By Marlo Anderson – The Tech Ranch
The short answer: about 7 months. The longer answer explains why you can’t just point a rocket at Mars and fly in a straight line.
About 7 Months
Most Mars missions take about seven months. NASA’s Perseverance rover launched on July 30, 2020 and landed on February 18, 2021, a trip of 203 days.
Aim Where Mars Will Be
Earth and Mars are always moving around the Sun. So you don’t aim at Mars. You aim at where Mars will be when you get there, like throwing a pass to a running receiver.
The Long Way Is the Cheap Way
Spacecraft don’t fly straight there. They coast on a curved path about halfway around the Sun. It’s slower, but it saves a ton of fuel.
Launch Windows
Earth and Mars line up for that trip about every 26 months. Miss the window and you wait about two more years. The current window runs November–December 2026, and the next one comes in late 2028.
The Distance Keeps Changing
At its closest, Mars is about 35 million miles away. At its farthest, about 250 million miles. A radio message takes 3 to 22 minutes to get there, one way.
Bonus Fact: ESCAPADE
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE probes launched in November 2025. They’re set to swing past Earth in November 2026 for a boost toward Mars, where they’ll arrive in 2027 to study Mars’ magnetic environment.
More Space Travel, Explained
This is part of my Space Travel Explained series: big space questions, answered in plain English with simple animations. Watch the whole series on YouTube and subscribe to The Tech Ranch so you don’t miss the next one. Short on time? Here’s the quick Short version.
Found this helpful? Give the video a thumbs up on YouTube. Got a space question you’ve always wondered about? Ask it in the YouTube comments and it might be the next video.
