4 ms·
> They just did a perfect demonstration of that flight. Did you see how hard the capsule landed? Look at around the 1:39 mark on the video: https://www.blueori
by discardorama 11y ago
> They just did a perfect demonstration of that flight.
Did you see how hard the capsule landed? Look at around the 1:39 mark on the video: https://www.blueorigin.com/gallery#youtube9pillaOxGCo https://www.blueorigin.com/gallery#youtube9pillaOxGCo
- greglindahl 11y agoDoesn't look hard to me -- are you being confused by the big cloud of dust? That's mostly caused by the last-second retrorocket.
- mod 11y agoThe near-instant deceleration would feel rougly the same, regardless of whether it was caused by retrorocket or earth, wouldn't it?
- semi-extrinsic 11y agoConsider an airbag. It "only" increases the time for the deceleration of your upper body to O(0.1) seconds. The reason it's so effective is because O(0.1) is O(100) times larger the deceleration time without an airbag, making the acceleration O(100) times less.
- takeda 11y agoThe reason why an airbag is effective is prevents your head from traveling long distance so you don't break your neck. It's still painful and still can break your nose. If they had retrorocket on the capsule, I suspect it failed.
- mikeash 11y agoThe purpose of an air bag is to keep your head from smashing into the steering wheel or dashboard at 70MPH because the car stopped but your head kept going. The air bag decelerates you to zero over a (relatively) much greater time, meaning much lower forces on your face, brain, etc. Soyuz lands with a retrorocket and it looks exactly like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2X2kaqYatI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2X2kaqYatI You don't need a long burn to cushion a drop like this. A fraction of a second will suffice.