4 ms·
I've heard that Mars is tough because the gravity is high enough that you need a lot of braking to land, but it's not quite high enough to maintain a thick atmo
by wonnage 7y ago
I've heard that Mars is tough because the gravity is high enough that you need a lot of braking to land, but it's not quite high enough to maintain a thick atmosphere, so you can't use drag (e.g parachutes) to help reduce work/weight. Venus has a thick atmosphere and the Venera probes were able to use parachutes to help land.
- Sharlin 7y agoWell, you can use parachutes, and indeed every lander mission to Mars has done so, but they are not enough, necessitating complex EDL (entry/descent/landing) sequences.