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Six Minutes of Terror - Landing Humans on Mars
OriginalArlen writes "Universe Today has a fascinating article discussing the difficulty of executing EDL (entry, descent, landing) on Mars for vehicles bigger than MER, Viking and Pathfinder, and the challenges for manned craft in particular. Airbags can't be used for obvious reasons, but the atmosphere is too thin to be used for parachutes or aerobraking by large heavy vehicles. The stronger gravity (compared to the moon) makes an Apollo-style powered descent impossible. The best current idea is a huge inflatable torus called a hypercone: 'Imagine a huge donut with a skin across its surface that girdles the vehicle and inflates very quickly with gas rockets (like air bags) to create a conical shape. This would inflate about 10 kilometers above the ground while the vehicle is traveling at Mach 4 or 5, after peak heating. The Hypercone would act as an aerodynamic anchor to slow the vehicle to Mach 1.'"
We don't really have to land the large vehicle. Getting within transporter range should be enough.
Oh, wait...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Landing at mach one still sounds pretty fast -- better aim for water! Oh, wait ...
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Just extend the space ladder from Earth to Mars.
Dunno about the rest of you, but the Hypercone immediately reminded me of a rolled-up condom.
I wonder when that idea...uh...arose?
"The Hypercone is bigger and costs more."
--Vorticity Ltd.
Per Square Mile, a blog about density
Obviously we need to go to Mars to fight Al Qaeda. Duh. It is part of the "war on financial sanity" that Bush is waging.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Some care to elaborate on the difference between hitting the ground at mach 4 and hitting the ground at mach 1?
Hitting the ground mach 3 slower.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Actually the difference is that a parachute would instantly shred at the supersonic speeds they are talking about. It needs a clever shape and tougher materials. They will probably need to make it out of unobtainium.
Home fucking is killing prostitution.
Dude, this is Slashdot. The proper message is:
All your base are belong to us
You are on the way to destruction
What you say!
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Astronauts
So I guess this adds one more possibility to the list of explanations behind the unfathomable black holes on Mars.
"Piter, too, is dead."
Yeah. What do we need Americas for, anyway?
Where have your banknotes been?!
Care to explain what a condom is to the rest of us /. geeks?
As the astronauts consider if the calculations were made in metric or imperial units.
'Imagine a huge donut...'
Buzz Aldrin: Homer, what happened to the landing apparatus?
Homer: But it was so sweet and tasty...
Bunch of NASA whiners must have replaced 'The Right Stuff' through worthless politically correct hiring practices - this new generation of 'engineers' and 'rocket scientists' have forgotten history and thus are being forced to re-invent the wheel. The logistics of these landings were worked out years ago - as you can plainly see in this simulation.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
"they can also build a little village complete with a bar."
But you can already get a mars bar here on earth.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
I thought it was going to be a story about my sex life.
What amusement parks do you go to?
No Longer a Menace to Society.
Alexandria Morrigan born 2/22/01 l. 20.5in wt. 7 lbs. 5 oz.
Bases on Deimos and Phobos? Surely such an effort would be Doomed.
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
Overall, Mars is the hardest place to land in the inner solar system
I think the sun presents a greater issue.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Um...
not entirely true. Drop a mouse from high enough and it will burn up.
(yes I know what you meant, but still...)
-nB
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Landing on the sun is easy. You just land at night.
I didn't read the article or anything but from what I gather this will work while a parachute wont.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Or, they could get off their duffs and figure out this whole "gravity" problem once and for all. Oh, "it's a bend in space-time"... Well unbend it already!
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project