Launching a craft from Mars

[Ground Control]

What would it actually take to launch a craft into orbit from the Martian surface?

Initially it could be a simple craft carrying Martian soil samples but this could lead to bigger things. What is the science involved? What energy is required compared to Earth?

Here are a few facts about Mars that might help in this discussion:

• Mars’ gravity is about 37% of that on Earth (3.71 m/s/s on Mars vs 9.80 m/s/s on Earth).
• The atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 0.6% of the mean atmospheric pressure on Earth. (600 pascals or 0.087 psi on Mars vs 101.3 kilopascals or 14.69 psi on Earth)
• Escape velocity on Mars is 5.03 km/s, compared with 11.19 km/s for Earth.
• The distance to space from the surface of Earth is about 100 km or 62 miles. I cannot find this information for Mars however it is a smaller planet than Earth so it is likely to be much less.

Given that the numbers are much smaller for Mars, surely it could be possible to construct a launch vehicle that is much smaller than that required on Earth, to launch items from the planet’s surface into orbit?

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