space travel earth to mars

Mars 2020: Perseverance Rover

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover seeks signs of ancient life and collects samples of rock and regolith for possible Earth return.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover searches for signs of ancient microbial life, to advance NASA's quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. The rover is collecting core samples of Martian rock and soil (broken rock and soil), for potential pickup by a future mission that would bring them to Earth for detailed study.

Launch / Landing

July 25, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Scientists Find Intriguing Mars Rock

The six-wheeled geologist found a fascinating rock that has some indications it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago, but further research is needed.

IMAGE FEATURE

Perseverance’s selfie with ‘cheyava falls’.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie, made up of 62 individual images, on July 23. A rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls,” which has features that may bear on the question of whether the Red Planet was long ago home to microscopic life, is to the left of the rover near the center of the image.

Landing Site: Jezero Crater

NASA chose Jezero Crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover. Scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. The process of landing site selection involved a combination of mission team members and scientists from around the world, who carefully examined more than 60 candidate locations on the Red Planet. After the exhaustive five-year study of potential sites, each with its own unique characteristics and appeal, Jezero rose to the top.

Jezero Crater tells a story of the on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake. Scientists see evidence that water carried clay minerals from the surrounding area into the crater lake. Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments. Scientists will study how the region formed and evolved, seek signs of past life, and collect samples of Mars rock and soil that might preserve these signs.

Jezero Crater is 28 miles (45 kilometers) wide, and is located on the western edge of a flat plain called Isidis Planitia, which lies just north of the Martian equator. The landing site is about 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from Curiosity's landing site in Gale Crater.

Sounds of Mars

Grab your headset, turn up the volume and listen for the subtle differences between the sounds on Earth versus how they would sound on the Red Planet.

The Perseverance rover will search for signs of ancient microbial life, which will advance NASA's quest to explore the past habitability of Mars.

The rover’s mission has four science objectives: Studying Mars' Habitability, Seeking Signs of Past Microbial Life, Collecting and Caching Samples, and Preparing for Future Human Missions.

View raw images sent back by Perseverance from its explorations on Mars.

Visit the one-stop-shop for all Perseverance media.

Mission Updates

Read updates provided by self-selected Mars 2020 mission team members who love to share what Perseverance is doing with the public.

Mars Rock Samples: The Stories They Could Tell

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is building a unique rock collection, which also includes samples of Mars atmosphere and loose surface material. These samples record the history of the Jezero Crater landing site, and may even preserve signs of ancient life. Learn more about these precious samples, which Mars Sample Return could deliver to Earth for detailed study in the future.

Mars Ingenuity Helicopter

Strapped to the rover's belly for the journey to Mars was a technology demonstration — the Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, which completed 72 historic flights making it the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet.

News and Features

NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Long Climb Up Martian Crater Rim

UPDATED: 10 Things for Mars 10

Here’s How AI Is Changing NASA’s Mars Rover Science

The Maze is Afoot

Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

Mars Sample Return

NASA's Perseverance Is Finally Leaving the Mars Crater It's Inhabited for Years

The plucky little Mars rover has spent the last 3.5 years collecting samples from the bottom of a crater, and it's ready to move up to bigger things.

Perseverance rover poses for a selfie in early 2023.

NASA's Mars rover has had just about enough of hanging out at the bottom of a crater. The six-wheeled Perseverance rover has begun its ascent to break out of its confines and has quite a way to go. Once it gets to the top, it will celebrate its freedom from the crater's clutches by collecting more rock samples.

Perseverance has spent the last three and a half years at the bottom of the Jezero Crater. Since that's where Perseverance landed when it initially got to Mars , it's the only home the rover has ever known. 

Since its landing, it has dutifully collected rock samples and sent home amazing images from our red neighbor, including this butt-crack rock .

With its job done inside of the crater, the rover is on its way up to the rim. It's journey up and out is not without dangers. NASA says that Perseverance will climb 1,000 feet (305 meters) while facing terrain that is upwards of 23-degree slopes. NASA says that rover operators try to avoid slopes that tilt Perseverance more than 30 degrees. It has already traveled 18 unpaved miles, and NASA says that the bot is in excellent condition and should make the journey without hassle.

Perseverance will take a winding route to avoid the biggest obstacles

Perseverance's path will wind through various parts of the crater to avoid the biggest, most dangerous obstacles.

It's easy enough to imagine a rover slowly but steadily climbing a big hill to get to the top. However, Perseverance's path is a little more complex than that. The bot will weave its way around the crater in order to avoid the most challenging obstacles. Per NASA , the path will be handled by Perseverance's auto-navigation capabilities to follow a route programmed by the rover's handlers. 

The reason the rover is heading up there is to collect more rock samples. Samples collected at the bottom of the crater represent some of the oldest rocks on the planet and give scientists more data about what Mars was like in its earlier years. The top of the crater has younger rocks that'll tell scientists more about things like whether Mars had water  and for how long, and whether anything lived there when there was water . 

"Among these rock cores are likely the oldest materials sampled from any known environment that was potentially habitable," said Tanja Bosak, a geobiologist at MIT in Cambridge and member of Perseverance's science team. "When we bring them back to Earth, they can tell us so much about when, why and for how long Mars contained liquid water and whether some organic, prebiotic and potentially even biological evolution may have taken place on that planet."

NASA expects Perseverance's trek to be done by the end of the year, so as you go about your daily business, remember there's a little robot making a big climb on Mars for the sake of scientific research. 

• svg]:fill-accent-900">

Want to travel to Mars? Here’s how long the trip could take.

By Eva Botkin-Kowacki

Posted on Feb 21, 2023 6:00 AM EST

6 minute read

Despite what Star Trek’s warp-speed journeys would have us believe, interplanetary travel is quite the hike. Take getting to Mars. Probes sent to the Red Planet by NASA and other space agencies spend about seven months in space before they arrive at their destination. A trip for humans would probably be longer—likely on the timescale of a few years. 

There are a lot of things that a human crew needs to survive that robots don’t, such as food, water, oxygen, and enough supplies for a return—the weight of which can slow down a spacecraft. With current technology, NASA calculations estimate a crewed mission to Mars and back, plus time on the surface , could take somewhere between two and three years. “Three years we know for sure is feasible,” says Michelle Rucker, who leads NASA’s Mars Architecture Team in the agency’s ​​ Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate .

But NASA aims to shorten that timeline, in part because it would make a Mars mission safer for humans—we still don’t know how well the human body can withstand the environment of space for an extended period. (The record for most consecutive days in space is 437.) The agency is investing in projects to develop new propulsion technologies that might enable more expeditious space travel. 

A crooked path to Mars

In a science-fictional world, a spacecraft would blast off Earth and head directly to Mars. That trajectory would certainly make for a speedier trip. But real space travel is a lot more complicated than going from point A to point B.

“If you had all the thrust you want, you could ignore the fact that there happens to be gravity in our universe and just plow all the way through the solar system,” says Mason Peck , a professor of astronautics at Cornell University who served as NASA’s chief technologist from 2011 to 2013. “But that’s not a scenario that’s possible right now.”

Such a direct trajectory has several challenges. As a spacecraft lifts off Earth, it needs to escape the planet’s gravitational pull, which requires quite a bit of thrust. Then, in space, the force of gravity from Earth, Mars, and the sun pulls the spacecraft in different directions. When it is far enough away, it will settle into orbit around the sun. Bucking that gravity requires fuel-intensive maneuvers.

[Related: Signs of past chemical reactions detected on Mars ]

The second challenge is that the planets do not stay in a fixed place. They orbit the sun, each at its own rate: Mars will not be at the same distance from Earth when the spacecraft launches as the Red Planet will be, say, seven months later. 

As such, the most fuel-efficient route to Mars follows an elliptical orbit around the sun, Peck says. Just one-way, that route covers hundreds of millions of miles and takes over half a year, at best. 

But designing a crewed mission to the Red Planet isn’t just about figuring out how fast a spacecraft can get there and back. It’s about “balance,” says Patrick Chai, in-space propulsion lead for NASA’s Mars Architecture Team . “There are a whole bunch of decisions we have to make in terms of how we optimize for certain things. Where do we trade performance for time?” Chai says. “If you just look at one single metric, you can end up making decisions that are really great for that particular metric, but can be problematic in other areas.”

One major trade-off for speed has to do with how much stuff is on board. With current technology, every maneuver to shorten the trip to Mars requires more fuel. 

