how far away is mars from earth

Mars is, on average, about 225 million kilometers (around 140 million miles) away from Earth, but this distance changes a lot over time.

Quick Scoop

• At closest approach (when Earth and Mars are on the same side of the Sun and lined up just right), they can be about 54–56 million kilometers apart (roughly 34–35 million miles).

• At their farthest , when they’re on opposite sides of the Sun, the distance can be around 400–401 million kilometers (about 249 million miles).

• The often-quoted average distance between Earth and Mars is about 225 million kilometers (around 140 million miles) because both planets travel in elongated (elliptical) orbits at different speeds.

These changing distances are why Mars sometimes looks much brighter in the night sky, and why space agencies time Mars missions for special “launch windows” roughly every 26 months, when the two planets are nearer and the trip is shorter.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.