Launch me to Mars!
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A free browser game about real rocket science
Fly a rocket from the launch pad to the red sands of Mars. Reach orbit, time the Hohmann transfer, aerobrake and land — on real orbital mechanics, right in your browser.
Launch now — it’s freeRead the physics
No download · No account · English and Spanish
Every phase is a real problem NASA and ESA mission planners solve. Fail one and the game shows you why — then lets you try again.
01 · Lift-off
Load the fuel, plan the gravity turn and ignite. Fight your own weight and the drag of the air, shed spent stages, and reach a parking orbit above 150 km. Most of your fuel goes here.
Learn: Thrust against weight, The rocket equation, Staging, Gravity and drag losses
02 · Parking orbit
An orbit is a fall that keeps missing the ground. Coast, wait for the launch window, then fire about 3.6 km/s to leave Earth for good.
Learn: Orbit is falling sideways, Escape velocity, Launch windows
03 · Transfer
Half an orbit around the Sun, about 259 days long. Trim it with a mid-course correction, or borrow a push from a Moon flyby.
Learn: Kepler's ellipses, The Hohmann transfer, The Moon flyby, The mid-course correction
04 · Arrival
Burn 727 m/s to be captured by Mars, or skim its thin air and aerobrake for free. Then bring it down softly.
Three ships, three ways to run out of fuel. The harder the ship, the bigger your score multiplier on the leaderboard.
Forgiving, small payload. Learn the basics and orbit insertion.
Big payload, heavy, no room for waste. Feel the rocket equation and gravity losses.
Huge delta-v, twitchy controls. Precision, windows and flybys.
Every failure opens a Knowledge card that explains what went wrong. Each one is also a page of its own you can read without playing, with a glossary, in English and Spanish.
Yes. It runs in your browser with no download and no account. You type a name only if you want a place on the leaderboard.
The numbers are. Thrust, drag, the rocket equation, Kepler orbits and the Hohmann transfer are computed in real units. The launch is simplified so a whole mission fits in one sitting.
On a Hohmann transfer, the cheapest path, about 259 days. In the game you fast-forward through the coast and spend your time on the burns that matter.
Yes. Every Knowledge card has its own page, linked to a glossary, in English and in Spanish.
Yes. It plays in the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer, with the same on-screen controls everywhere. Nothing to install.
Pick a rocket, beat the launch window, and see your name on the leaderboard.
Music starts on your first click.