A New Way to Reach Mars Safely, Anytime and on the Cheap

scientificamerican. ^ | December 22, 2014 | By Adam Hadhazy

[BenLurkin]

The premise of a ballistic capture: Instead of shooting for the location Mars will be in its orbit where the spacecraft will meet it, as is conventionally done with Hohmann transfers, a spacecraft is casually lobbed into a Mars-like orbit so that it flies ahead of the planet. Although launch and cruise costs remain the same, the big burn to slow down and hit the Martian bull's-eye—as in the Hohmann scenario—is done away with. For ballistic capture, the spacecraft cruises a bit slower than Mars itself as the planet runs its orbital lap around the sun. Mars eventually creeps up on the spacecraft, gravitationally snagging it into a planetary orbit

[montag813]

Can we shield ships and living spaces from cosmic rays sufficiently to prevent radiation deaths in astronauts/settlers and birth defects in pregnant women?

[SgtHooper]

Perfect! Everybody simply has holes in their floors through which to dump garbage and waste.

[dr_lew]

This “slowing down” is exactly what happens in a transfer orbit. An object, whether planet or spacecraft, in an elliptical orbit slows down as it travels from perihelion to aphelion. If it’s making a rendevous with another object in a circular orbit at that radius, It will be overtaken by the rendevous target and start to fall towards it as they get close.

[SunkenCiv]

Be sure to take along plenty of supplies and a few decks of cards (no chips).