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Simulation of the Mars Science Laboratory Sky Crane

Posted by kdawson on from the rocket-science dept.

An anonymous reader points us to Gizmodo for a fascinating video of NASA's Sky Crane. "When I read that the UFO-looking Mars Science Laboratory's aeroshell would use a floating crane — called Sky Crane by NASA — to softly land the rover on Mars, I couldn't believe it. Now, watching this hyper-realistic NASA simulation, I still can't believe how the whole thing works. I don't know about you, but the whole operation mesmerizes me to no end."

5 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Cool Movie - but bad idea! by jackb_guppy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That is so complicated. The "beach ball" idea from the two current rovers was much better.

    Maybe if the Sky Crane was a ballon system so it can float around Mars would make this better. But still way too complicated.

    1. Re:Cool Movie - but bad idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm on the project, and I understand all the reasons why we're doing it this way, but for what it's worth, I think it's as bat-shit insane as the rest of you. One thing no one can argue, though: it's incredibly cool.

    2. Re:Cool Movie - but bad idea! by LurkerXXX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Or you need to send down a bunch of pieces which assemble themselves into a larger vehicle.

      "Mars Mission. The Beginning of Megatron"

      (queue theme music and intro credits...)

    3. Re:Cool Movie - but bad idea! by khallow · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My concern is that the crane is another failure mode. And it's not clear to me what value the crane adds to justify that risk. If the crane fails to deploy or it doesn't retract fast enough, then the vehicle is at the least immobilized, either with a heavy weight of the crane on top of it and/or damaged suspension system from hitting too hard.

  2. Re:turtle on its back by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The video showed the lander dropping straight down on the wheels without any side motion at all. This seems unlikely to me. The rover would be swinging like my dick on those cables unless there were some thrusters used to stop any swinging motion.

    Other than that, it's a pretty neat idea, ESPECIALLY for a spacecraft which is not a rover. A rover can move out of the landing zone, but a stationary spacecraft cannot. It would be sitting on soil which has traces of hydrazine from the landing rockets - but this system would avoid that problem.

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