How big would the rocket need to be to break free from the gravity of mars?

Question

I would guess twice the size of a rocket needed to get out of earth orbit and how will they get it up there for the return trip from mars?

Answer 1

Mars has LESS gravity than Earth so a much smaller rocket could be used.

Using the rocket equation and the escape velocity for Mars and Earth I calculate a rocket 4 or 5 times smaller than needed to escape from Earth would escape from Mars. The rocket equation is logarithmic, so it takes MUCH more that twice the propellant to get twice the speed. Earth has about twice the escape velocity as Mars and requires 4 or 5 times the propellant to launch the same payload as compared to Mars. You need a 5 times bigger rocket to carry 5 times as much propellant. Bigger actually, because the bigger rocket weighs more and has to carry its own extra weight too.

Answer 2

mars doesn't have that much gravity so it can be small but with lots of speed and force to get through the atmosphere, hint: Jupiter would need a huge F**king rocket to get through the atmosphere because it's gravitational pull could dicinigrate the rocket if it is too small. With A S**t load of power and force.

Also If we had no moon the Earth would have been dead. Because Jupiters gravitational pull would have made the earth go flying to jupiter at the speed of light and would have killed all human life. Also The Earth would have been life and we would have never lived if it was for the moon.

PRAISE THE MOON!!!!!

Answer 3

You don't need a big rocket. What you need to worry about is mass and fuel. You can bring a LOT of slow burning fuel, or LESS of a fast-burning fuel. Escape velocity from Mars is about 11,000 MPH, which is less than 1/2 of Earth's escape velocity - but, because the trip back to Earth is so long, you'd want to build up as much speed as you could.

So, what's likely to be sent:

1. Crew Transfer vehicle - living modules that will be in use to and from Mars.

2. Mars lander vehicle(s). If you're going to Mars, bring more than one - in case you need to rescue the first, and in the event you don't, you can land in a couple of different places.

3. Service vehicles. Basically just stages of the rocket, with the fuel & engines to push the manned craft to & from Mars.

At each point of the journey, you'd want to discard as much of the rocket as you could, so you don't have to waste fuel moving it around.

Answer 4

Mars's gravitational pull is smaller than Earths. And anyway, the size of the rocket would be irrelevent - it's how much force it can produce.

Answer 5

The escape velocity of Mars is 5.03 kms-1 which is half of Earths, so as a rough indication a rocket about half the size of that required to escape Earth's gravity would be required to bring it back to Earth.

Answer 6

It's not about the size of the rocket but the force it exerts

Answer 7

Way too large for anything we could land on Mars right now.

ESA has done a study:

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/Aurora/execsummaries/TN_Executive_Summary_PAV_complete.pdf

I am sure a similar study has been done by NASA.