1 year to Mars/mirrors

Factual Questions
1

What’s up Dope? Got two questions

  1. Why did the Mars orbiter make it to mars in less than a year(it left in Jan 99) but it would take humans four years one way? Is it the Gforce on humans?
    2.Why does your image appear upside down as you distance yourself from the mirror?

“All Men Are Created Equal” -Pinocchio

2

  1. How fast anything gets to Mars depends on what course you use and how much you are willing to spend on propulsion. You could get there in a week if you wanted to build a big enuf rocket.

  2. I think it means you are a vampire.

JB
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis

3

And look what happened to it…I wouldn’t want a ride on that rocket.

Jeremy…

Nobody ever calls me after they’ve done something smart.

4

Acceleration is dependant upon mass. All the support equipment needed to move a man-rated ship masses a heck of a lot more than that little tinkertoy orbiter. Given current booster technology we cannot move that much stuff quickly.

Your image should only reverse if you are looking into a curved mirror and moving past the focal point. If you are getting this effect from a flat mirror you are using cheap drugs.

Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan
Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University
“You cannot reason a man out of a position he did not reach through reason.”

5

Where did “four years” come from?

Most models that I’ve seen showing a Mars mission accomplish the trip each way to be about 9 months.

Now, the total stay is about 3 years, because there are only two options for a Mars mission–about a month’s stay, or about 18 months. No in-between.

All the current mission models assume the 18-month stay.

6

The mirror question is best answered by drawing a little side-view sketch. It only applies to concave mirrors, like the magnifying mirrors folks use to pluck their eyebrows.

There is often a focal point to the mirror - a place where, if you put your eye there, your eye will be all over the mirror. The mirror is curved so that every part of the mirror is pointed directly at your eye, when it is at the focal point. Closer than that, you are right side up. Farther than that, you’ll be upside down. Of course, that doesn’t really answer your question; it probably takes a visual aid. You might be able to find a good diagram on the web.