Image from Curious Droid
Do you know how long it takes to get to Mars?
According to NASA, it takes approximately seven to eight months to get to Mars from Earth, a minimum 35 million mile journey away. It’s a little bit longer than the six months that it takes astronauts at the International Space Station to get to our red neighbor.
There’s no set travel time since the planets, including Mars and Earth, are constantly changing their positions as they orbit around the sun. This means that the distance between two different planets could also differ depending on where they are in their specific orbits. The closest, however, is at 35 million miles and it only happens once every 26 months.
Although this may seem shorter than expected (you’d be surprised to know that most people think that it takes years to get to another planet or satellite in space), NASA is actually hoping to make this travel time even shorter through the use of faster technology.
Right now, the speed of the spacecraft used to transfer humans to Mars can ‘only’ travel at 36,000 mph. It also cannot travel in a straight line, which is part of the reason why it takes so long to reach another planet.
