images

Unmanned cargo capsule departs Mars cycler

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

e-exm01-00015

Date

2009-07-19

With small bursts from its reaction control thrusters, an automated cargo capsule begins its one-way journey from a Mars cycler to the surface of Mars.
A Mars cycler is a permanently orbiting vehicle with a path that alternately brings it near Earth and Mars. Once a cycler has been accelerated into orbit it continues on its own momentum, going back and forth between the two planets, only requiring propellant for occasional course adjustments.
A one-way trip between Earth and Mars involves six to eight months of space travel, therefore a large and well-equipped Mars cycler would offer space explorers, and possibly even space tourists, better accommodations for these long journeys. Smaller spacecraft would ferry travelers between the planets and the cycler