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There's enough atmosphere for Nasa to seriously consider deploying airplanes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_aircraft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_aircr
by wtracy 14y ago
There's enough atmosphere for Nasa to seriously consider deploying airplanes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_aircraft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_aircraft
- stephengillie 14y agoWe've had the discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4261806 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4261806 A cessna would need wings as large as a 747 and be traveling about mach 1 to take off, iirc.
- skeletonjelly 14y agoThats an awesome metaphor! Going to use this one, thanks.
- JonnieCache 14y agoMach 1 where?
- stephengillie 14y agoOn Mars. Mach, the speed of sound (vibrations), varies with changes in heat, density, etc.
- goodcanadian 14y agoMach 1 always means the speed of sound in the local environment.
- DiabloD3 14y agoSo it would need wings that have ten? times more surface... that doesn't mean this couldn't be done using small scale drone designs.