What would a journey to Mars do to you? We follow one NASA planning study day by day: about seven months out, about 500 days on the surface, about seven months home, shown with real footage and photos from the machines that already made the trip.
How long does it take to get to Mars, and could Earth help you on the way? A mission-day counter tracks your distance from home and how long a message takes to reach it.
0:00 Too late for Earth to help
0:58 When can you leave?
1:50 What happens to your body?
2:45 What builds up unseen?
3:36 Can Earth help?
4:41 Will you feel lighter?
5:54 What fills 500 days?
7:05 Can you still see home?
7:43 When can you go home?
8:57 Would you go?
What this film does and does not claim: the itinerary is NASA's conjunction-class Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 (NASA-SP-2009-566): 210 days out, 496 on Mars, 210 back. The counter's distances follow Perseverance's real trajectory, stretched to 210 days, then the real Earth–Mars distance (JPL Horizons). The landing footage is Perseverance's own (2021); a lander for people would be heavier and land differently. Weightlessness and Earth-from-the-window shots are from the International Space Station and Artemis II, not a Mars ship. The radiation total is a rough estimate from Curiosity's measured rates, not a mission dose. The orbit diagram is an illustration using the planets' real periods; "First Humans on Mars" is NASA artist's concept art.
Sources
- NASA, Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 (NASA-SP-2009-566, 2009) and Executive Summary (2008)
- Zeitlin et al., "Measurements of Energetic Particle Radiation in Transit to Mars on the Mars Science Laboratory", Science (2013)
- Hassler et al., "Mars' Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity Rover", Science 343 (2014)
- NASA Human Research Program, "The Human Body in Space"
- NASA/JPL, Mars 2020 Perseverance landing press kit (2021); JPL Horizons ephemerides
- NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES, SuperCam microphone recording of wind on Mars, sol 4 (22 Feb 2021)
Visuals: NASA/JPL-Caltech (Perseverance descent cameras, Curiosity, MarCO-B, Mars 2020), NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS (Mastcam-Z), NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (Mastcam), NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI (RAD), NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI (Phobos crossing the Sun, filmed by Perseverance, 2022), NASA/ULA (launch cameras), NASA (ISS, Artemis II). The thumbnail is an illustration. Music is original. Data cards are original.
Narration is a synthetic voice. Independent production, not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA or JPL.
Would you take this trip? Tell us the one part that decides it for you.
