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Uh, we've already had a few near landings in non-ideal Earth weather. Mars barely has weather. It has wind, sure, but the air on Mars is about 150 times less de
by vectorjohn 11y ago
Uh, we've already had a few near landings in non-ideal Earth weather. Mars barely has weather. It has wind, sure, but the air on Mars is about 150 times less dense. I.e., it won't be blowing over any rockets.
So basically, landing anywhere on Mars is easy compared to Earth if they just find a flat spot.
- cma 11y agoThat also makes air-braking more challenging. The first stage isn't coming in at orbital velocities, but I'm assuming they are shedding a good amount of velocity using the air?
- ItsDeathball 11y agoThe Falcon first stage actually does less aerobraking than a returning capsule. Due to its lack of heat shielding, it's necessary for the first stage to slow its descent with the engines before it hits thicker atmosphere.