Humans have been interested in the red planet for decades. We make big plans on how to colonise the planet. What you should know about a space mission to Mars is that it can launch only once every 26 months. That’s because the orbit of Earth and Mars must align. Why? Imagine this: the trip to Mars will have taken humans 9 months. By that time, Mars will have moved away from the spacecraft by a considerable distance. After all, it keeps on orbiting the sun.  If we aligned the orbits, humans will have reached the red planet while it’s within the spacecraft’s reach. This way, we don’t waste fuel and other resources.

There’s one more obstacle in our way. To get to Mars, the spacecraft needs to be sturdy. It needs a strong shielding to protect people on board from radiation particles.  Fortunately, scientists are already working on materials that can withstand a long and dangerous journey.  Then, of course, the astronauts need to prepare to take the trip. They need to go through a long training, both on Earth and in space. Assuming that everything worked, humans will have finally reached Mars. Now, they need to land. For that to happen, they need to use a lander. They can’t land the entire ship. It’s because a spacecraft will require a lot of fuel to get off the surface of Mars and there's only a limited amount that astronauts can take for the trip. This means that the mission needs to split into two groups. One group stays on the ship. The other group takes a lander and a lot of supplies and gets to the planet's surface.

In theory, the explorers will have left Mars after 3‑4 months. That’s when the orbits will have aligned again. In practice, we don’t have a plan on how to return from Mars yet. It requires a lot of supplies and detailed planning. Hopefully, in the future, those plans will become reality.