Acta Astronautica (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2026.04.018"> Complete 2031 Earth–Mars–Earth round-trip configuration for the extreme rapid case (33-day outbound and 90-day return). Credit: Acta Astronautica (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2026.04.018 Whether it's robotic rovers heading to Mars or, one day, a crew of astronauts, a round-trip journey is an incredibly long one. But there may be a way to find a shortcut. A new study published in the journal Acta Astronautica suggests that hundreds of days could be shaved off a return trip to the Red Planet by using the early orbital data of asteroids. This could bring the total mission time down to as low as 153 days. To identify optimal routes and calculate fuel needs, planners of interplanetary missions use precise planetary data. Sending missions to other worlds rarely involves early orbital data from asteroids. When it comes to Mars missions, a key planning consideration is a phenomenon known as Mars opposition.…