All Questions
49
questions
2
votes
1
answer
364
views
Could a shuttle be built for Mars?
Mars does have an atmosphere, but is there enough atmosphere to glide, shed speed and land if there was a runway? What would this require from the shuttle, in terms of aerodynamics?
- 1
5
votes
1
answer
116
views
Would landing on mars during a storm considerably increase atmospheric drag?
Any chance we could harvest all those dust particles for an significant improvement in aero-breaking capabilities or would it destroy most heat-shields?
- 658
5
votes
3
answers
257
views
Is Mid-Air Deployment of the Mars Helicopter Feasible?
According to a recent news announcement1, NASA is going to send a small helicopter to Mars for testing purposes. Future landers could carry more of these
future rotorcraft [that might] act as ...
- 153
21
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Could SpaceX land on the moon today?
Now that SpaceX has a bunch of flown Block 4 Falcon 9 rockets laying around, could they theoretically do a mission to the Moon with landing even if it's just a rocket with no payload? Does it work out ...
- 367
10
votes
2
answers
316
views
How, in the SpaceX Mars stack, do they plan to address de novo landing sites?
Given a new, unprepared "in the field" landing site for a rocket, what is the SpaceX strategy? Are the landing legs intended to be rated to handle that kind of instability? How can they possibly be?
...
- 2,267
3
votes
2
answers
338
views
Maximum dynamic pressure upon Mars entry
I have a Mars landing simulation, and one of the things it calculates is the dynamic pressure as the spacecraft descends through Mars' thin atmosphere (given by $q=\frac{1}{2}\rho v^{2}$). I know it ...
- 1,612
-1
votes
1
answer
217
views
Can you land a ferris wheel-like ship on Mars ….Sideways?
Can you land a ferris wheel-like ship on Mars ….sideways?
Envision a typical sci-fi ferris wheel kind of spacecraft, with three habitat elements separated from the central hub by girder type booms (...
- 107
4
votes
6
answers
680
views
What would be a few challenges to build a landing strip on mars?
So we are spending a lot of money to get things landed vertically. Its a challenge, and obviously tough too.
So here is the idea.
Get to mars. land over there, no need to return to earth (if no ...
- 61
9
votes
2
answers
512
views
Why cannot supersonic retropropulsion, for use in the Red Dragon lander be tested on Earth?
What is the reason that Red Dragon is testing supersonic retropropulsion on a Mars mission. Is the Earth's upper atmosphere too different to that of Mars to validate this method as a viable way of ...
- 674
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is it probable the Red Dragon will successfully land on Mars on the first try?
Today it was revealed that SpaceX has a deal with NASA to send a Red Dragon lander to Mars, launched on a Falcon Heavy, in 2018. The plan is that it will use supersonic retro-propulsion during the ...
- 21.4k
6
votes
1
answer
576
views
How would a manned Mars Lander be tested
This question just occured to me while I was setting up my first manned (err, kerbalized?) Duna mission in KSP: In order to test my basic lander design I did not want to start a whole Duna Mission but ...
- 2,453
13
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How precise are our Mars landings?
The idea of surface rendezvous for supply missions to a Mars expedition (either before or after arrival of a manned expedition) seems to come up every now and then. This would allow a manned ...
- 7,330
6
votes
2
answers
292
views
Transfer people from orbiting spacecraft to surface of Mars
What are the proposed methods for transferring people from orbiting spacecraft to Mars surface specifically if multiple trips are required. Are there any that don't require a new heat shield for each ...
- 161
24
votes
5
answers
17k
views
Olympus Mons - viable Mars landing site?
I'm becoming interested in how Mars missions are planning their landings. One aspect I see brought up time and again is Mars' awkward atmosphere - 'just enough there that you have to care about it'. ...
- 523
17
votes
4
answers
5k
views
What is the largest hurdle of the mission to Mars?
I was shocked when I recently found out just how long it takes to get to Mars. I've been conducting a very informal survey amongst peers of how just how long people think it takes us to travel to Mars....
- 523