The closest approach distance between Mars and Earth is about 56 million km. Assume you can travel in a spaceship at 58,000 km/h, which is the speed achieved by the New Horizons space probe that went to Pluto and is the fastest speed so far of any space vehicle launched from Earth. How long would it take to get to Mars at the time of closest approach?

Question

Physics

Dominik Gentry

12 March, 19:11

The closest approach distance between Mars and Earth is about 56 million km. Assume you can travel in a spaceship at 58,000 km/h, which is the speed achieved by the New Horizons space probe that went to Pluto and is the fastest speed so far of any space vehicle launched from Earth. How long would it take to get to Mars at the time of closest approach?

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Answers (1)

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Joshua Hancock · Answer 1

40.22 days

Explanation:

Given dа ta:

Closest approach distance between Mars and Earth = 56 million km = 56 * 10⁶ km

Speed of the spaceship = 58000 km/h

Now, the time (t) is calculated as:

time = Distance / speed

on substituting the values, we get

t = 56 * 10⁶ km / (58000 km/h)

or

t = 965.517 hours

or

t = 965.517 / 24 days = 40.22 days