In space, you’d think there would be no shortcuts. It’s space. It’s defined by its vastness, its emptiness, and, you’d imagine, its directness. You just have to go from here to there in a straight line, maybe maneuver around a planet or moon or something, but that’s about it.
In reality, it doesn’t really work that way, especially when you have to consider fuel efficiency, resource allocation, and whether or not humans will be able to survive the long trek. That’s why there are researchers out there who are trying to figure out every shortcut they can to ensure a mission’s success.
A new study published in Acta Astronautica suggests there may be a significantly faster route to Mars, one that emulates the path of an asteroid. Right now, getting to Mars would take forever. When Earth and Mars line up in their closest configuration, in an event called a “Mars opposition,” which happens every 26 months, a one-way trip from here to the red planet still takes about 7 to 10 months. That’s a lot of time where a lot can go wrong.
The study’s author, Brazilian cosmologist Marcelo de Oliveira Souza, looked at the orbital behavior of an asteroid known as 2001 CA21 for inspiration on how to get a spacecraft to Mars even faster. The asteroid crosses the Earth’s and Mars orbits at a slight tilt, offering a well-worn hiking path through the solar system that, by modeling a spacecraft trajectory that stays as close to this path as possible, could dramatically cut down travel time.
The Next Cosmic Window Opens in 2031
According to his calculations, the next most promising window would be in 2031, when the alignment of the planets and the asteroid’s orbital geometry is synced. Under these conditions, a round trip to Mars could take as little as 153 days, less than half the time of current mission estimates. On the more extreme end of his calculations, the trip could take a little over a month.
This is all purely theoretical and is nowhere near ready to launch. There are tons of real-world constraints to consider, like fuel, spacecraft mass, and whether humans would survive that journey even if it is significantly shorter. Those are all variables that would need to be factored in if this mission were to become seriously considered. And then there’s the matter of getting back, which would likely require the astronauts waiting around on Mars for another planetary alignment.
Regardless, it’s an interesting idea, the likes of which space agencies and private space companies around the world are going to have to consider on some level if they hope to minimize the dangers inherent in the idea of putting human feet on Mars.
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