GRAVITY

Between Deimos, Mars and Earth, it’s gravity that makes the difference

The Earth-Mars distance ranges from 56 million to over 400 million kilometers, depending on where the two planets sit on their orbits. One might assume that this distance is what determines the cost of a trip. That is false, or nearly so: what costs energy is not crossing interplanetary space, but tearing free from the bottom of a gravity well, or plunging back into one. This distinction, gravity rather than distance, runs through the entire Deimos-II / Eagle-One architecture

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First inhabited Mission to Mars: Gravity implies a Stopover at L1 Before Returning to Earth

When I presented the study that I went through with the help of claude.ai on the subject of an inhabited mission to Mars returning to Earth, I didn’t fully develop the constraints of such mission and their consequences. Today I’m doing so with a very important one, namely “gravity”. It is important for a better understanding of the necessity of a stopover at an orbital station around the L1 Lagrange point of the Earth-Moon system.

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The Principles of an Earth–Mars–Earth Inhabited Journey

To travel from one planet to the other, the so-called « Hohmann » trajectory is the best in terms of mass transported, energy expended, and mechanical and thermal stresses at departure and arrival. However, traversing a Hohmann orbit requires 8 to 9 months. This is too long on account of human factors and, above all, radiation exposure. Reducing the duration necessitates increased propellant consumption, and they would have to be produced on Mars.

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Gravity, What a Hold You Have on Us!

We imagine landing on super-Earths as naturally as on an Earth-Twin, or even on Mars. The physical reality is quite different. Super-Earths are illusions. Not only would it be impossible to land on them, but if we did, we could never leave. Planets identical to Earth also pose insurmountable problems for return. Only planets less massive constitute realistic targets. Mars is the archetype.

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À propos de ce blog

Pierre Brisson, président de la Mars Society Switzerland, membre fondateur de la Mars Society des États Unis et ancien membre du comité directeur de l’Association Planète Mars (France), économiste de formation (University of Virginia), ancien banquier d’entreprises de profession, planétologue depuis toujours

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