Marvin the Martian wrote:
I thought Bolden said "Mars in 39 hours"! Or days, or whatever. What
pipe-dream was he smoking?

That was the ion engine claim.

I'm going to assume that aerobraking is not a possibility if you're
moving that fast, so does that figure presume some ion engine braking
as part of orbital insertion, or ion engine braking plus aerobraking?

Dave