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In 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. It took four days for the spacecraft to travel from Earth to the Moon. In 2006, New Horizons left Earth and reached Pluto in 2015. Based on this information, what is the most reasonable estimate for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Mars?

User Ukubu
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Answer:

An estimate for the time it will take for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Mars is approximately 138.8 days

Step-by-step explanation:

The distance between Earth and the Moon = 684,400 km

The distance between Earth and Mars = 220.58 × 10⁶ km

The distance between Earth and Pluto = 5.2241 × 10⁹ km

The ratio of the distance between Earth and Pluto and the distance between Earth and Mars = (5.2241 × 10⁹ km)/(220.58 × 10⁶ km) ≈ 23.683

It took 2006 to 2015 (9 years) to travel from Earth to Pluto, therefore, it can take approximately (9 years)/(23.683) ≈ 0.38 of a year which is ((9 years)/(23.683)) × 365.2422 ≈ 138.8 days for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Mars

User MatthewMartin
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