Have you ever wondered how much it'd cost to send a letter to Mars?

We have. So has Oliver Giddings, a young lad from England who wrote to the Royal Mail enquiring about how much it would cost to send one letter to Mars. Oliver, who wants to be astronaut when he grows up (don't we all), got in touch with the British postal service.

They, in turn, contacted NASA to get a quote for the trip. Andrew Smout, senior customer adviser for Royal Mail, said that the last Mars mission cost NASA approximately $700 million in total.

"Based on how much the spaceship weighed compared to how much it costs to get to Mars, they said that something weighing up to 100 grams would cost them approximately $18,000 to fly to Mars," explained Smout when replying to young Oliver.

That price worked out at 18,416 First-Class stamps, something Oliver Giddings didn't count on. "It's very expensive to send a letter to Mars. You would need so many stamps!", he said in a responding letter to Royal Mail.

Good to know if we ever need to see Matt Damon a care package.

 

Via news.com.au

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