If you drive a car, you know that in order to accelerate the vehicle, you step on the gas. The same is true in a spacecraft, except that braking and turning also use fuel. To slow down, for instance, a spacecraft fires its thrusters in the opposite direction to its forward motion.

But there are no gas stations in space. More fuel means more mass on board. And more mass requires more fuel to propel that extra mass through the air… and so on. Trimming a round-trip mission down to two years is when this trade-off starts to become exponentially less efficient, Rucker says. At least, that’s with current technology.

New tech to speed up the trip

NASA would like to be able to significantly reduce that timeline. In 2018, the space agency requested proposals for technological systems that could enable small, uncrewed missions to fly from Earth to Mars in 45 days or less . 

At the time, the proposals didn’t gain much traction. But the challenge inspired engineers to design innovative propulsion systems that don’t yet exist. And now, NASA has begun to fund the development of leading contenders. In particular, the space agency has its eye on nuclear propulsion.

Spacecraft currently rely largely on chemical propulsion. “You basically take an oxidizer and a fuel, combine them, and they combust, and that generates heat. You accelerate that heated product through a nozzle to generate thrust,” explains NASA’s Chai. 

Engineers have known for decades that a nuclear-based system could generate more thrust using a significantly smaller amount of fuel than a chemical rocket. They just haven’t built one yet—though that might be about to change.

One of NASA’s nuclear investment projects aims to integrate a nuclear thermal engine into an experimental spacecraft. The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations , or DRACO, program, is a collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and aims to demonstrate the resulting technology as soon as 2027 .

[Related: Microbes could help us make rocket fuel on Mars ]

The speediest trip to Mars might come from another project, however. This concept, the brainchild of researchers at the University of Florida and supported by a NASA grant, seeks to achieve what Chai calls the “holy grail” of nuclear propulsion: a combination system that pairs nuclear thermal propulsion with an electric kind. 

“We did some preliminary analysis, and it seems like we can get pretty close to [45 days],” says the leader of that project, Ryan Gosse, a professor of practice in the University of Florida’s in-house applied research program, Florida Applied Research in Engineering (FLARE). One caveat: That timeline is for a light payload and no humans on board. However, if the project is successful, the technology could potentially be scaled up in the future to support a crewed mission.

There are two types of nuclear propulsion, and both have their merits. Nuclear thermal propulsion, which uses heat, can generate a lot of thrust quickly from a small amount of fuel. Nuclear electric propulsion, which uses charged particles, is even more fuel-efficient but generates thrust much more slowly.

“While you’re in deep space, the electric propulsion is really great because you have all the time in the world to thrust. The efficiency, the miles per gallon, is far, far superior than the high-thrust,” Chai says. “But when you’re around planets, you want that oomph to get you out of the gravity well.”

The challenge, however, is that both technologies currently require different types of nuclear reactors, says Gosse. And that means two separate systems, which reduces the efficiency of having a nuclear propulsion system. So Gosse and his team are working to develop technology that can use the one system to generate both types of propulsion.

NASA’s Mars architecture team is also working with a bimodal concept that uses a chemical propulsion system to maneuver around planets and solar-powered electric propulsion to do the thrusting in deep space.

“What we are developing is different tools for the toolbox,” says NASA’s Rucker. “One tool isn’t going to be enough to do all of the exploration that we want to do. So we’re working on all of these.”

Latest in Mars

Just 5 impacts on mars sent hundreds of meteorites to earth just 5 impacts on mars sent hundreds of meteorites to earth.

By Andrew Paul

Ultrasonic tools could one day track wind speeds on Mars Ultrasonic tools could one day track wind speeds on Mars

By Tom Hawking

Advertisement

How Long Does It Take to Get to Mars?

• Share Content on Facebook
• Share Content on LinkedIn
• Share Content on Flipboard
• Share Content on Reddit
• Share Content via Email

All eyes are on the red planet lately. Thanks to a number of missions in the past few years – including the Perseverance Rover that touched down Feb. 22, 2021 – Mars is increasingly interesting to astronomers, astrophysicists and future astronauts. NASA plans to put astronauts on Mars in the future, and Elon Musk keeps claiming he'll do it first , but before we strap in and blast off, it helps to know exactly how long it takes to get to there.

Mars completes one turn around the sun every 687 Earth days . This means that the distance between Earth and Mars changes every day, and the two planets are aligned closely to one another roughly every 26 months . 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. 6, 2020, when Mars was just 38.57 million miles (62.07 million kilometers) from Earth.

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 24,600 mph (about 39,600 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 2015), you could potentially reach Mars in as little as 39 days depending on the alignment of the planets and the 36,000 mph (58,000 kph) speed that New Horizons reached. Historically, spacecraft have taken anywhere between 128 days (Mariner 7 on a flyby) and 333 days (Viking 2 Orbiter/Lander, the second U.S. landing on Mars) .

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. The best estimates are that human missions to Mars will be timed to take advantage of a good planetary alignment. Most estimates put the travel time in the range of 150-300 days – that's five to 10 months – and the average is usually around seven months , just like the Perseverance rover.

The two fastest travel times from Earth to Mars are for the Viking 6 and Viking 7 spacecraft, which took 155 and 128 days respectively . Both of these spacecraft were on flyby missions to image Mars, so they didn't need to slow down as they approached Mars as orbiters, landers and rovers need to do.

Frequently Answered Questions

Why can we only go to mars every 2 years.

Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article:

Thu 29 Aug 2024

2024 newspaper of the year

@ Contact us

Your newsletters

How long does it take to get to Mars, and how far is it? Nasa Perseverance rover’s landing mission explained

It took around seven months for nasa's perseverance rover to reach the red planet.

Nasa’s Perseverance rover has landed safely on Mars, starting a new mission to look for signs of ancient life.

The rover left Earth at the end of July last year, and after a tense few moments ahead of landing, it confirmed its successful arrival.

But just how far away is Mars and how long does it take it get there?

How far away is Mars?

The distance between Earth and Mars is not always the same, as both planets are on constant orbits around the Sun.

The Nasa Perseverance travelled around 293 million miles (471 million kilometers) to get to Mars.

According to Nasa , the closest the two planets can theoretically be to each other is 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers).

The closest recorded distance to Mars was in 2003 when Mars was recorded as 34.8 million miles (56 million km) – but the next time they are expected to come this close is the year 2287.

The last Mars “close approach” was in October 2020, when Mars was 38.6 million miles (62.07 million kilometers) from Earth.

Close approaches, which happen around every 26 months, are a good time to plan missions to Mars, Nasa said, as Earth and Mars are closest together on their orbits.

The furthest the two planets can be from each other is around 250 million miles (401 million km) apart.

How long does it take to get to Mars?

The time it takes to get to Mars varies, as of course, it’s not a staightforward journey.

It took the Perseverance around 7 months to get to Mars.

Past missions to Mars, including flybys, have varied in time, taking between 128 days and around 330 days to make the journey.

According to Space.com , travelling at the speed of light, (186,282 miles per second/299,792 km per second) it would take a minimum of just over three minutes to reach Mars.

On average, a light shined on to the red planet’s surface would take around 12 and a half minutes to reach it’s destination.

How did the Nasa Perserverance rover landed on the red planet?

Nasa’s Mars Perseverance rover launched on July 30, 2020, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida in the US.

It travelled for around seven months before landing safely on the surface of the red planet on February 18, 2021 just before 9pm (GMT).

Confirmation of the safe landing took more than 11 minutes to reach Earth and was met by jubilation from Nasa scientists, after a few tense minutes.

I’m safe on Mars. Perseverance will get you anywhere. #CountdownToMars — NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 18, 2021

Steve Jurczyk, Nasa’s acting administrator, said: “It’s amazing to have Perseverance join Curiosity on Mars and what a credit to the team.

“Just what an amazing team to work through all the adversity and all the challenges that go with landing a rover on Mars, plus the challenges of Covid.

“And just an amazing accomplishment.”

The rover has since sent back pictures of the planet’s rocky surface, and more footage is expected from the robot soon.

The mission’s goal is to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples for a future return to Earth from diverse environments on Mars.

Perseverance will gather rock and soil samples using its drill, and will store the sample cores in tubes on the Martian surface ready for a return mission to bring around 30 samples to Earth in the early 2030s.

It will also include testing out new technologies and try out the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter.

Additional reporting by PA.

