Budget a Trip to Mars: Window, Flight Time and Δv
Work out when the next Earth–Mars window opens, how long a minimum-energy transfer takes, and the 5.70 km/s of Δv needed to go from low Earth orbit to low Mars orbit.
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Orbital mechanics guides
Raising a satellite from a 185 km parking orbit to geostationary orbit with the plane change included, budgeting a minimum-energy trip to Mars from window to capture burn, and sizing a two-stage rocket one stage at a time.
Plan a Transfer From a Parking Orbit to Geostationary Orbit
Take a communications satellite from a 185 km parking orbit to 35,786 km: find the target altitude, size both Hohmann burns, add the 28.5° plane change and work out the propellant for the apogee engine.
Read guideSize a Two-Stage Rocket With the Rocket Equation
Run the Tsiolkovsky equation stage by stage for a 474-tonne two-stage launcher, see why it reaches 11.2 km/s while the same hardware as one stage manages 7.8, and measure what an extra tonne of payload costs.
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