by Simon Coates
Today, travelling between Earth and the Moon or to the various orbiting spacestations are seen as routine journeys. Travelling much further to Mars is to take on an ultra distance journey and is subject to a number of points which should be addressed by anyone contemplating such a trip.
The key aspect to travelling to Mars is that the distance can vary widely, depending on the position of the celestial objects in their orbits around the Sun. At its closest, Mars is around 54 million km from Earth; at its furthest, the distance is 400 million km. If using a modern spaceship, this translates to a travel time of around week to over a month, so naturally people tend to wait with this journey when the orbits make it advantageous to travel there in a reasonable timeframe.
When taking on such a distance, a traveller is urged to take extra precautions on their journey. With the distance being so long, in the case of an emergency, rescue can take much longer to arrive than normal. Also, travelling such huge distances make a mechanical problem more likely than if just going from the Moon to Earth which is a much shorter journey, due to the far greater stresses placed on the components of the spaceship. What hits home for most people wanting to do this is due to the fact that Mars is barely visible with the naked eye when viewed from Earth. Even using a powerful telescope the planet is only just noticeable as a red disc, so the magnitude of the journey becomes very clear.
Official advice when undertaking this journey includes the following:
- Ensure your spaceship is in sound mechanical condition. A basic service and check can be undertaken by most garages to ensure the engine is performing to normal tolerances and that everything is in good order, in particular, the turbine and thruster systems.
- You have to consider the suitability of the machine used for this journey. Some public ships are much better than others for long distance. Sunstar ships, for example, are sold on the premise that they are sporty machines with no real living space - they have no sleeping areas, which is a major issue for a journey that will take many days. If in doubt, it is a good precaution to check with your spaceship dealer on this.
- Inform various people of your journey with expected times for reaching various points on the way. It is a good idea to keep in regular contact with someone 'on the ground' on both Mars and the Earth so that if no signal is received at the expected time, emergency services can be contacted to attempt to gain contact with your spaceship.
- Take enough food and water and other essential supplies. Even if the orbital position of Earth and Mars positions them to be as close as possible, it is still a huge distance, taking close to a week to complete the journey.
- If you are travelling with Earth and Mars being far apart, with the Sun positioned at the halfway point in your journey, it means you will have to take into account the extra distance to navigate around our natural star safely. Also, flying close to the Sun will result in the gravitational pull of the Sun having a profound effect of the way a spaceship will fly. Spaceships come with a safety setting which allows a minimum distance to the Sun, which must be adhered to. It means obviously that the journey will take a definite curve in travel trajectory in the middle of the journey as the ship avoids the Sun. This is a critical aspect to the journey, as getting this wrong can result in catastrophic consequences.
- The most important consideration is to realise that although there are services available in the event of rescue being necessary if your spaceship has a problem, the general consensus is that you are 'on your own' and expected to undertake routine maintenance tasks on your ship. Rescue can take many weeks to arrive, especially if you are around half way between Earth and Mars.
Beyond Mars is known as 'no man's land' as the next planet on is Jupiter. Leaving the orbital plane of Mars is purely at your own risk.