Most Read By Subscribers

How NASA and SpaceX Will Get People From Earth to Mars and Safely Back Again

There are many things humanity must overcome before any return journey to Mars is launched.

The two major players are NASA and SpaceX , which work together intimately on missions to the International Space Station but have competing ideas of what a crewed Mars mission would look like.

Size matters

The biggest challenge (or constraint) is the mass of the payload (spacecraft, people, fuel, supplies, etc.) needed to make the journey.

We still talk about launching something into space being like launching its weight in gold.

The payload mass is usually just a small percentage of the total mass of the launch vehicle.

For example, the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 to the Moon weighed 3,000 tonnes.

But it could launch only 140 tonnes (5% of its initial launch mass) to low Earth orbit, and 50 tonnes (less than 2% of its initial launch mass) to the Moon.

Mass constrains the size of a Mars spacecraft and what it can do in space. Every maneuver costs fuel to fire rocket motors, and this fuel must currently be carried into space on the spacecraft.

SpaceX’s plan is for its crewed Starship vehicle to be refueled in space by a separately launched fuel tanker. That means much more fuel can be carried into orbit than could be carried on a single launch.

Time matters

Another challenge, intimately connected with fuel, is time.

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 maneuvers 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.

Both Earth and Mars have (almost) circular orbits and a maneuver known as the Hohmann transfer is the most fuel-efficient way to travel between two planets. Basically, without going into too much detail, this is where a spacecraft does a single burn into an elliptical transfer orbit from one planet to the other.

A Hohmann transfer between Earth and Mars takes around 259 days (between eight and nine months) and is only possible approximately every two years due to the different orbits around the Sun of Earth and Mars.

A spacecraft could reach Mars in a shorter time (SpaceX is claiming six months) but — you guessed it — it would cost more fuel to do it that way.

Safe landing

Suppose our spacecraft and crew get to Mars. The next challenge is landing.

A spacecraft entering Earth is able to use the drag generated by interaction with the atmosphere to slow down. This allows the craft to land safely on the Earth’s surface (provided it can survive the related heating).

But the atmosphere on Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s. That means less potential for drag, so it isn’t possible to land safely without some kind of aid.

Some missions have landed on airbags (such as NASA’s Pathfinder mission) while others have used thrusters (NASA’s Phoenix mission). The latter, once again, requires more fuel.

Life on Mars

A Martian day lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes but the similarities with Earth stop there.

The thin atmosphere on Mars means it can’t retain heat as well as Earth does, so life on Mars is characterized by large extremes in temperature during the day/night cycle.

Mars has a maximum temperature of 30℃ (86ºF), which sounds quite pleasant, but its minimum temperature is -140℃ (-220ºF), and its average temperature is -63℃ (-81ºF) . The average winter temperature at the Earth’s South Pole is about -49℃ (-56ºF) .

So we need to be very selective about where we choose to live on Mars and how we manage temperature during the night.

The gravity on Mars is 38% of Earth’s (so you’d feel lighter) but the air is principally carbon dioxide (CO₂) with several percent of nitrogen, so it’s completely unbreathable. We would need to build a climate-controlled place just to live there.

SpaceX plans to launch several cargo flights including critical infrastructure such as greenhouses, solar panels and — you guessed it — a fuel-production facility for return missions to Earth.

Life on Mars would be possible and several simulation trials have already been done on Earth to see how people would cope with such an existence.

Return to Earth

The final challenge is the return journey and getting people safely back to Earth.

Apollo 11 entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 40,000km/h (25,000 mph), which is just below the velocity required to escape Earth’s orbit.

Spacecraft returning from Mars will have re-entry velocities from 47,000km/h to 54,000km/h (29,000 mph to 34,000 mph), depending on the orbit they use to arrive at Earth.

They could slow down into low orbit around Earth to around 28,800km/h (17,900 mph) before entering our atmosphere but — you guessed it — they’d need extra fuel to do that.

If they just barrel into the atmosphere, it will do all of the deceleration for them. We just need to make sure we don’t kill the astronauts with G-forces or burn them up due to excess heating.

These are just some of the challenges facing a Mars mission and all of the technological building blocks to achieve this are there. We just need to spend the time and the money and bring it all together.

Written by Chris James, Lecturer, Centre for Hypersonics, The University of Queensland.

Related Articles

Life on mars: lessons from nasa’s 378-day chapea experiment, nasa invites you to live the martian experience without leaving earth, astronaut’s eye view: breathtaking mars horizon captured by nasa’s odyssey orbiter, earthrise revealed: unearthing the true story behind the “image of the century”, china’s zhurong rover hit a mars milestone that took nasa decades – here’s what’s next, the chinese mars lander: how zhurong will attempt to touch down on the red planet, mars settlement likely by 2050 says expert – but not at levels predicted by elon musk, mars missions from china and uae are set to go into orbit – here’s what you need to know, 6 incredible technologies nasa is advancing to send humans to mars, 17 comments.

The main issue being ignored is the need for artificial gravity in route. Without artificial gravity in route the astronauts will have to crawl out of the spaceship once on Mars. A fully functioning astronaut is one who has been conditioned to the gravity on Mars, or Earth, during the journey. Treadmills be damned, use a revolving capsule to live and work in during the trip. Go into microgravity as required but not all of the time.

One way to get to Mars faster would be to go towards the moon, swing around the moon. Then use the Earth for gravity assist to Mars. Might then have to wait for the right time for the position of the moon.

Why? Why go there? Won’t we just start messing with the climate there, ruining the environment there like we’re doing here?

Not to mention all of the stellar and cosmic radiation that the crew would likely absorb in transit and on the surface.

So Chris, has the ‘Cabin Fever’ problem been addressed? You do know what I mean by that don’t you? Astronauts all cooped up and nowhere to go; to get away from each other, take a space stroll, some solitude, alone time. Anything to keep from killing each other. Eh?

No mention of the radiation issues. Both in deep space and on Mars. You may survive the mission only to be riddled with cancer on your return.

However…

“Space is the natural habitat of humans. A planet, is after all, is a object in space.” – Frank Herbert

So….. where’s the Boring tunneler? Clearly Elon’s companies on Earth are just a trial run and funding source for Mars. They’ll have an entire subterranean city and solar+storage farm built before anyone steps foot on the Red Planet.

Wouldn’t it be more secure to live be on Mars underground? Elon Musk’s borer would make short work of it. Especially if it could be done remotely.

Improve earth.stop spoiling earth.Lets make earth heaven again

What about if we all stop for a moment and better think about how to save our own planet earth 🌎 which is suffering due to our negligence! Let’s make our own paradise and then if you want to leave in Jupiter! Go ahead and do it! But let’s save our own planet first! Stop destroying it.

What about if we all stop for a moment and better think about how to save our own planet earth 🌎 which is suffering due to our negligence! Let’s make our own paradise and then if you want to live in Jupiter! Go ahead and do it! But let’s save our own planet first! Stop destroying it. Spending millions of dollars in stupid stuff while our beautiful sea lions’ home have been destroy due to climate change! WHAT ABOUT IF WE THINK FIRST HOW WE CAN RECOVER OUR MOTHER EARTH 🌎 FIRST!!!

I think this will never happen as there is no signs in any religion discussing life expect this planet. This will not happen.

If humans are sent to Mars it should be with the intention of it being permanent. Not like it was going to the moon and then not going back now going on 50 plus years. Just make the commitment like Kennedy did and do it! Life’s a dance, you learn as you go.

I agree there are lots of issues with traveling to Mars

Well the climate change is because of Joe Biden so lets thank him for killing all our precious animals effected by this stupid Presidential decision on f’ing with our climate change acting like there ain’t nothing at risk with trying to change it. honestly Trump is our only saviour and I’m Mexican and had family taken by immigration but Trump has more potential than Biden ever will. Biden is hurting us Mexican more than Trump ever had. by taking the jobs we came to the US 🇺🇸 for in the first place climate change is not what we need. And our presence on Mars should and will help the chance at further life on Mars even though death is a possibility and will happen but it will also help transforming Mars to a liveable planet in the process.

There are so many issues going there. The landing might be one of the trickiest since they need a lot of supplies with them. Enough food (edible and healthy), oxygen and water. And also having enough fuel to go back. I do not see this happening any time soon.

why cracking heads for what is not necessary knowing that death will still come. pls use your time For God.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

The future of spaceflight—from orbital vacations to humans on Mars

NASA aims to travel to the moon again—and beyond. Here’s a look at the 21st-century race to send humans into space.

