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Why is that possible, when the Curiosity must use an elaborate floating crane?
by henrikeh 14y ago
Why is that possible, when the Curiosity must use an elaborate floating crane?
- JshWright 14y agoThe flying crane is used to minimize the physical disruption to the landing site that using thrusters all the way to the ground would cause. The crane drops off its payload, then flies well away from the landing site before hitting the ground.
- Zuph 14y agoThe elaborate floating crane isn't as Rube Goldberg as it seems. It's pretty similar to the Mars Phoenix mission, but with the engines on the other end. The only real difference is that SpaceX is eliminating the need to pack a parachute by developing engines that can fire reliably and predictably in a supersonic flow. (And Dragon doesn't throw the engines away after landing). Curiosity isn't required to use the elaborate floating crane, but I'm guessing some feature or requirement of the mission made placing the engines above the craft more appealing than placing them below.