Getting to Mars Just Got Faster

Using existing technology and the mindset of the current cadre of NASA engineers responsible for the mission, a trip to Mars will take approximately six months. Six long boring months with limited scientific experiments and assignments to be completed along the way, no sightseeing destinations to rendezvous with, and at today's fuel cost an astronomical fuel bill. According to Robert Adams, it does not have to be that way. Landing humans on Mars can be done a lot faster and a lot easier then was originally planned he said.

Due in part to an old, old concept conceived back during the days when visiting other planets was still science fiction and rocket science was in its embryo infancy stage, Herman Oberth developed an idea which may be usable today to get humans to Mars faster. Adams believes it will work. Adams, a NASA engineer has studied Oberth's 1929 gravity trick and is confident it is possible it will accelerate travel to Mars and greatly reduce the cost because it will require less fuel.

Known as the two-burn maneuver, it is possible this long lost gravity trick could get people to Mars twice as fast. Herman Oberth, one of the father's of rocket science, conceived this forgotten secret of orbital mechanics based upon a simple physic theory. Faster moving objects have more energy than slower moving ones. By dropping a space vehicle from an orbiting fuel station while it is still in Earth's gravity well and orbiting near the moon and allowing it to thrust back towards the planet (this is know as burn one), the force of gravity would accelerate the craft. Next you point the craft in the right direction, towards Mars, and fire the rockets again (this would be burn two). This will result in a significantly increased propellant, more speed, and hurl the space vehicle towards Mars.

NASA is considering a trial run to the Moon to test the two-burn maneuver theory. Adams says this trial run will prove the validity of the theory, however, the real magnitude of the two-burn maneuver will not be realized until a much more distant mission is carried out, such as a trip to Mars. The massive fuel savings alone would enable NASA to build smaller ships and increase missions. The two-burn maneuver reduces the necessity for large payload rockets. An express ride to Mars will definitely be in our future.

Resource: Express Ride To Mars - Wired Magazine - September, 2009

Tags: mars mission, NASA, space travel, mars landing, Mars