Welcome to the 21st-century space race, one that could potentially lead to 10-minute space vacations, orbiting space hotels , and humans on Mars. Now, instead of warring superpowers battling for dominance in orbit, private companies are competing to make space travel easier and more affordable. This year, SpaceX achieved a major milestone— launching humans to the International Space Station (ISS) from the United States —but additional goalposts are on the star-studded horizon.

Private spaceflight

Private spaceflight is not a new concept . In the United States, commercial companies played a role in the aerospace industry right from the start: Since the 1960s, NASA has relied on private contractors to build spacecraft for every major human spaceflight program, starting with Project Mercury and continuing until the present.

Today, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is expanding on the agency’s relationship with private companies. Through it, NASA is relying on SpaceX and Boeing to build spacecraft capable of carrying humans into orbit. Once those vehicles are built, both companies retain ownership and control of the craft, and NASA can send astronauts into space for a fraction of the cost of a seat on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

SpaceX, which established a new paradigm by developing reusable rockets , has been running regular cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station since 2012. And in May 2020, the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the ISS , becoming the first crewed mission to launch from the United States in nearly a decade. The mission, called Demo-2, is scheduled to return to Earth in August. Boeing is currently developing its Starliner spacecraft and hopes to begin carrying astronauts to the ISS in 2021.

Other companies, such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic , are specializing in sub-orbital space tourism. Test launch video from inside the cabin of Blue Origin’s New Shepard shows off breathtaking views of our planet and a relatively calm journey for its first passenger, a test dummy cleverly dubbed “Mannequin Skywalker.” Virgin Galactic is running test flights on its sub-orbital spaceplane , which will offer paying customers roughly six minutes of weightlessness during its journey through Earth’s atmosphere.

With these and other spacecraft in the pipeline, countless dreams of zero-gravity somersaults could soon become a reality—at least for passengers able to pay the hefty sums for the experience.

Early U.S. Spaceflight

Looking to the moon

Moon missions are essential to the exploration of more distant worlds. After a long hiatus from the lunar neighborhood, NASA is again setting its sights on Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor with an ambitious plan to place a space station in lunar orbit sometime in the next decade. Sooner, though, the agency’s Artemis program , a sister to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, is aiming to put the first woman (and the next man) on the lunar surface by 2024.

Become a subscriber and support our award-winning editorial features, videos, photography, and much more.

For as little as $2/mo.

Extended lunar stays build the experience and expertise needed for the long-term space missions required to visit other planets. As well, the moon may also be used as a forward base of operations from which humans learn how to replenish essential supplies, such as rocket fuel and oxygen, by creating them from local material.

You May Also Like

In a first, NASA Mars lander feels shockwaves from meteor impacts

Why go back to the moon? NASA’s Artemis program has even bigger ambitions

SpaceX takes 4 passengers to orbit—a glimpse at private spaceflight’s future

Such skills are crucial for the future expansion of human presence into deeper space, which demands more independence from Earth-based resources. And although humans have visited the moon before, the cratered sphere still harbors its own scientific mysteries to be explored—including the presence and extent of water ice near the moon's south pole, which is one of the top target destinations for space exploration .

NASA is also enlisting the private sector to help it reach the moon. It has awarded three contracts to private companies working on developing human-rated lunar landers—including both Blue Origin and SpaceX. But the backbone of the Artemis program relies on a brand new, state-of-the-art spacecraft called Orion .

Archival Photos of Spaceflight

Currently being built and tested, Orion—like Crew Dragon and Starliner—is a space capsule similar to the spacecraft of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, as well as Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. But the Orion capsule is larger and can accommodate a four-person crew. And even though it has a somewhat retro design, the capsule concept is considered to be safer and more reliable than NASA’s space shuttle—a revolutionary vehicle for its time, but one that couldn’t fly beyond Earth’s orbit and suffered catastrophic failures.

Capsules, on the other hand, offer launch-abort capabilities that can protect astronauts in case of a rocket malfunction. And, their weight and design mean they can also travel beyond Earth’s immediate neighborhood, potentially ferrying humans to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

A new era in spaceflight

By moving into orbit with its Commercial Crew Program and partnering with private companies to reach the lunar surface, NASA hopes to change the economics of spaceflight by increasing competition and driving down costs. If space travel truly does become cheaper and more accessible, it’s possible that private citizens will routinely visit space and gaze upon our blue, watery home world—either from space capsules, space stations, or even space hotels like the inflatable habitats Bigelow Aerospace intends to build .

The United States isn’t the only country with its eyes on the sky. Russia regularly launches humans to the International Space Station aboard its Soyuz spacecraft. China is planning a large, multi-module space station capable of housing three taikonauts, and has already launched two orbiting test vehicles—Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2, both of which safely burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere after several years in space.

Now, more than a dozen countries have the ability to launch rockets into Earth orbit. A half-dozen space agencies have designed spacecraft that shed the shackles of Earth’s gravity and traveled to the moon or Mars. And if all goes well, the United Arab Emirates will join that list in the summer of 2020 when its Hope spacecraft heads to the red planet . While there are no plans yet to send humans to Mars, these missions—and the discoveries that will come out of them—may help pave the way.

Related Topics

• SPACE EXPLORATION
• SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Second SpaceX megarocket launch ends with another explosion. What happens next?

Why did India land near the moon’s south pole?

What toll does spaceflight take on astronauts? Here’s what we know.

See Sally Ride’s boundary-breaking life in photos

U.S. returns to the moon as NASA's Odysseus successfully touches down

• Environment
• Paid Content

History & Culture

• History & Culture
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

Learning Space

Teachable Moments

Stay Connected

Mars in a Minute: How Do You Get to Mars?

Video Transcript

How do you get to Mars?

If you want to send a spacecraft all the way to Mars, first you'll need a fast rocket to escape the pull of Earth's gravity. The heavier your spacecraft, the more powerful your rocket needs to be to lift off.

Next, make sure you launch at the right time. Mars and Earth orbit the sun at different speeds and distances. Sometimes they're really far apart, and other times they come closer together. About every two years, the two planets are in perfect positions to get to Mars with the least amount of rocket fuel. That's important. The total trip is 300 million miles.

Finally, make sure your aim is right. You can't shoot for where Mars is at launch time. You have to aim for where it will be when you get there. It's a lot like how a quarterback passes a football.

Also, you may need a few thrusts to correct your direction along the way so you don't miss Mars.

If all goes well, you'll get to the Red Planet in about seven or eight months.

Then, if you actually want to land on Mars, well that's a whole other challenge.

Mars-bound astronauts will face incredible stress. Here's how we can prepare them to make history.

Traveling to Mars will require living in close quarters for more than two years. Here's how astronauts can deal with the stress of those conditions.

Within the next few decades, NASA aims to land humans on the Moon, set up a lunar colony and use the lessons learned to send people to Mars as part of its  Artemis program .

While researchers know that space travel can stress space crew members both physically and mentally and test their ability to work together in close quarters, missions to Mars will amplify these challenges. Mars is far away —  millions of miles from Earth  — and a mission to the red planet will take two to two and a half years, between travel time and the Mars surface exploration itself.

As a psychiatrist   who has studied  space  crew member interactions  in orbit, I'm interested in the stressors that will occur during a Mars mission and how to mitigate them for the benefit of future space travelers.

Delayed communications

Given the great distance to Mars,  two-way communication between crew members and Earth  will take about 25 minutes round trip. This delayed contact with home won't just hurt crew member morale. It will likely mean space crews won't get as much real-time help from Mission Control during onboard emergencies.

Because these communications travel at the speed of light and can't go any faster, experts are coming up with  ways to improve communication efficiency  under time-delayed conditions.  These solutions might include  texting, periodically summarizing topics and encouraging participants to ask questions at the end of each message, which the responder can answer during the next message.

Autonomous conditions

Space crew members  won't be able to communicate  with Mission Control in real time to plan their schedules and activities, so they'll need to conduct their work  more autonomously  than astronauts working on orbit on the International Space Station .

Although studies during space simulations on Earth have suggested that crew members can  still accomplish mission goals  under highly autonomous conditions, researchers need to learn more about how these conditions affect crew member interactions and their relationship with Mission Control.

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

For example, Mission Control personnel usually advise crew members on how to deal with problems or emergencies in real time. That won't be an option during a Mars mission.

