Why doesn't the math add up?
(media.greatawakening.win)
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Even on NASA.gov they state:
"NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission has logged a lot of flight miles since being lofted skyward on July 30 - 146.3 million miles (235.4 million kilometers) to be exact. Turns out that is exactly the same distance it has to go before the spacecraft hits the Red Planet's atmosphere like a 11,900 mph (19,000 kph) freight train on Feb. 18, 2021."
This isn't just some random article with shady fact checking. NASA itself is claiming the vehicle traveled about 300m miles.
Wait, which part is wrong then?
You calculated a distance of 120M miles given their report of a speed at some point in time. Yes, that doesn't exactly match the 146M miles that the reporter is stating the spacecraft travelled so there is obviously a discrepancy there, but first, that's not that big of a discrepancy and second, that's an error of someone getting the numbers not quite right. What it isn't is in any way a problem with the physics as I have explained it.
You will note that the TITLE says 300M miles and the ARTICLE says 146M miles. The title and article were not written by the same person. Maybe the person who wrote the title read the article and figured it was a round trip, so the probe would have to travel 146M x 2 ~ 300M. Who the fuck knows. Who the fuck cares? These evidences of bad reporting in no way signify a problem with the physics, just with the reporting.
The 146 was only halfway.
May I also add... there are a couple million miles traveled orbiting the Earth as they do equiment checkouts, prepare for transit burn, etc. Most orbit in LEO for a few days before transit or move to a higher orbit.
Likewise, there are a few million more miles as it orbits Mars in a series of maneuvers to slow it down to a reasonable speed for atmospheric insertion. 100% plausible it "traveled 300 million miles" despite the shortest path distance being a fraction of that.