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jjk166 5 days ago

You couldn't start launching things in 30 days, you need to wait for a launch window, which happens every ~2 years. The transit times are on top of that.

ricardobeat 5 days ago | parent [-]

The launch windows are for the most fuel efficient transfer. You can still launch outside of the window if you’re willing to pay the cost elsewhere.

jjk166 5 days ago | parent [-]

Higher energy transfers can widen the launch windows, but their frequency remains unchanged. The frequency is due to the synodic period of Earth and Mars. It doesn't matter how fast you can get to a point in Mars' orbit if Mars doesn't happen to be there when you arrive. Any given trajectory will only work when the planets are in one specific configuration relative to one another; having more delta-V to play with means you can choose from a broader range of possible trajectories.

In the limit, there are hyperbolic trajectories that would basically give you such wide launch windows that you could launch whenever, but you're not doing that with chemical rockets.