To study this challenge back on Earth, scientists could run a series of simulations where crew members have varying degrees of contact with Mission Control. They could then see what happens to the interactions between crew members and their ability to get along and conduct their duties productively.

Crew member tension

Being  confined with a small group of people  for a long period of time can lead to  tension and interpersonal strife .

In my research team's  studies of on-orbit crews ,  we found that  when experiencing interpersonal stress in space, crew members might  displace this tension  by blaming Mission Control for scheduling problems or not offering enough support. This can lead to crew-ground misunderstandings and hurt feelings.

One way to deal with interpersonal tension on board would be to schedule time each week for the crew members to discuss interpersonal conflicts during planned "bull sessions."  We have found  that commanders who are supportive can improve crew cohesion. A supportive commander, or someone trained in anger management, could facilitate these sessions to help crew members understand their interpersonal conflicts before their feelings fester and harm the mission.

Time away from home

Spending  long periods of time  away from home can  weigh on crew members' morale  in space. Astronauts miss their families and report being concerned about the well-being of their family members back on Earth, especially when someone is sick or in a crisis.

Mission duration can also affect astronauts. A Mars mission will have three phases: the outbound trip, the stay on the Martian surface and the return home. Each of these phases  may affect crew members differently . For example, the excitement of being on Mars might boost morale, while boredom during the return may sink it.

The disappearing-Earth phenomenon

For astronauts in orbit, seeing the Earth from space  serves as a reminder  that their home, family and friends aren't too far away. But for crew members traveling to Mars, watching  as the Earth shrinks  to an insignificant dot in the heavens could result in a  profound sense of isolation and homesickness .

Having telescopes on board that will allow the crew members to see Earth as a beautiful ball in space, or giving them access to virtual reality images of trees, lakes and family members, could help mitigate any disappearing-Earth effects. But these countermeasures could just as easily lead to deeper depression as the crew members reflect on what they're missing.

Planning for a Mars mission

Researchers studied  some of these issues during the  Mars500 program , a collaboration between the Russian and other space agencies. During Mars500, six men were isolated for 520 days in a space simulator in Moscow. They underwent periods of delayed communication and autonomy, and they simulated a landing on Mars.

Scientists learned a lot from that simulation. But many features of a real Mars mission,  such as microgravity , and some dangers of space – meteoroid impacts, the disappearing-Earth phenomenon — aren't easy to simulate.

Planned missions under the  Artemis program  will allow researchers to learn more about the pressures astronauts will face during the journey to Mars.

For example, NASA is planning a  space station called Gateway , which will orbit the Moon and serve as a relay station for lunar landings and a mission to Mars. Researchers could simulate the outbound and return phases of a Mars mission by sending astronauts to Gateway for six-month periods, where they could introduce Mars-like delayed communication, autonomy and views of a receding Earth.

— NASA releases otherworldly footage of solar eclipse on Mars

— Ingenuity helicopter's final images reveal fatal rotor damage that brought it down on Mars

— NASA's Perseverance rover may already have found signs of life on Mars, discovery of ancient lake sediments reveals

Researchers could simulate a Mars exploration on the Moon by having astronauts conduct tasks similar to those anticipated for Mars. This way, crew members could better prepare for the psychological and interpersonal pressures that come with a real Mars mission. These simulations could improve the chances of a successful mission and contribute to astronaut well-being as they venture into space.

This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .

Professionally, I received a B.A. degree from Stanford and an M.D. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. I interned at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, and received psychiatric residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. I now am an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and I directed the group therapy training program there and at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. In 2003, I received the J. Elliott Royer Award for excellence in Academic Psychiatry. I am a Fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association. For over 20 years I conducted research in group therapy and wrote a book entitled Group Therapy for Schizophrenic Patients. My latest book in this area is Integrative Group Therapy for Psychosis: An Evidence-Based Approach .

Enormous hidden ocean discovered under Mars could contain life

Space photo of the week: Stunning sand dunes slash across Mars' polar ice cap

AI and brain implant enables ALS patient to easily converse with family 'for 1st time in years'

Most Popular

• 2 'Richly decorated weapon' from Edo Japan unearthed in World War II rubble in Germany
• 3 Quantum compasses closer to replacing GPS after scientists squeeze key refrigerator-sized laser system onto a microchip
• 4 CRISPR could soon be used to edit fetal DNA — are we ready?
• 5 Earth from space: Massive landslide dams Canadian river, trapping endangered fish on the wrong side

Order Your Almanac Today!

Traveling to Mars: How Long Does the Journey Take?

Want To Colonize Mars?

Many of us are fascinated with the idea of traveling to other worlds, especially Mars. The truth is that the solar system is constructed to give us only Mars as a suitable planet. Let’s explore how long it would take to journey to Mars and other fun space travel facts.

Traveling to Mars

Exploring is in our nature. Even in early childhood, we all had the itch to discover. We explored the attic, and if we found some big old heavy chest up there, we couldn’t wait to see what was inside. As teenagers, we rode our bikes ever farther. After college, many of us went overseas. 

When it comes to off-Earth travel, we are limited. Mercury and Venus are too hot, way too hot. From Jupiter on outward, no planet has a surface, at least not a solid surface. Nowhere to land. Your rocket would just keep descending into thicker and thicker layers of gases and then gooey liquids. That leaves Mars alone.

Read Next

Earth-like planets: are we alone in the universe.

• How Fast Does Earth Spin (and Why Don’t We Feel It)?

Discover the Planets in Order From the Sun

Its temperatures are not too crazy. Its surface can even reach 40°F at times. Probes show a sandy, rocky terrain that resembles the deserts of the southwestern US . Though half our own planet’s diameter, it’s got the same land area as our world since it has no oceans. And our landers, starting with the twin Vikings in 1976, revealed no poisonous gases or flimsy surfaces incapable of supporting a landing spacecraft. Of course, we’ll go! Beyond the romance are practical reasons. What if we badly mess up our own world? Shouldn’t we have a back-up? There’s even some water ice buried in deep-shadowed Martian crevices. We already have the technology to turn that into oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for fuel. It’s starting to sound like Shangra-la or at least summer camp.

How Would We Get to Mars?

Unmanned Martian probes are now almost routine. But the great number of mission failures shows it’s not exactly easy. You can’t just aim a rocket at it; that wouldn’t work because Mars, orbiting at 15 miles a second, wouldn’t be in that spot when we arrived. Instead, you use something called a Hohman Transfer Orbit. It gets you there using minimum fuel and granting you maximum payload.

Have you not heard of the Hohmann Transfer Orbit ? It’s a simple concept. Johannes Kepler told us in the 17th century that every planet moves in a path that’s not a circle but an ellipse. Orbital ellipses make each planet regularly arrive at the perihelion or near the point to the Sun, which Earth annually reaches in the first week of January. 

Then, on the opposite side of its oval-shaped orbit, planets reach a farpoint, which we hit every July 4, give or take a day. So when we send any rocket to Mars, we actually blast it more-or-less forward a bit in Earth’s orbit but at a higher speed, which sends it into a new orbit around the Sun. The spacecraft’s orbit is an ellipse of the right shape and size so that it reaches its farpoint from the Sun at the Martian orbit’s distance. 

If both Earth and Mars magically disappeared, the rocket, using no additional fuel, would continue in this orbit forever, coming back to Earth’s distance from the Sun at its perihelion point, whipping around, and then heading outward again to reach its aphelion position at the Martian orbit distance.

How Long Does It Take to Get to Mars?

The tricky part of knowing how long it will take to travel is calculating exactly when to launch. That’s because when your spacecraft reaches Martian orbit, you want Mars to be arriving at that exact spot at the same time. 

Then, the Red Planet’s gravity can help you slow down, capture your craft, and, with a few engine burns, let you enter its thin atmosphere for a nice soft parachute landing. 

This Hohmann transfer orbit requires 259 days to reach Mars or around 8 ½ months. You can choose to burn more fuel or carry a lighter payload and get there a bit faster, but figure at least half a year at best.

We could have done this already if we only needed a one-way trip without returning home. Say you get some volunteers, maybe people with serious credit card debt. Depressive types who think Earth is overrated and are willing to stake out a permanent new home. The Alaska mentality. So you’d send an advance rocket stocked with food, medical supplies, a bunch of MP3 files and movies, and a disassembled modular-type shelter so that all such stuff is awaiting the incoming visitors. Now you send your colonists. There, done.

