Space
How Do You Get to Mars? Mostly With the Engines Off
A trip to Mars is mostly coasting: a short engine burn sets the spacecraft on its path, and the speed it inherited from Earth's orbit carries it the rest of the way. The Short covers why launches must wait for Mars to be in the right spot, how long the cruise takes, and the fast, self-guided landing at the end.
The numbers
- The main burn lasts about ten minutes before the spacecraft is released.
- Launch happens when Mars leads Earth by about 44°, a lineup that repeats every 26 months.
- The cruise takes about seven months and covers roughly 300 million miles.
- The craft hits Mars's atmosphere at about 12,000 mph and has about seven minutes to slow.
- Perseverance took 203 days and about 293 million miles to get there.
Sources cited in the video: NASA JPL · NASA planetary fact sheets · Solar System Scope
