3 ms·
I'm still amazed that it succeeded. I was prepared to bet quite a bit of money that at least one of the many quite complicated stages of the landing would fail.
by Ma8ee 10y ago
I'm still amazed that it succeeded. I was prepared to bet quite a bit of money that at least one of the many quite complicated stages of the landing would fail. I'm happy I was wrong.
- pmoriarty 10y agoTo me, the air bags[1] used to land the Spirit and Opportunity rovers seemed like a saner way to go than trying to deposit them gently directly on to the surface using a sky crane. The reported reason the sky crane was used for Curiosity is that it was too heavy for the air bag approach. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCIzZHpFtY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCIzZHpFtY
- danbruc 10y agoIt's 185 kg vs 899 kg. I am already a bit surprised that it worked to land Spirit and Opportunity, but the lower gravity probably helps.
- Sharlin 10y agoBut the Spirit and Opportunity EDL also involved retrorockets in addition to a heatshield, a drogue chute, a parachute and the airbags - it's just that the retrorocket part didn't have to be as precise as with Curiosity.