4 ms·
That's almost exactly backwards. For any decent-sized payload there's too much atmosphere to ignore (so you need heat shielding) yet not enough to exploit (so y
by andygates 8y ago
That's almost exactly backwards. For any decent-sized payload there's too much atmosphere to ignore (so you need heat shielding) yet not enough to exploit (so you need heavy rockets), parachutes rip off of big payloads... the skycrane was the least ridiculous device JPL could come up with for their rover.
The Moon is much easier, it's just a rock and some delta-V.
- sandworm101 8y agoLol, ignore atmosphere. EVERY mars lander has used massive aerobraking with a combination of shields and chutes. 99+% of thier speed was shed passively, without rockets. That Final touchdown is a drop in the deltav bucket. Check any deltav map. Earth-moon surface = 2.66km/s Earth-mars surface, with aerobraking = 1.06km/s +0.1 to .5 for final hover/touchdown depending on payload.