Distance to Mars

[n2doc]

represented in an animation at link
http://www.distancetomars.com

cool stuff. Makes you think twice about those manned missions....

[goldent]

1. What I want to know...

is how they got us to travel at 3X the speed of light. Isn't that, like, impossible?

[n2doc]

2. Well, if they didn't, it would be a looooooooooooooooong animation! n/t

[wellspring]

9. Spending 6 months in a spacecraft ain't so bad to be the Columbus of Mars.

And once you get there it's only 7 minutes to land:


Mars Curiosity Rover:


Seven Minutes of Terror


(Because the whole thing takes only 7 nail biting minutes and you’re down)

Curiosity Rover lands:


(Control room video combined with Jet Propulsion Laboratory simulation)

&feature=player_embedded



But forget about exploration and Columbus. All that ever happened with him was they named a high school after him.


President Kennedy set a goal to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. But what did he know? That money should have gone to a tax cut for the rich............

[wellspring]

10. Curiosity confirms first habitable location outside Earth ---

Key elements for life and water so pure you could have drunk it ----

[NickB79]

16. Key word: "was"

As in, Mars WAS habitable a couple billion years ago, when it had that pure water.

Today, not so much.

[Cobalt-60]

17. It's not the back and forth time

It's the wait at Mars for the planets to move into return positions.
I'm a Space Hawk, make no mistake.
Humans need to be there.
But when all of the classic plans were laid, there were no drones and rovers. Humans had to make observations first hand.
Today just total the mass of the life support system, lander ascent stages, RV, and crew themselves. Then add up the rovers, landers, and orbiters with we could blitz the entire planet for data.
If data is our goal, robotic is the better buy.

[DreamGypsy]

3. Distance from the sun to the planets in light minutes...

Mercury ---- 3 1/8 light minutes.
Venus -----5 3/4 light minutes
Earth ---- 8 light minutes
Mars ---- 12 light minutes
Jupiter ---- 42 light minutes
Saturn ---- 1 hour 16 light minutes
Uranus ---- 2 hours, 34 light minutes
Neptune ---- 4 light hours.

So, the Earth to Mars animation would take 4 minutes at the speed of light.

Sitting through a Mercury to Neptune animation would provide half a night's sleep.

Thanks for the post, n2d.

[zbdent]

4. piffel ...

I can make it in 12 parsecs ...

[Wounded Bear]

5. IIRC, parsecs are a distance, not a time, measurement...

[lastlib]

6. Not if you're Han Solo!!

[Wounded Bear]

7. Well, if you're going to quote experts......

[AtheistCrusader]

13. The Kessel Run has obstacles.

Including asteroids and gravity wells. The fastest run through the course is the shortest distance between two points, but the closer you adhere to that, the more hazardous the run. You can go around, stay away from the gravity wells and out of obstacles that require maneuverability, but it costs you distance.

Apparently 12 parsecs is a good score.

[zbdent]

8. pre-emptive self-defense ...

just years before it was co-opted by politicians ...

[dipsydoodle]

11. Its only about 200 yards for me

to get one.

[secondvariety]

12. I could do six months in space

if it was aboard the Prometheus. Cool posting-thanks.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Not me, I'm averse to alien face hugging trouser snakes.

[progressoid]

15. Lets go!

[Fantastic Anarchist]

18. Hot damn, that's far!

Traveling at 3 times the speed of light!