How long spaceship to mars

Spaceships must also decelerate to enter orbit around a new planet to avoid overshooting it. How long it takes to reach Mars depends on where in their orbits the two planets lie when a mission is launched. It also depends on the technological developments of propulsion systems.

The website quotes physics professor Craig C. Patten , of the University of California, San Diego:. The elliptical orbit which carries you from Earth to Mars is longer than Earth's orbit, but shorter than Mars' orbit.

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. 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. The trip could be shortened by burning more fuel — a process not ideal with today's technology, Patten said. Evolving technology can help to shorten the flight. SLS is currently being constructed and tested, with its first flight planned for Robotic spacecraft could one day make the trip in only three days.

Photon propulsion would rely on a powerful laser to accelerate spacecraft to velocities approaching the speed of light. The biggest challenge or constraint is the mass of the payload spacecraft, people, fuel, supplies etc needed to make the journey.

Read more: Buried lakes of salty water on Mars may provide conditions for life. For example, the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 to the Moon weighed 3, tonnes. Mass constrains the size of a Mars spacecraft and what it can do in space.

Every manoeuvre costs fuel to fire rocket motors, and this fuel must currently be carried into space on the spacecraft. That means much more fuel can be carried into orbit than could be carried on a single launch.

Missions that send spacecraft with no crew to the outer planets often travel complex trajectories around the Sun. They use what are called gravity assist manoeuvres to effectively slingshot around different planets to gain enough momentum to reach their target.

This saves a lot of fuel, but can result in missions that take years to reach their destinations. Clearly this is something humans would not want to do. The famous Red Planet is located on average at around 1. At its farthest point, Mars is located at 1. If you want to calculate how long it takes to get to stars, planets, and galaxies, try our space travel calculator.

So how long does it take to get to Mars from Earth? Well, it depends. Mars is located on average at around It would take you around nine months to reach the Red Planet but consider this. All the planets move around, which means that there is only one open window when you could launch a spacecraft towards Mars.

The best time to do it is when Earth and Mars are correctly lined up, and this happens once every 26 months. This is the open window astronomers target regularly. In , Mars reached its closest point to Earth, being located at only This event is rare, though, and the average distance still remains If you were to travel at the speed of light, which is around , kilometers per second or , miles per second in a vacuum, you would reach Mars at its closest possible approach to Earth in just 3.

At its farthest point from us, you would reach Mars traveling with the speed of light in just At its average distance away from us, the destination towards Mars at the speed of light would take you only The journey towards the Red Planet takes quite a bit of time, no matter how you look at it.