All Questions
49
questions
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Any ideas?: Calculating wet-mass and burn altitude for a Mars landing, using a Python simulation
In this post, I will explain the problem, provide some detailed context, and finally explain what I am searching for (what my question is basically).
First of all, this should be quite a fun but ...
- 21
2
votes
1
answer
143
views
Propellant choices for a Mars landing; tradeoffs between LOX/CH4 and H2O2/RP-1?
What are the tradeoffs between LOX/methane and peroxide/kerosene for a Mars landing mission?
In which ways are each better or worse than the other?
I think the second one would more attractive for ...
- 21
4
votes
0
answers
95
views
Landing a 3-ton payload on the surface of Mars
I'm working on a university project about the construction of sustainable exploration camps on Mars. I want to land a 3-ton structure that will be used as a basis to build a shelter on the surface of ...
- 141
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Could Perseverance survive if Ingenuity failed?
They both landed successfully and ingenuity was deployed. Perseverance drove away, and then Ingenuity failed. Could Perseverance survive on its own?
user47339
7
votes
1
answer
2k
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Could Ingenuity survive if Perseverance failed?
For the purposes of this question, we will assume that they both landed successfully. Ingenuity was deployed properly. Then, Perseverance drove away, and then Perserverance say hit a large rock and ...
- 3,756
0
votes
1
answer
193
views
What independent evidence is there that the Zhurong rover landed on Mars in May 2021? [duplicate]
The China National Space Administration announced, on the 17th of May 2021, that the Tianwen 1 mission landed the Zhurong rover on Mars, with the landing taking place on the 15th of May 2021. What ...
user21103
-7
votes
3
answers
252
views
Why did the communication cable of the Perseverance rover make an angle so great with the other three cables? [closed]
How can you explain the weird position of the communication cable in the image below?
The Perseverance about 20 meters above the surface of Mars. The communication cable, between the rover and its ...
- 981
3
votes
1
answer
475
views
How many spacecraft bounced like a ball on Mars? How many tried to?
The answer to Why a rover bounces after landing on Mars? is "the Mars Exploration Rovers" of which there were two.
However, they might not be the only spacecraft to use bouncing like a ball ...
- 149k
-3
votes
3
answers
278
views
A mysterious flash of light on the surface of Mars while the Perseverance rover was landing. What can it be? [closed]
A mysterious light that lasted a fraction of a second appeared on the surface of Mars while the Perseverance rover was descending. What can its source be?
See: Perseverance Rover’s Descent and ...
- 981
-2
votes
4
answers
546
views
The Mars parachute opened against a black sky on Earth but a blue-magenta sky on Mars during Perseverance landing. How is it possible? [closed]
I have discovered two images (see below) and I do not find an explanation for the different color of the sky as seen from below the parachute just starting to deploy. The video with the test performed ...
- 981
62
votes
4
answers
12k
views
How were Perseverance's cables "cut" after touching down?
In the NASA conference today regarding Perseverance's successful landing on Mars, they talked about how you can see the cable that held the rover in this picture below (I circled the cable).
I'm ...
- 703
5
votes
1
answer
285
views
Has there ever been an attempt or serious consideration for spacecraft to land on Mars without an ablative-type heat shield?
My answer to Do exploration spacecraft enter Mars atmosphere against Mars rotation, or on the same direction? lauds the use of ablative heat shields for minimizing radiative heating of a spacecraft by ...
- 149k
7
votes
2
answers
579
views
How tall are the "cliffs of the delta" in the Perseverance rover's landing ellipse?
edit: For all the cliff-doubters in comments, here's a quote of Project Scientist Ken Farley in the new NASA video After the Landing: An Update about NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover after ...
- 149k
17
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Are launch windows to Mars avoided if they result in landings during dust storm season?
This comment suggests that orbit before descent to Mars' surface allows a mission to delay the landing if the weather conditions are bad. I think that Tianwen-1 will be the first to put a lander rover ...
- 149k
3
votes
0
answers
122
views
How to get MSL coordinates during EDL from SPICE kernel?
Upon trying to extract MSL position above surface by decoding a SPICE kernel, I am gettin this error:
At epoch 3.9750216818313E+08 TDB (2012 AUG 06 05:16:08.183 TDB), there
is insufficient ...
- 3,043
2
votes
2
answers
343
views
Can the Space Shuttle land on Mars assuming there is a paved surface for landing?
Can the Space Shuttle land on Mars if it had a paved runway?
Can the Space Shuttle use aerobraking and will its control surfaces provide attitude control?
Can the parachute and braking systems stop ...
- 2,888
7
votes
1
answer
110
views
Is there possible engine damage without launch platform on Mars return flight?
