NOVA scienceNOW | Ask the Expert | Mars
mircaavvZtQ • 2009-07-24
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Language: en
you have a question you have a question
you got a question on the universe and
you work Joe nice to meet you got a
question on the universe he do yeah if I
wanted to book a flight from Earth to
Mars how long would it take me to get
there you have to wait until first and
Mars are configured in just the right
way before you launch your luck when you
do takes about nine months nine months
if you launch it's a long time if you're
taking years and years because these are
two moving bodies around the Sun at the
same time and there's only one
configuration minimizes how long the
trip takes you gotta wait for that to
happen in that alignment takes place
every two interviews so you can't just
booked a trip tomorrow expect to get the
money back I really hope they don't lose
my luggage in my luggage landed on
Saturday too bad ya know what will
happen in the future nowadays
interplanetary space travel is all about
conserving fuel but imagine a day where
you could refill in Indian Space
Station's positions throughout the solar
system if that were the case you could
fire your engines and keep them fired
all the way tomorrow if that were the
case you gets here in a month take a lot
of fuel yes here in a month the
nine-month journey is where you leave
Earth with just enough speed to coast
your way tomorrow and then you have to
put on your brakes when you get there
otherwise you crash land but it's the
coasting journey that will take you nine
months but if you have enough fuel to
just fly just crank it you can cut
almost as much time off of that trip as
you have fuel to accommodate
with in a hurry the future might bring a
faster support all right thank you
thanks for coming all right
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