveries sailed no less, so astronauts going to other planets would be a match for them. But the point is not only this, but the fact that in order to send the first people to Mars on a spacecraft, it will be necessary to use a radically different type of fuel. In addition, space is far from the most friendly place for people, and it is necessary to think about how to protect astronauts from the effects of cosmic radiation, which will be deposited in all parts of the body and subsequently remain with a person for life. Reducing flight times will reduce a person's risk of being exposed to this radiation.

Among the ideas for accelerating space flights to Mars, in our opinion, the following deserve attention:

• The use of nuclear missiles, which are based on heating liquefied fuel and then ejecting it from a nozzle at a very high speed. The thrust when using nuclear missiles will be many times stronger, which theoretically can reduce the flight to Mars to 7 months.
• The use of magnetism. The technology of magnetism is based on the use of a special electromagnetic device that will ionize and heat rocket fuel, turning it into ionized gas, or in other words, into plasma, which will accelerate the spacecraft. With this method, the flight can hypothetically be reduced to 5 months.
• The use of antimatter. This is perhaps the strangest of ideas, although it may also be the most successful. Antimatter particles can only be obtained in a particle accelerator and according to physics elementary particles and the famous Einstein equation, when particles and antiparticles collide, an enormous amount of energy is released that could be used in such a useful way. According to a preliminary calculation, in order for a ship to reach Mars, only 10 milligrams of antimatter would be needed, but for the production of even this small amount of antimatter, at least $ 250 million would need to be spent. The very same flight to Mars with the help of antimatter, again, according to preliminary calculations, will take only 45 days.

Whatever it was, it will be hoped that the day will come when a person can go to Mars (and to other planets) as easily as today he can go to another city.

The article was updated on 20.07.2018.

Mars one program

At the moment, there is already a real space program for the flight of astronauts to Mars, called "Mars one". According to it, it is planned that the first group of earthlings will go to conquer Mars in 2025. And then every two years new groups of settlers will join them. But what is most interesting is that for future Martian pioneers, their flight to Mars will be a "one-way ticket." Yes, they, unfortunately, will not be able to return to Earth due to the flight difficulties described above - due to a limited supply of fuel and an increase in the distance between our planets.

In addition, due to a long stay on the “red planet”, some of their muscles atrophy over time, the fact is that the force of gravity on Mars is much less than on Earth. Let's say a person weighing 100 kg would weigh only 38 kg on Mars.

Despite all these circumstances, more than 20 thousand people applied to participate in the Mars one program to conquer the red planet. Of these, 1058 people were previously selected for possible participation in the program. Would you like to go to Mars?

Elon Musk and his Tesla

Another milestone event took place quite recently (before the original publication date of our article), namely the launch of the Tesla Roadster to Mars by Elon Musk and his company Space X, which took place on February 6, 2018. Tesla was launched into orbit by a Falcon-Heavy rocket from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral (USA).

Falcon-Heavy launch video.

And this is actually a photo of a car with an astronaut dummy inside, which was sent into space. Initially, it was supposed to send Tesla to Mars, however, it did not work out to put the car on the intended course to the “red planet”, the speed with which the Falcon-Heavy rocket went into space was too high, as a result, the flight path shifted.

How Long Does It Take to Get to Mars? .