How to build this?

> I don't have the math on hand but even at a constant acceleration
> and deceleration of 1G would take months just to get to Mars
IIRC... slower
> than that, don't bother really... :)

By my calculations: if Mars and Earth are at their minimum distance
(aug 27/03: 55746199000 m), then starting from earth orbit 100 km up
(initial velocity is earth's orbital velocity around the sun plus
orbital velocity at 100km orbit: total of 37605m/s) and finishing at
mars orbit 100 km up (final velocity is mars' orbital velocity
around sun plus orbital velocity at 100 km orbit: total of 27598
m/s), with acceleration and deceleration at 1 gee and negligible
turnaround time in the middle... total trip time would be just over
28.5 hours. Peak velocity (at turnaround) would be 537 km/s.

One would need a very high ISP to maintain 1 gee thrust for just
over a day like that, but man oh man, talk about Mars Direct.

Ed