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Orbital Mechanics: From Earth
to Mars
How do we pilot a ship from Earth to another planet? By using the geometry of
ellipses we can find the fastest way to get to another planet - and it's not
a straight line!
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Finding a place to land
Since we can't count on the Martians to build us a landing site, we have to
search the surface of Mars to find a place to land. We need a level place so
the ship can land safely, but we also want to land near some interesting
sites! Lets look at the mountains and valleys on Mars and pick a few landing
sites that you think would be the best!
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Evaluating your landing sites
Now that you've chosen a few landing sites, how do you decide which is the
best? Lets look at local weather and the different kinds of minerals the
surface of Mars is made up of and select the best of your sites.
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Mars in Perspective
We have several different maps of Mars, and some of them make prominent
features of the planet look different. We can use data from previous missions
to create 3D-views of the ground so that we can see what the area around you
landing site will really look like!
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