How long will it take before a manned mission to Mars?
403755
NASA said its Mars program should be ready by 2025.
977897
Heard it would be another year, 2 months, 25 days, 7 hours, 18 minutes and 54 seconds before we could do that...\n\nOh, and I can't wait to get that piece of................\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ntechnology...did ya think i would say something else?  mwah
193083
It would take 4.3 years to get to the nearest star (Proxima Centauri) if you were traveling at the speed of light. However, it would take nearly 118,000 years to get there if you were traveling at the speed of a space shuttle (approximately 25,000 mph).
126942
Not anytime soon, no. First, we have to send people back to the moon and then do manned missions to Mars before we can go that far into the solar system!
431855
Hi there!  I'm a physics and astronomy student, so, while I'm not the authority on the subject, I can tell you what my current understanding is:\n\nIt really all comes down to cost in my opinion.  We aren't sending astronauts to Mars primarily because it would cost a lot to get them there with current technologies and it would still take a while for the trip (it took about 7 months for the Mars rovers to get there).\n\nSome people also think it is unsafe because we haven't sent humans out nearly that far yet.  Messages would also take at least 8 minuets to get a response (I think Mars is about 4 light minuets away so it would take as long to transmit a signal to Earth and just as long for the response to get back).  That's kind of a pain but not a big problem in my mind.\n\nAs for sending probes further out, this is indirectly related to cost.  We are still only able to move so fast.  You can blame this on reduced funding for NASA if you like (or closed minded scientists perhaps).  \n\nWe have sent a few probes out to explore the outer planets of our own solar system but we can't expect to be exploring other stars and solar systems anytime soon because even the next closest star system is about 4.3 light years away.  If we could travel at the speed of light (which we definitely could not with current technology) it would take 4.3 years to get there.  (Using the relationship for Mars from earlier I'd guess that this means it would take oh...162,540 years (really rough estimate assuming I did the math correctly) with our current abilities, so sending humans would be silly since we rarely make it past 100).  This is connected to funding because, in theory, if we had more money we could come up with and actually use better ideas for space exploration, including faster means of travel.\n\nFinally, we can explore "visually".  We can collect different types of light (like visual light, infrared, x-ray, and ultra violet) and learn a lot about our universe that way.  Most of what we know about our universe comes from local collection and interpretation of this (like with Hubble).  This field is progressing at a reasonable rate as we developer better equipment for viewing very distant things in great detail.  It could also benefit from increased funding though.\n\nIn retrospect, I suppose that money might be the root of the issue, but until we figure out how to jet through space more quickly, so is time.
980237
Since its a manned flight, the space craft being heavier, it would take at least eight months or more. However, like correctly pointed out by Christoph... N, it would be a very painful ride for the space passenger. The radiations and the athropy of the muscles & bones would cause a lot of discomfort.
257901
not for a long time. nasa doesn't have the funds to do any hugely major projects like it used to. it costs a lot to put stuff into space, and as far as mars is concerned, they're not about to launch
148755
These are open questions, that NASA and other space agencies are just working out.  \n\nTake Mars.  A martian day is 24 hours, 37 minutes.  A martian year is 687 earth days, or 669 martian days.  How does NASA keep track?  Mars has no prime meridian, no time zones, and no calendar.  So for now, they keep track of martian days, and kind of punt on the rest.  With a probe, like the Mars rover, the day it lands is called Sol 0, and each martian day after than was Sol 1, Sol 2, etc.  Each probe has its own starting point.  They didn't expect the rovers to run so long, so they didn't worry about months or years...they just count the days.\n\nSo what are they going to do when humans start spending time on Mars?  That is an open question they are still figuring out.  My guess is, since people won't exactly be running around outside, martian time will be largely irrelevant, and they will stick to earth time.\n\nIn the meantime, you can check out local martian time with this: \n\nhttp://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/
1085944
As in up there right now..none.  A launch is set for saturday July 1 at approx 350pn EST (US).  How many are in the fleet? I would have to research the NASA site, but I think there are only 3.
389933
I like to think that we will have figured out a way to travel to other stars by then, but that may be wishful thinking. But I would think it is almost a sure thing that people will be traveling pretty regularly to the Moon and Mars by then.
283146
you could make it in one second or beyond 12 hours depending on where you are, excluding flight delays at al. it should not actually take long enough to measure in days, unless you are travelling by boat/ship
818887
Will be a while before that body falls by gravity
713689
Yes, we have the technology to do this now.  What's holding us back is the cost, not the tech.\n\nThe trip would be about six months each way using the engines we have now and gravity assists where possible.  The most likely scenario would be to first launch a series of un-manned "provision" ships to land on Mars or perhaps orbit it -- these would contain food, water, and fuel.  Once we had verified that they were safely at their destination, we would launch the manned ship -- which would carry enough provisions for a one-way trip, and upon arrival at Mars re-stock from the earlier unmanned ships and then return to Earth.  \nWe *could* fully provision a ship for a round-trip, but doing so makes the manned craft much larger and expensive, and lacks the backup of additional supplies existing at the destination.\n\nAll of this is already on NASA's drawing boards, though whether it will ever happen or not is completely a matter of $$ :)
319717
Yes, but not in the way you might think. I don't think we'll have any of the general population living there at all. (not in 100 yrs anyway). But, I'll bet that a small team of scientists will be living on mars at that time to study and experiment how living on another planet my be accomplished.
464782
Last time anybody went to the moon in 1972 it took about 3 days to get there.   Today's technology hasn't improved much, so it would take about 3 days now.   Based on technology that we can understand, even if it doesn't yet exist, imagine unlimited engine power.   But don't imagine unlimited acceleration, because we can't stand more than about 2G acceleration for a long period, and we haven't yet got a clue how to accelerate without feeling the effects.   So the fastest we'll get to the Moon any time soon is to accelerate at 2G for the first half of the trip and decelerate at 2G for the rest of the journey.   That would take about 3 hours.
218504
Minimum speed that a spacecraft has is always gerater than the escape velocity i.e. over 11 Km/Sec. This means you can reach to USA under 20 mins or so!
884418
I think your facts of science need to be updated.\n\nMars orbit is 1.5 AU (about 145 million miles)  from the Sun. \n\nThe Earth is 93 million miles away from the Sun.  At its closest, Mars is about 50 million miles away, and we have sent many probes to Mars without the need for "infinit (sic) energy"\n\nA manned Mars mission is well within human ability.