All Questions
6
questions
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
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
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
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
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
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