Of course, if the astronauts do want to come home, that changes things eventually. Now, you need to start with a rocket having enough fuel and air for the almost 1 ½ year roundtrip. This is big and expensive, and we’re not quite there yet. 

Unfortunately, rescue or return missions to Mars can only happen when the planets align, which occurs every 26 months. At an absolute minimum, that’s more than two years between visits.

But there are other considerations, too.

What Other Factors Affect a Journey to Mars?

The biggest issue is that too many people over-romanticize the Mars thing. Maybe the Red Planet brochure needs to offer a more realistic picture.

• First, Mars has no air. Or at least nothing breathable. Its atmosphere is so thin that the surface pressure is less than what we have atop Mt. Everest.   See more facts about Earth’s neighbor, planet Mars .
• And even that super-skimpy vapor is almost pure carbon dioxide. No oxygen. This means you can’t just stroll around outside your spacecraft or sealed modular home. You’re permanently stuck in a spacesuit on the Martian surface. Wouldn’t that grow old pretty quickly?
• And you’d encounter no living creatures or plant life. And no water, Earth’s most magical compound . You’d never feel a breeze on your skin or hear birdsong or rustling leaves. This brings up an entire psychological issue: Does some basic part of us need earthly sensory experiences? Perhaps it even goes more deeply. Meaning, are we, in some sense, pieces of planet Earth itself? 

Are we children of our world, creatures of Earth with millions of years of genetic programming connected with all things earthlike? Bacteria come and go in our systems, and insects land on our skin. Is there some ultradeep connection without which we simply couldn’t live?

We look at zoo animals confined to a small synthetic zone built to somewhat resemble their home region. What do they do? They pace restlessly, relentlessly. One senses that they feel some deep alienation, of being apart from their home. So, how would humans fare when they no longer receive the slightest aroma of anything? There are no mutating clouds overhead, no contact with strangers, and no life of any kind.

• Speaking of which, what if they send along the wrong companion for you? You’d be trapped with however many crew members are on the ship. What if you’ve come to hate any of them? Or, less dramatically, simply find a few of them annoying. Well, now you’re stuck with an irksome character day after day—for over two years before you can return. 

Added to that alienation thing and the total absence of earthly sensory experiences, might crew members get seriously nutty? Maybe even psychotic? 

Let’s not ‘go there.’ Let’s keep it optimistic. Even so, we’ve already seen that you’re on a planet isolated from everything familiar, with day-to-day life a struggle. 

• You’ve got to find and melt ice to make water and create oxygen; you couldn’t possibly bring enough onboard. 
• You’ve got to endure nonstop elevated radiation, which isn’t good for you. See more ways living on Mars would affect the human body .
• If you suddenly need extensive dental work or suffer appendicitis, there are no hospital facilities, and even if there were, they probably wouldn’t accept your plan.

Remember that woman researcher in the Antarctic a few years ago? A doctor herself, she recognized that the growing lump in her breast was probably cancer. But there are no facilities at the South Pole that could have helped her. Ultimately, our government flew in a risky rescue plane to land in the pitch-black conditions of the Antarctic winter. But if it was Mars? The nearest help would be a 17-month round-trip evacuation.

Another issue is the public reaction back home. Amid the current optimistic, Alaska-bound excitement of colonizing another planet, what would happen when actual struggles became widely recognized? Or, God forbid, one of the crew members, whom the world would have long gotten to know on a televised and Web first-name basis, the way everyone was familiar with Neil and Buzz on the Moon, what if they died? A stroke or appendicitis or something treatable had they been on Earth? Wouldn’t that instantly cool the popular ardor of wanting to try living off-planet?

Or consider: Many cite Mars as attractive because Earth’s population, now at around 8 billion, is making us increasingly crowded. Earth’s urban population surpassed its rural numbers in 2007. It again resurrected the Alaska mentality, the attraction for an uncrowded life. Yet there are many terrestrial places where no one wants to live even though they’d have it all to themselves. Why are virtually no habitations in the Sahara or Atacama? Or villages built on lofty mountain plateaus in the Himalayas? Sure, life would be tough in such spots, but at least you could breathe the air. 

Mars is incomparably more dangerous as a place to attempt simple survival. Such super-taxing everyday life is more than merely a totally synthetic environment surrounded by computers, LED s, and the constant humming of air purifiers. 

What Would the Mars Journey Cost?

High technology also means astronomical costs. Round-trip transportation alone would amount to at least $25 million per colonist. 

When the world fully learns that such expense doesn’t necessarily buy anybody a good time, wouldn’t the queue of “I want to go next!” volunteers visibly shrink? This writer isn’t suggesting that this scenario is inevitable or even likely; it’s merely a possible side of the Mars-Colony dream that has perhaps received inadequate consideration.

It’s not hard to imagine a point when some psychologists publish papers suggesting that perhaps the Mars-colonization vogue isn’t borne of an innate human desire to explore. Rather, they may reason that its etiology could arise from a different human characteristic: restlessness. Or the compulsive need to always experience the ‘next new thing.’ Ecologists would get their own turn chiming in, which is sometimes expressed even today: We’re fooling ourselves if we imagine that obtaining a “spare” planet if we totally mess up Earth might constitute a workable solution or bring human salvation.

Because—Earth is inside us. Our planet is unique and precious beyond words. There simply can be no true “spare.” Instead, a different focus is demanded. That we finally learn to be gentle and sensible with our home world. Because, in fact, there really is no other.

ADVERTISEMENT

How Fast Does Earth Spin (and Why Don't We Feel It)?

Visible Planets on Parade: Which is Your Favorite?

Discover 5 Surprising Facts About Stars (That You Probably Don't Know!)

Do We All See the Same Part of the Moon?

How can we protect humans on Mars from dangerous solar storm radiation?

As space agencies and private companies look toward sending human crews to Mars, they'll have to find ways to mitigate the dangers posed by high-energy radiation from solar storms.

The weather on Mars is not a welcoming factor for future expeditions. Yes, it's a harsh, chilly, foreboding planet. The place is no paradise. To make matters worse on Mars, astronauts will be more exposed to space radiation than stay-at-home Earthlings. Why so?

Mars lacks a protective magnetosphere and is cocooned in thin air that is roughly one-percent of the thickness of Earth's atmosphere . This ambiance of nastiness lets in high-energy radiation, such as protons, ions, neutrons and gamma rays. The sun does its part by churning out intense bursts of radiation called solar energetic particles, or SEPs.

Researchers at NASA and at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado are working on strategies for round-trip Mars expeditions to deal with sun-spitting solar storms . 

Storm warnings 

Not only are there worries about Earth-to-Mars transiting crews, but also about what crews on the surface of the Red Planet will need to have in their tool kit to deal with an incoming storm — especially given the delay in receiving word from mission control teams back on Earth.

"Due to communication delays between Earth and Mars, astronauts must be equipped to independently assess local space weather conditions at Mars," said Gina DiBraccio, acting director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters.

"Scientists are currently utilizing available observations and models to develop tools that will play a role in providing advanced warning of any space weather threats directed at Mars," DiBraccio told Space.com. 

Arrival time

Thinking about Mars radiation issues and future human sojourns to the planet got to a heightened awareness level from an event in May 2024. 

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

A strong solar flare flung X-rays and gamma rays at Mars, with a follow-on coronal mass ejection hurling charged particles at the distant world , arriving at the Red Planet in just tens of minutes, NASA reported.

Keeping an eye on the event were analysts at the Moon to Mars (M2M) Space Weather Analysis Office located within the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. They provide real-time space weather assessments in support of NASA human and robotic missions.

For on-the-spot, encounters at Mars with the sun's output, NASA's MAVEN — the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft — was the only asset that was able to observe the sun's activity and the response of the thin Martian atmosphere at the same time.

ESCAPADE twosome

But there's good news on the Mars horizon. 

Later this year, MAVEN is to be joined by two spacecraft destined for Mars orbit. Rocket Lab has built the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers. That's a mouthful shortened to ESCAPADE, a mission run by the University of California Berkeley's Space Science Laboratory and NASA. 

This ESCAPADE duo — to be sent to Mars via the maiden takeoff of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket — will crank out vital science from the Red Planet, expanding the heliophysics fleet capable of monitoring the impacts at Mars from incoming radiation.

