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Do you know if there is any test footage of that anywhere? That's, to me anyway, the second most amazing thing about the sky crane...that I can't find a single
by jcims 5y ago
Do you know if there is any test footage of that anywhere? That's, to me anyway, the second most amazing thing about the sky crane...that I can't find a single frame of it in operation on earth.
- lisper 5y agoSorry I have no idea.
- scrumbledober 5y agowould it have had enough thrust to work in earth gravity?
- hypertele-Xii 5y agoEarth physics are different from Mars physics. What works there wouldn't work here; can't just try it out and see if it works.
- jcims 5y agoSure the final mission configuration isn't exactly what they would test, but the differences in the sky crane maneuver on Mars and Earth would be relatively easy to factor in (ok, that might be an exaggeration, but its doable). There is a ton of control development that would need to be sorted out so they knew how to integrate it all. For example, I had heard that the primary indicator that the rover had touched down simply watching the throttle on the closed loop flight control system. When it throttled down it meant the rockets were no longer suspending the weight of the rover. If true, I would think you would want to test that quite a bit... FWIW they tested missile defense 'kill vehicles' on the ground and they will operate at or near orbital velocity in space. The main 'hover thruster' would likely be completely unnecessary in a live exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBMU6l6GsdM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBMU6l6GsdM