ChatGPT is surprisingly good at piloting spacecraft, according to a team that trained it to participate in a simulated ...

A Hohmann transfer orbit uses a burn at the starting point (periapsis) that increases the aphelion of the orbit such that it occurs at the orbit of Mars. This will be 180 degrees later in the orbit.

This positioning allows the spacecraft to enter a so-called "Hohmann transfer orbit," named after German engineer Walter Hohmann, who worked out the underlying mathematics in 1925.

Challenge 1: The Orbit. You can’t just point and shoot. Do that and your spacecraft will miss Mars. So, rocket scientists use a maneuver called a Hohmann transfer orbit to send a vehicle from a ...

Mars missions take a Hohmann transfer orbit, which sees them launch from Earth just before the planet catches-up on Mars. Can’t spacecraft just fly further or faster?

The orbit of Mars around the sun takes about 1.88 Earth years. ... This is much safer than a Hohmann transfer, in which spacecraft need to substantially slow down using their engines, ...

Both spacecraft used a Hohmann transfer orbit-- a special trajectory to Mars that is only available every 26 months -- to get there with minimal fuel consumption.

The transfer the satellite is following is different from the usual Hohmann transfer, in which an object spirals out in its orbit around the Earth until it ends up in orbit around the moon.