3 months transit time to Mars for human missions using SpaceX Starship
Open accessAbstract
Historically, spacecraft have followed trajectories that took between six and nine months to reach Mars, using traditional chemical propulsion on roughly Hohmann transfers. It is commonly believed that advances in propulsion technology, such as nuclear thermal or VASIMR, are necessary to reduce that transit time. In this paper, we show the feasibility of transit to Mars using the SpaceX Starship taking 90 days. We outline two trajectories that reduce each transit to between 90 and 104 days each way. These trajectories are within NASA career radiation limits, while 180-day trajectories are not.
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- Authors
- Kingdon, J.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kingdon, Jack
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2025-05-22
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 17764-17764
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC12099006
- OpenAlex
- W4410586840
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 1.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Dynamics and Control
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Keywords
- Mars transit, human Mars missions, transit time reduction, trajectory optimization, Hohmann transfer, nuclear thermal propulsion, VASIMR, radiation exposure, chemical propulsion
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