Disquieting occasion

The recent punch of radiation on Mars' surface was the largest surge recorded by a Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD. That device is mounted on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover that plopped down on the planet 12 years earlier.

Additionally, spontaneous SEPs emitted from the sun during solar storms, can dominate the Martian surface radiation field on short time scales of hours to days.

Don Hassler is the principal investigator of RAD at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder. The radiation environment on the surface of Mars, he explains, consists mainly of Galactic Cosmic Radiation and their secondary particles generated by interactions in the atmosphere or soil. 

Additionally, spontaneous SEPs emitted from the Sun during solar storms, can dominate the Martian surface radiation field on short time scales of hours to days.

"Protecting future human astronauts from exposure to this radiation remains one of the major challenges for the exploration of Mars," Hassler and his RAD research colleagues advised during a space weather workshop held last April in Boulder.

Observational gaps

In terms of real-time prediction and modeling about space weather at the Red Planet, there are data gulfs. Those information fissures are largely caused by observational gaps that drive the models, said James Favors, NASA Space Weather Director. 

"For example, we have no observations from Sun-Mars Lagrange Point 1, or from the far side of the sun from Earth — as well as a lack of tailored models to accurately predict solar inputs into the unique Mars environment," Favors told Space.com.

Favors points to needed work ahead on creating an Earth-independent space weather capability.

"The challenge from a space weather perspective at Mars is in part a communication infrastructure limitation," said Favors. 

 —  Widespread solar storm struck spacecraft near the sun, Earth and even Mars

 — Solar storm douses Mars in radiation as auroras flicker in the Red Planet sky (video)

 — Mars' atmosphere swelled like a balloon when solar wind stopped blowing. Scientists are thrilled

"At most points during the Martian year," Favors points out, "it would simply take too long to transmit the necessary data at Mars back to Earth, run the models, and send back the model outputs to a crew at Mars in time for them to take appropriate action."

Favors said that, in terms of future human missions to Mars, one scenario envisioned is that the needed observational and modeling capabilities would be part of the crew vehicle architecture. 

"This way the process of creating an actionable space weather prediction could occur fully independent of Earth," Favors said.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Leonard David is an award-winning space journalist who has been reporting on space activities for more than 50 years. Currently writing as Space.com's Space Insider Columnist among his other projects, Leonard has authored numerous books on space exploration, Mars missions and more, with his latest being "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published in 2019 by National Geographic. He also wrote "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet" released in 2016 by National Geographic. Leonard  has served as a correspondent for SpaceNews, Scientific American and Aerospace America for the AIAA. He has received many awards, including the first Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History in 2015 at the AAS Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium. You can find out Leonard's latest project at his website and on Twitter.

200 meteorites on Earth traced to 5 craters on Mars

Mars rock samples show signs of water in Jezero Crater — could life have once existed there?

Astronomers discover new 'odd radio circle' near the center of our galaxy

Most Popular

• 2 Watch Chinese astronauts conduct medical tests and grow plants in orbit (video)
• 3 Astronaut John McFall explains how the Paralympic Games shaped his space career (exclusive)
• 4 SpaceX delays Polaris Dawn astronaut launch until at least Aug. 30 due to bad weather
• 5 Scientists find surprising clue about Venus' past in its atmosphere

How to get people from Earth to Mars and safely back again

Lecturer, Centre for Hypersonics, The University of Queensland

Disclosure statement

Chris James receives funding from the Australian Research Council.

University of Queensland provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

There are many things humanity must overcome before any return journey to Mars is launched.

The two major players are NASA and SpaceX, which work together intimately on missions to the International Space Station but have competing ideas of what a crewed Mars mission would look like.

Size matters

The biggest challenge (or constraint) is the mass of the payload (spacecraft, people, fuel, supplies etc) needed to make the journey.

We still talk about launching something into space being like launching its weight in gold.

The payload mass is usually just a small percentage of the total mass of the launch vehicle.

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 3,000 tonnes.

But it could launch only 140 tonnes (5% of its initial launch mass) to low Earth orbit, and 50 tonnes (less than 2% of its initial launch mass) to the Moon.

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.

SpaceX’s plan is for its crewed Starship vehicle to be refuelled in space by a separately launched fuel tanker. That means much more fuel can be carried into orbit than could be carried on a single launch.

Time matters

Another challenge, intimately connected with fuel, is time.

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.

Both Earth and Mars have (almost) circular orbits and a manoeuvre known as the Hohmann transfer is the most fuel-efficient way to travel between two planets. Basically, without going into too much detail, this is where a spacecraft does a single burn into an elliptical transfer orbit from one planet to the other.

A Hohmann transfer between Earth and Mars takes around 259 days (between eight and nine months) and is only possible approximately every two years due to the different orbits around the Sun of Earth and Mars.

A spacecraft could reach Mars in a shorter time (SpaceX is claiming six months ) but — you guessed it — it would cost more fuel to do it that way.

Safe landing

Suppose our spacecraft and crew get to Mars. The next challenge is landing.

A spacecraft entering Earth is able to use the drag generated by interaction with the atmosphere to slow down. This allows the craft to land safely on the Earth’s surface (provided it can survive the related heating).

But the atmosphere on Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s. That means less potential for drag, so it isn’t possible to land safely without some kind of aid.

Some missions have landed on airbags (such as NASA’s Pathfider mission) while others have used thrusters (NASA’s Phoenix mission). The latter, once again, requires more fuel.

• Life on Mars

A Martian day lasts 24 hours and 37 minutes but the similarities with Earth stop there.

The thin atmosphere on Mars means it can’t retain heat as well as Earth does, so life on Mars is characterised by large extremes in temperature during the day/night cycle.

Mars has a maximum temperature of 30°C, which sounds quite pleasant, but its minimum temperature is -140°C, and its average temperature is -63°C . The average winter temperature at the Earth’s South Pole is about -49°C .

So we need to be very selective about where we choose to live on Mars and how we manage temperature during the night.

The gravity on Mars is 38% of Earth’s (so you’d feel lighter) but the air is principally carbon dioxide (CO₂) with several percent of nitrogen, so it’s completely unbreathable. We would need to build a climate-controlled place just to live there.

SpaceX plans to launch several cargo flights including critical infrastructure such as greenhouses, solar panels and — you guessed it — a fuel-production facility for return missions to Earth.

Life on Mars would be possible and several simulation trials have already been done on Earth to see how people would cope with such an existence.

Return to Earth

The final challenge is the return journey and getting people safely back to Earth.

Apollo 11 entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 40,000km/h, which is just below the velocity required to escape Earth’s orbit.

Spacecraft returning from Mars will have re-entry velocities from 47,000km/h to 54,000km/h, depending on the orbit they use to arrive at Earth.

Read more: Dear diary: the Sun never set on the Arctic Mars simulation

They could slow down into low orbit around Earth to around 28,800km/h before entering our atmosphere but — you guessed it — they’d need extra fuel to do that.

If they just barrel into the atmosphere, it will do all of the deceleration for them. We just need to make sure we don’t kill the astronauts with G-forces or burn them up due to excess heating.

These are just some of the challenges facing a Mars mission and all of the technological building blocks to achieve this are there. We just need to spend the time and the money and bring it all together.

• Rocket science
• Mars colony

Director of STEM

Community member - Training Delivery and Development Committee (Volunteer part-time)

Chief Executive Officer

Finance Business Partner

Head of Evidence to Action

Suggested Searches

• Climate Change
• Expedition 64
• Mars perseverance
• SpaceX Crew-2
• International Space Station
• View All Topics A-Z

Humans in Space

Earth & climate, the solar system, the universe, aeronautics, learning resources, news & events.

