LEO to Mars Surface: Corridor Detail

Corridor record

The Fields Every Corridor Carries

The same fields open every corridor detail page.

From: LEO
To: Mars surface
Δv: 4.90 km/s, with aerobraking
Transit: 6-9 months; 8.5 months on a minimum-energy transfer
Gear ratio: 23.1× on LOX/methane, from Earth's surface
Window: Every 26 months
Light time: 3-22 min one way
Carries: Landers and rovers; later cargo, crew and propellant plants
Status: Flown
Retired: No
Rated: Observed

Δv budget

The Atmosphere Does Most of the Braking

Departure from LEO is fixed; arrival depends on how much the atmosphere removes.

Δv by leg
Leg	Δv	Flown by	Rated
LEO → trans-Mars injection	3.6 km/s	Centaur upper stage on Perseverance; Long March 5 upper stage on Tianwen-1	Observed
Midcourse corrections	About 0.1 km/s	Every Mars lander	Observed
Entry, descent and landing, propulsive share	About 1.2 km/s	Viking retro-rockets; Curiosity sky crane; Starship landing burn	Modeled
Total	4.90 km/s	The atmosphere removes most of the 5.5-7.5 km/s arrival speed for free	Modeled

The return is the hard leg. Ascent from the surface to low Mars orbit costs about 4.1 km/s and trans-Earth injection about 2.1 km/s more, with no atmosphere to help. No vehicle has yet lifted off Mars; Tianwen-3's ascent vehicle would be the first. That is why propellant made on Mars matters - see Mars.

Who has flown it

10 Successful Landings by Two Agencies Since 1976

The firsts, then the totals by program. Landing sites and findings are on Mars.

Firsts on the LEO → Mars surface corridor
Mission	Operator	Year	First	Rated
Mars 3	USSR	1971	First soft landing; transmitted for about 20 seconds	Observed
Viking 1	NASA	1976	First working lander; six years on the surface	Observed
Mars Pathfinder	NASA	1997	First rover, Sojourner; airbag landing	Observed
Phoenix	NASA	2008	First polar landing; touched water ice	Observed
Curiosity	NASA	2012	First sky-crane landing; 899 kg rover	Observed
Perseverance	NASA	2021	Heaviest landed rover, 1,025 kg; Ingenuity helicopter; MOXIE made oxygen	Observed
Tianwen-1	CNSA	2021	First Chinese landing, Zhurong rover; orbiter, lander and rover in one launch	Observed

Successful landings by program
Program	Landings	Years	Landers	Rated
NASA	9	1976-2021	Viking 1 and 2, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix, Curiosity, InSight, Perseverance	Observed
CNSA	1	2021	Tianwen-1 and Zhurong, Utopia Planitia	Observed
USSR	1, partial	1971	Mars 3; contact lost within a minute	Observed

Failed attempts left out of the totals include Mars Polar Lander (NASA, 1999), Beagle 2 (ESA and UK, 2003; landed but never deployed) and Schiaparelli (ESA, 2016).

Who flies it next

Two Sample Missions in 2028, Then Starship

China's Tianwen-3 and ESA's Rosalind Franklin share the 2028 window.

Vehicles in development
Mission	Operator	Role	Rated
Tianwen-3	CNSA	Sample return; two Long March 5 launches in the 2028 window	Building
ExoMars Rosalind Franklin	ESA, with NASA	Drilling rover; launch in the 2028 window	Building
Starship	SpaceX	Uncrewed cargo landings ahead of crew; no window committed here	Projected

Gear ratio

Every Ton on the Surface Costs About 23.1 Tons Launched

Rocket equation for 4.90 km/s from LEO, dry mass fraction 0.10, times the 5.2× Earth-to-LEO launch factor.

Gear ratio by propulsion class
Propulsion	Isp	Mass ratio	Gear ratio	Rated
Storable, MMH/NTO	320 s	4.77	27.5×	Observed
Methane, LOX/CH₄	360 s	4.01	23.1×	Observed
Hydrogen, LOX/LH₂	450 s	3.04	17.5×	Observed
Nuclear thermal to Mars, methane to land	900 s, 360 s	2.14	12.3×	Modeled

Mars costs less per ton landed than the Moon, 23× against 31×, because its atmosphere replaces most of the landing burn. The trade is the 26-month window and the months in transit, which Ship-or-Make Threshold counts as schedule.

Time and windows

One Window Every 26 Months

Perseverance and Tianwen-1 both took about 203 days in 2020-2021.

The next windows open in late 2026, at the turn of 2028 and 2029, and in early 2031. Faster transits are possible with more Δv, but the window spacing does not change - see Launch Windows & Cadence.

Entry, descent and landing take about seven minutes against a 3-22 minute one-way light time, so every Mars landing has been fully autonomous.

China

China Landed on Its First Attempt

Tianwen-1 put an orbiter, lander and rover in place with one Long March 5 launch.

Chinese programs on this corridor
Program	Data point	Rated
Tianwen-1 · CNSA	Orbiter, lander and Zhurong rover; launched July 2020 on Long March 5, landed May 2021	Observed
Tianwen-3 · CNSA	Lander, ascent vehicle and return orbiter; samples back around 2031	Building
Mars base planning · CNSA	Crewed missions discussed for the 2030s; no vehicle committed	Projected

Contested

Deliberately Not Claimed

The load-bearing uncertainties, tagged with the confidence they actually earn.

Modeled

Heavy landing is undemonstrated. The heaviest rover landed is Perseverance at 1,025 kg. A Starship-class lander puts about 100 tons down, a 100-fold step; supersonic retropropulsion has been tested only by Falcon 9 boosters in Earth's upper atmosphere.