Flights to Mars in about 5 years though! I can't imagine how amazing it would be to be one of the first geologists getting out on foot and exploring those canyons, mountains, lava tubes and caves...
The geologists needed for this are currently being fired and loosing their funding. Yes it would be cool, if we valued science, engineering and mutual progress as a soceity. We're rapidly going down the Total Recall / Biff Tanner timeline, so it won't be the fun version of Mars.
Travel time to Mars is 3-9 months depending on how fast you travel, probably still to early to know where a Space X Starship trip would fall in that range. The 5 years is referencing Musk's latest optimistic prediction for when the first manned flight would occur. Still, re-adapting to gravity on arrival will be an issue.
That particular launch window only occurs once every two years. The Earth and Mars rotate around the Sun at different rates. During some periods Mars is on the other side of the Sun and essentially unreachable with our current level of delta-v.
> latest optimistic prediction
Will that be before or after fully self driving cars? Or electric semis? That drive themselves in road trains? Will those astronauts have neuralink chips in their heads?
> re-adapting to gravity on arrival will be an issue.
It's 1/3 gravity. Then again, you're on a ship with no free return abort trajectory available, I'd worry more about medical emergencies, crew temperament, and actual crimes being committed.
There is no way we would consider a manned flight to Mars outside of the "once per two years" launch window. Anyone following potential manned flights to Mars counts the windows. See https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/dtm5bc/mars_l... from 2019.
Some astronauts are able to walk around in Earth gravity immediately after getting back, though with some difficulty. Valeri Polyakov walked out of his space capsule after his 2 year stint in the Russian space station. And then there's the fact that Mars has only half the gravity. I think gravity won't be a showstopper when arriving at Mars.