Work Is Under Way on NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Hunter

Webb Finds Early Galaxies Weren’t Too Big for Their Britches After All

New NASA Study Tallies Carbon Emissions From Massive Canadian Fires

• Search All NASA Missions
• A to Z List of Missions
• Upcoming Launches and Landings
• Spaceships and Rockets
• Communicating with Missions
• James Webb Space Telescope
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Why Go to Space
• Commercial Space
• Destinations
• Living in Space
• Explore Earth Science
• Earth, Our Planet
• Earth Science in Action
• Earth Multimedia
• Earth Science Researchers
• Pluto & Dwarf Planets
• Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
• The Kuiper Belt
• The Oort Cloud
• Skywatching
• The Search for Life in the Universe
• Black Holes
• The Big Bang
• Dark Energy & Dark Matter
• Earth Science
• Planetary Science
• Astrophysics & Space Science
• The Sun & Heliophysics
• Biological & Physical Sciences
• Lunar Science

Citizen Science

• Astromaterials
• Aeronautics Research
• Human Space Travel Research
• Science in the Air
• NASA Aircraft
• Flight Innovation
• Supersonic Flight
• Air Traffic Solutions
• Green Aviation Tech
• Drones & You
• Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
• Space Travel Technology
• Technology Living in Space
• Manufacturing and Materials
• Science Instruments
• For Kids and Students
• For Educators
• For Colleges and Universities
• For Professionals
• Science for Everyone
• Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
• STEM Engagement at NASA
• NASA's Impacts
• Centers and Facilities
• Directorates
• Organizations
• People of NASA
• Internships
• Our History
• Doing Business with NASA
• Get Involved

NASA en Español

• Aeronáutica
• Ciencias Terrestres
• Sistema Solar
• All NASA News
• Video Series on NASA+
• Newsletters
• Social Media
• Media Resources
• Upcoming Launches & Landings
• Virtual Guest Program
• Image of the Day
• Sounds and Ringtones
• Interactives
• STEM Multimedia

FAQ: NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Return Status

NASA’s Europa Clipper Gets Set of Super-Size Solar Arrays

NASA, Boeing Optimizing Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay for Future SLS Stage Production

NASA Seeks Input for Astrobee Free-flying Space Robots

NASA Funds Studies to Support Crew Performance on Long-Duration Missions

NASA Project in Puerto Rico Trains Students in Marine Biology

STV Precursor Coincident Datasets

Eclipse Soundscapes AudioMoth Donations Will Study Nature at Night

Hubble Traces Star Formation in a Nearby Nebula

Hubble Pinpoints a Dim, Starry Mini-galaxy

First NASA-Supported Researcher to Fly on Suborbital Rocket

NASA Discovers a Long-Sought Global Electric Field on Earth

NASA Develops Pod to Help Autonomous Aircraft Operators 

NASA Composite Manufacturing Initiative Gains Two New Members

Beyond the Textbook: DC-8 Aircraft Inspires Students in Retirement

Solar Panels for NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Pass Key Tests

How Do I Navigate NASA Learning Resources and Opportunities?

Cassiopeia A, Then the Cosmos: 25 Years of Chandra X-ray Science

Preguntas frecuentes: estado del retorno de la prueba de vuelo tripulado boeing de la nasa.

Astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio

Diez maneras en que los estudiantes pueden prepararse para ser astronautas

6 technologies nasa is advancing to send humans to mars.

1. Powerful propulsion systems to get us there (and home!) quicker

2. inflatable heat shield to land astronauts on other planets, 3. high-tech martian spacesuits, 4. martian home and lab on wheels, 5. uninterrupted power, 6. laser communications to send more information home.

Mars is an obvious source of inspiration for science fiction stories. It is familiar and well-studied, yet different and far enough away to compel otherworldly adventures. NASA has its sights on the Red Planet for many of the same reasons.     Robots, including the Perseverance rover launching soon to Mars, teach us about what it’s like on the surface. That intel helps inform future human missions to the Red Planet. We’ll also need to outfit spacecraft and astronauts with technologies to get them there, explore the surface, and safely return them home. The roundtrip mission, including time in transit – from and back to Earth – and on the Martian surface, will take about two years.   Technology development has already begun to enable a crewed Mars mission as early as the 2030s. Many of the capabilities will be demonstrated at the Moon first, during the Artemis missions, while other systems are more uniquely suited for deeper space. Here are six technologies NASA is working on to make Mars science fiction a reality.

Astronauts bound for Mars will travel about 140 million miles into deep space. Advancements in propulsion capabilities are the key to reaching our destination as quickly and safely as possible.

It is too soon to say which propulsion system will take astronauts to Mars, but we know it needs to be nuclear-enabled to reduce travel time. NASA is advancing multiple options, including nuclear electric and nuclear thermal propulsion . Both use nuclear fission but are very different from each other. A nuclear electric rocket is more efficient, but it doesn’t generate a lot of thrust. Nuclear thermal propulsion, on the other hand, provides much more “oomph.”

Whichever system is selected, the fundamentals of nuclear propulsion will reduce the crew’s time away from Earth. The agency and its partners are developing, testing, and maturing critical components of various propulsion technologies to reduce the risk of the first human mission to Mars.

The largest rover we’ve landed on Mars is about the size of a car, and sending humans to Mars will require a much bigger spacecraft. New technologies will allow heavier spacecraft to enter the Martian atmosphere, approach the surface , and land close to where astronauts want to explore.

NASA is working on an inflatable heat shield that allows the large surface area to take up less space in a rocket than a rigid one. The technology could land spacecraft on any planet with an atmosphere. It would expand and inflate before it enters the Martian atmosphere to land cargo and astronauts safely.

The technology isn’t ready for the Red Planet just yet. An upcoming flight test of a 6-meter diameter (about 20-feet) prototype will demonstrate how the aeroshell performs as it enters Earth’s atmosphere. The test will prove it can survive the intense heat during entry at Mars.

Spacesuits are essentially custom spacecraft for astronauts. NASA’s latest spacesuit is so high-tech, its modular design is engineered to be evolved for use anywhere in space.

The first woman and the next man on the Moon will wear NASA’s next-generation spacesuits called the exploration extravehicular mobility unit or xEMU. The spacesuits prioritize crew safety while also allowing Artemis Generation moonwalkers to make more natural, Earth-like movements and accomplish tasks that weren’t possible during the Apollo missions.   

Future upgrades to address the differences on Mars may include technology for life support functionality in the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and modified outer garments to keep astronauts warm during the Martian winter and prevent overheating in the summer season.

To reduce the number of items needed to land on the surface, NASA will combine the first Martian home and vehicle into a single rover complete with breathable air.

NASA has conducted extensive rover testing on Earth to inform development of a pressurized mobile home on the Moon. Artemis astronauts who live and work in the future pressurized Moon rover will be able to offer feedback to help refine the rover capabilities for astronauts on Mars. NASA’s robotic rovers will help with the Martian design, too – everything from the best wheels for Mars to how a larger vehicle will navigate the tough terrain.

Much like an RV, the pressurized rover will have everything inside that astronauts need to live and work for weeks. They can drive in comfortable clothing, tens of miles from the spacecraft that will launch them back to space for the return trip to Earth. When they encounter interesting locations, astronauts can put on their high-tech spacesuits to exit the rover and collect samples and conduct science experiments.

Like we use electricity to charge our devices on Earth, astronauts will need a reliable power supply to explore Mars. The system will need to be lightweight and capable of running regardless of its location or the weather on the Red Planet.

Mars has a day and night cycle like Earth and periodic dust storms that can last for months, making nuclear fission power a more reliable option than solar power. NASA already tested the technology on Earth and demonstrated it is safe, efficient, and plentiful enough to enable long-duration surface missions. NASA plans to demonstrate and use the fission power system on the Moon first, then Mars.

Human missions to Mars may use lasers to stay in touch with Earth. A laser communications system at Mars could send large amounts of real-time information and data, including high-definition images and video feeds.

Sending a map of Mars to Earth might take nine years with current radio systems, but as little as nine weeks with laser communications . The technology would also allow us to communicate with astronauts, to see and hear more of their adventures on the Red Planet.   NASA proved laser communications is possible with a demonstration from the Moon in 2013. The agency’s next demo will work through different operational scenarios, perfect the pointing system, and address technology challenges from low-Earth orbit – things like clouds and other communications disruptions. NASA is building small systems to test for human spaceflight, including on the International Space Station and the first crewed Artemis mission. Another laser communications payload will venture to deep space to help inform what it takes to use the same technology millions and millions of miles away from Earth.  

To learn more about NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars

Mars in a Minute: How Do You Get to Mars?

What does it take to get a spacecraft from Earth all the way to Mars? There are a few key things to consider, as explained in this 60-second video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

1920×1080

Mar 12, 2024

mov (52.73 MB)

1280×720

mov (28.32 MB)

640×360

mov (9.78 MB)

480×270

mov (9.64 MB)

320×180

mov (5.67 MB)

mp4 (18.16 MB)

mp4 (7.14 MB)

m4v (19.25 MB)

pdf?emrc=66d0e6034c253 (7.07 KB)