Mission 2004: Trajectory

Transfer Calculations
Hohman Transfer
Free Return Trajectory
Spiral
Summary of Numerical Data

Launch Windows
Calculations
Possible Launch Dates
Graphical Comparison

Sources

Trajectory

Launch Dates

Launch Windows

Opportunity Number Launch from Earth Land on Mars Launch from Mars Land on Earth

1 2/9/02 9/23/02 10/6/03 6/22/04

2 3/31/04 11/2/04 11/25/05 8/11/06

3 5/20/06 12/22/06 1/14/08 10/30/08

4 7/9/08 2/10/09 3/5/10 11/19/10

5 8/28/10 4/1/11 4/24/12 1/8/13

6 10/17/12 5/21/13 6/13/14 2/27/15

7 12/6/14 7/10/15 8/2/16 4/8/17

8 1/25/17 8/29/17 9/21/18 6/7/19

9 3/16/19 10/18/19 11/10/20 7/27/21

10 5/5/21 12/7/21 12/30/22 9/15/23

11 6/24/23 1/26/24 2/18/25 11/4/25

These dates are only correct to with in about a week because leap years were neglected and times were rounded in the calculations. However, this is an acceptable range of error for the purposes of long range planning since a launch any time within a couple of weeks of these dates would work. The trajectory could be slightly altered with in that span so that the spacecraft still reached its destination.