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Mars reaches opposition when there is a 180° difference between the geocentric longitudes of it and the Sun. At a time near opposition (within 8½ days) the Earth–Mars distance is as small as it will get during that 780-day synodic period. [7]
For example, Jupiter has a synodic period of 398.8 days from Earth; thus, Jupiter's opposition occurs once roughly every 13 months. If the orbital periods of the two bodies around the third are called T 1 and T 2, so that T 1 < T 2, their synodic period is given by: [7]
205 days (6 months, 21 days) Mars 4 failed to enter Mars orbit and flew by it instead. [90] Mars 6: Mars 5 August 1973 12 March 1974 220 days (7 months, 8 days) The Mars 6 bus flew by Mars at a minimum distance of 1600 km. Also carried a lander. [13] Mars 7: Mars 9 August 1973 9 March 1974 213 days (7 months, 1 day)
The corresponding values for Earth are currently 23 h 56 m 4.0916 s and 24 h 00 m 00.002 s, respectively, which yields a conversion factor of 1.027 491 2517 Earth days/sol: thus, Mars's solar day is only about 2.75% longer than Earth's; approximately 73 sols pass for every 75 Earth days.
Currently, a return journey to Mars can take up to two years, with crew members having to wait a full year for the planets to realign, but with ion propulsion -- which uses electricity to ...
Then, after intercepting Mars, it must change its speed by another 2.3 km/s in order to match Mars' orbital speed around the Sun and enter an orbit around it. [12] For comparison, launching a spacecraft into low Earth orbit requires a change in speed of about 9.5 km/s.
Since the year 2000, Jupiter and Mars have been in conjunction just 11 times, according to Space.com. After Wednesday morning, it won't be until Nov. 15, 2026 that they cross paths again.
Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade. In reality, our solar system’s biggest planet and its dimmer, reddish neighbor will be more than 350 ...