When a Starship has landed on Mars, there is not going to be any kind of prepared platform initially. (That may be a task for early crews to resolve).
Is there the possibility that Starship, sitting ...
- 71
5
votes
0
answers
100
views
Engine configuration for lander
Which is a more stable lander design:
1.Single central engine.
2.Multiple engines located near the corners
Following is the design for Tianwen-1, the Chinese Mars lander:
And following is the design ...
2
votes
1
answer
95
views
At what altitude(s) were the Viking BLDT rockets fired?
I'm trying to understand the details of the 1972 Viking BLDT test missions (in earth's atmosphere). I found this diagram in a book and the general description that the (four) BLDT (balloon drop) tests ...
5
votes
1
answer
90
views
What was the radius of Insight's disruption of Martian regolith?
A NASA animation depicts the Martian regolith being disturbed by the retrorockets of the Insight spacecraft while landing.
Did NASA estimate the radius of the disruption, or was there any indication ...
- 6,999
2
votes
1
answer
104
views
Curiosity landing system versus Spirit/Opportunity's [duplicate]
Spirit/Opportunity used airbags to land while Curiosity had a "carrier" with thrusters and chords - which to me sounds heavier and much more complex, therefore also riskier.
It seems that it would ...
- 123
0
votes
2
answers
263
views
Why a rover bounces after landing on Mars?
Sometime ago I was watching a video which showed that when a rover lands on mars surface it will keep bouncing on Mars' surface like a ball until it gets rid of energy and then it becomes static.
But ...
- 237
0
votes
1
answer
344
views
Could a Rotary Rocket charge a super capacitor while descending on Mars?
Could a rotary rocket entering the atmosphere collect enough energy in a super capacitor through the rotors (along with auto rotation) while descending to have a controlled landing in the last few ...
- 1
1
vote
0
answers
151
views
Why the big difference between NASA and ESA/Roscosmos in evaluating the Oxia Planum landing site?
In november 2018 ESA announced that the Oxia Planum region is favoured for the ExoMars surface mission.
The figure above from this answer about the 21 potential landing sites for the Mars 2020 ...
- 7,535
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Won't the heat sensor probe interfere with the seismometer?
I've read that the Mars InSight Seismometer will be deployed before the HP3 probe. Won't the digging interfere with the seismometer? Or the shock produced will be small enough to be dissipated by the ...
- 203
35
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Why was it necessary to program InSight with an ability to land in dust storms?
If the entire event of EDL (Entry - Descent - Landing) is going to take only 7 minutes and if the command to begin could be signalled based on ground weather conditions, why was it necessary to take ...
- 4,479
4
votes
1
answer
216
views
How do Mars spacecraft control attitude on final descent and landing?
When I watch videos of probes landing on Mars after cutting the parachutes off, they show the lander doing final orientation adjustments before touching down.
The engines don't seem to have a ...
1
vote
1
answer
371
views
Could an inflatable heat shield be used on the SpaceX Mars Lander?
Could light weight inflatable heat shields be used like parachutes from NASA to increase surface area for the SpaceX Mars lander further decreasing velocity? Where would be the best placement of them? ...
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
289
views
Could a reentry powered monorail and flywheel make a kinetic engine for lift?
On reentry could a flywheel spin on a magnetic bearing creating a centrifugal force to keep the ship level whilst creating a plasma air pocket from the pits in the rotating heat shield? This would ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
146
views
Transportation on the Mars I Air
Due to the thin atmosphere generating lift on Mars is difficult at a lower speed, Flying is hard until aircraft go supersonic and then it becomes difficult to control(Ref.). The landing would not be ...
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
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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
3
votes
0
answers
236
views
If you had 150 kg of ejectable mass prior to entry and another 150 kg during entry/landing of a Mars mission, what could you do with it? [closed]
This question comes from NASA and is the NASA's Balance Mass Challenge: Using "Dead Weight" on Mars Spacecraft to Advance Science and Technology.
While landing on Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory (...
- 749
5
votes
2
answers
269
views
Curiosity's powered descent stage test
The landing procedure of Curiosity on Mars has been described as a real challenge in part because of the powered descent stage and sky crane. Indeed the separation of Curiosity with the backshell + ...
- 153
6
votes
1
answer
686
views
How will the Mars One landing site be chosen?
How is Mars One planning on choosing a landing site? Will they be able to use NASA assets (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, etc) to assist with choosing a site, or will they have to make do with public ...
- 121k
17
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What are the disadvantages of parachute+airbag for atmospheric landing, versus rocket-based?
After Sojourner success, repeated by Spirit and Opportunity, it seemed like we had developed a fail-proof system for atmospheric landing for our probes: there's very little that can go wrong with the ...
- 55.1k