3 ms·
The Mars atmosphere is not conducive to aero-braking. In fact, it is the worst of both worlds: thick enough that you cannot use thrusters without them getting d
by creatonez 3y ago
The Mars atmosphere is not conducive to aero-braking. In fact, it is the worst of both worlds: thick enough that you cannot use thrusters without them getting destroyed by air friction, and thin enough that at the end of a parachute descent you still have to rely on either thrusters, or have your landing vehicle turn itself into a literal bouncy castle.
It's no wonder NASA came up with the absolute craziest solution -- a wicked fast heat shield burn descent, followed by a wicked fast parachute descent, followed by an absurdly complicated and risky 'sky crane' procedure to shave off the rest of the velocity using thrusters.
- zizee 3y ago> it is the worst of both worlds A thin atmosphere provides an additional option over the alternative of zero atmosphere. Zero atmosphere means you rely entirely on propulsion to slow your arrival, which is inherently expensive. I can agree that a thicker atmosphere would be easier, but a thin atmosphere is better than none. > absurdly complicated and risky 'sky crane' The skycrane was entirely related to not wanting to stir up huge dust plumes around the lander.