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  • What happens if you slow down just a little bit so rather than orbiting the sun at 70,500 mph to orbit at 70,000 mph? Wouldn't that put you into a decaying orbit that ends up getting a bit warm eventually?

    There is enough energy in the system to send a car out past Mars. Falling into the gravity well feels like it should be easier.

  • You don't understand.

    Yes there's enough energy to do it once, not repeatedly.

    If you're on Earth, or in it's orbit, you can expend a large amount of thrust to start moving in 1 direction, but to move in completely the opposite direction requires an equal amount of thrust. So a Saturn V to get you going, but then another Saturn V when you want to go backwards. You could wait until the planets literally align and only do it when Mars and the Sun are in a straight line for the majority of the flight time.

  • you can expend a large amount of thrust to start moving in 1 direction, but to move in completely the opposite direction requires an equal amount of thrust

    Twice as much surely. One Saturn V to start it moving, the second to stop it, and a third to get it moving in the other direction.

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