Cut and Paste: Results May Vary

"From our perspective on our spinning world, Mars rises in the east just as the sun sets in the west," NASA reports. "Then, after staying up in the sky the entire night, Mars sets in the west just as the sun rises in the east."

At the moment, NASA isn't ready to send human explorers to Mars, let alone out of the solar system. But some private organizations, including the federally funded 100 Year Starship project, plan to make manned interstellar travel possible within the next century, hoping that a huge increase in propulsion speed could reduce the travel time between stars to just a few hundred years. Icarus Interstellar, one of the groups involved in 100 Year Starship, asked Smith to make this calculation of how many passengers would be needed to keep that population healthy. The results are published in the April–May issue of Acta Astronomica.

At their closest point next week, Mars and Earth will "only" be about 57 million miles apart. Another treat awaits April 14, when the full moon also will appear near Mars.

"I did this study to materially help in putting together the millions of puzzle pieces that will be required to allow humanity to spread out from our earthly cradle," he says.

Paragraphs pulled from USA Today and from Popular Mechanics articles.