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I don't know the full story, but I know that for detecting the ground during landing they use radar (which was why they made sure the two falcon heavy cores did
by gpm 7y ago
I don't know the full story, but I know that for detecting the ground during landing they use radar (which was why they made sure the two falcon heavy cores didn't land at the same time).
Creating a gps (like) network on mars with a bunch of satellites might actually be an option before landing. SpaceX appears to be already developing that capability in the starlink satellites for the DOD [0].
[0] https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/04/06/the-pentagon-will-solicit-its-first-mesh-network-in-space-may-1/ https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/04/06/t...
- skykooler 7y agoThe thing with a GPS network is that you need fixed ground stations receiving the signal to know the satellites' precise orbital parameters, and thereby know exactly where they are. So you'd need to land at least one Starship to get a "gps" network working.
- gpm 7y agoI mean... wouldn't any method of determining the orbital parameters work? Stellar tracking, determining position based on known ground reference points via cameras, etc. It's not like these are dumb birds, they can sit there for awhile collecting data to figure out their orbit, and then communicate that to the lander before it attempts to land.
- skykooler 7y agoYes, you can determine it via other methods, but the accuracy won't be very high.