Mars orbits the Sun at an average speed of about 24 kilometers per second, which is roughly 86,000 kilometers per hour (around 53,000 miles per hour). Because its orbit is elliptical, Mars moves faster when it is closer to the Sun and slower when it is farther away.

Quick Scoop

  • Average orbital speed : About 24 km/s, or ~86,000 km/h (~53,000 mph).
  • When closest to the Sun (perihelion) : Speed rises to around 26–27 km/s.
  • When farthest (aphelion) : Speed drops to about 22–23 km/s.
  • Length of a Mars year : About 687 Earth days, or 1.88 Earth years to complete one orbit.

How fast does Mars orbit the Sun?

In everyday terms, Mars is racing around the Sun so quickly that in just one second it travels about 24 kilometers through space. In one hour, that adds up to tens of thousands of kilometers, even though from Earth it looks like a slow, reddish wanderer in the night sky.

Mars does not keep exactly the same speed all the way around its path. Its orbit is more stretched out (more elliptical) than Earth’s, so gravity pulls it to speed up as it swings in closer to the Sun and to slow down as it drifts farther away.

Mini sections

1. Mars vs. Earth orbital speed

Mars moves more slowly than Earth, which orbits at about 30 km/s, because Mars is farther from the Sun and feels a slightly weaker pull. This weaker pull lets it cruise in a larger, wider track, but at a gentler pace than our planet.

Here is a simple HTML table comparing them:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Planet</th>
      <th>Average orbital speed (km/s)</th>
      <th>Orbital period (Earth days)</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Earth</td>
      <td>~29.8 km/s [web:5][web:7]</td>
      <td>365 days [web:5][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Mars</td>
      <td>~24 km/s [web:1][web:5][web:7][web:9]</td>
      <td>~687 days [web:1][web:5][web:7][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

2. The “story” of one Mars year

Imagine watching Mars trace a long, stretched-out loop around the Sun. For nearly two Earth years, it glides along this path, alternately speeding up and easing off as it follows the curve of its orbit.

During this journey, the changing Sun–Mars distance creates longer, more intense seasons than on Earth, especially when Mars is closer to the Sun. That means a Martian summer or winter lasts almost twice as long as the seasons people experience on Earth.

In forum and astronomy discussions, “how fast does Mars orbit the Sun” often leads to follow-up questions about why launch windows to Mars only open every couple of years, which is tied directly to this slower, wider orbit and its 1.88-year Martian year.

TL;DR: Mars orbits the Sun at an average of about 24 km/s (≈86,000 km/h), taking about 687 Earth days to complete one lap, moving faster when it’s closer to the Sun and slower when it’s farther away.

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