If walking along the equator, astronauts need to travel 21,400 km to complete one full circle around Mars and it takes 4,290 hours if walking continuously.
Simulation of an astronaut standing and observing on Mars. Photo: dottedhippo/iStock
Humans have long been interested in Mars, and NASA has ambitious plans to send astronauts to the planet in the next few decades. With no oceans or other bodies of water on Mars, could astronauts walk around the red planet? How long would such a trip take?
“Basically, we’re going to need two parameters,” says Erdal Yigit, an associate professor of astrophysics at George Mason University who studies planetary atmospheres. Those two parameters are the astronaut’s velocity (speed and direction) and the distance traveled.
If you travel along the Martian equator, you’d need to travel 21,400 kilometers to complete a full circuit of the planet. Traveling over the poles would shave 160 kilometers off the trip, but the extreme cold would be a bigger challenge than the harsh conditions on the rest of Mars, Yigit said.
The astronauts will be traveling at about 5 km/h, which is the average walking speed on Earth, along the equator. Although Mars’ gravity is only about 40% of Earth’s, Yigit doesn’t think walking on the red planet will be much different. Like any hiker, astronauts will need to carry a large amount of supplies, including oxygen, water, and food, and wear a heavy spacesuit.
If an astronaut were to walk continuously around Mars at the above speed, the calculation would be simple: just divide the distance by the speed. The result would be about 4,290 hours. A day on Mars, called a sol, is about 24.7 hours. So it would take about 174 sols to walk continuously around the red planet, equivalent to more than a quarter of a Martian year (a Martian year is 668.6 sols).
But of course, no one can walk continuously, regardless of the planet. Even if they carry enough oxygen, water, and food and can eat and drink while walking, astronauts still have to stop to sleep. If they sleep about 8 hours a night, that adds about 56 sols to the trip. If astronauts stop for 4 or 5 hours every sol to eat, rest, change clothes, shower, set up and take down camp, that adds another 30 to 35 sols.
So a more realistic estimate is that the trip would take at least 265 sols, about 40% of a Martian year. However, this estimate does not take into account other obstacles, such as rugged terrain. Mars has many mountains, some taller than any on Earth, as well as valleys, craters, and other difficult geological features.
A walk around Mars is not likely to happen anytime soon. People have walked around Earth, though not all the way across the oceans. But humans have only walked on a small part of the Moon, despite having visited it many times. Walking so far and for so long on Mars would also pose logistical problems, such as carrying enough food, water, oxygen, and coping with radiation.
Yigit said it’s unlikely that humans will ever circumnavigate Mars, but putting astronauts on the surface would still have many advantages over rovers. Robots are susceptible to dust and electrical problems, he said. But with astronauts, even if problems arise, they can find a solution.
Thu Thao (According to Space )
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