One trajectory that can be used to send spacecraft from Earth to Mars is an elliptical orbit that has Sun at one focus, its perihelion at Earth, and its aphelion at Mars. The spacecraft is launched from Earth and coasts along this ellipse until it reaches Mars, when a rocket is red to either put the spacecraft into orbit around Mars or cause it to land on Mars
a: Find the semimajor axis of the ellipse. (Hint: Draw a picture showing Sun and the orbits of Earth, Mars, and the spacecraft. Treat the orbits of Earth and Mars as circles.)
b: Calculate how long (in days) such a one-way trip to Mars would take