Trying to answer this question, I was looking into how long the Martians' journey took in the first place, but the book seems to be quite vague about it - chapter 1 mentions that the construction of the launch cannon is seen in 1894, there are then two oppositions of Mars afterwards, and the first launches are seen at the next opposition. The next line says, "The storm burst upon us six years ago now," but I can't find any particular reference to when the book was written (in-universe) relative to the landing.

Is the implication here that they took six years to make the journey? If so, did Wells ever elaborate on where this number came from, or was he just pulling it out of thin air? Obviously the real world experience with space travel wasn't there yet, but the astronomy was presumably well-known.

Additionally, if the journey did take multiple years, is there any discussion of how the Martians sustained themselves that long? The scale of the cylinder that lands on the common is also vague, but since a Martian falls out of it and apepars to survive, it can't be enormous, which means it also can't be carrying large amounts of blood or similar provision along with the war materiel.

I might well have missed something from the book, but I'm also interested in anything relevant Wells might have said in correspondence, etc. or even adaptations that might have addressed this issue in a way that suggests they were extending the book (e.g. not the 2005 movie)

Trying to answer this question, I was looking into how long the Martians' journey took in the first place, but the book seems to be quite vague about it - chapter 1 mentions that the construction of the launch cannon is seen in 1894, there are then two oppositions of Mars afterwards, and the first launches are seen at the next opposition. The next line says, "The storm burst upon us six years ago now," but I can't find any particular reference to when the book was written (in-universe) relative to the landing.

Is the implication here that they took six years to make the journey? If so, did Wells ever elaborate on where this number came from, or was he just pulling it out of thin air? Obviously the real world experience with space travel wasn't there yet, but the astronomy was presumably well-known.

Additionally, if the journey did take multiple years, is there any discussion of how the Martians sustained themselves that long? The scale of the cylinder that lands on the common is also vague, but since a Martian falls out of it and appears to survive, it can't be enormous, which means it also can't be carrying large amounts of blood or similar provision along with the war materiel.

I might well have missed something from the book, but I'm also interested in anything relevant Wells might have said in correspondence, etc. or even adaptations that might have addressed this issue in a way that suggests they were extending the book (e.g. not the 2005 movie)