Mars pictures.
POSTED BY: oldenglanddry
UPDATED: Saturday, August 13, 2011 16:27
VIEWED: 4504
PAGE 4 of 4
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Gosh, how on Earth could I remember which word you falsely accused me of adding? I mean, it's not like you went on a bitch-fit for about a year whining over it or anything, is it? How could I *possibly* remember...
I never falsely accused you of adding any word. You did exactly that. And since I had already forgotten, and you didn't, it seems your guilty conscious continues to weigh on you, even to this day.
You had already forgotten? It was YOU who brought it up, you fucking dolt! Seems it weighs most heavily on you, this making of false allegations.
But I'll accept your apology.
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For a comparison of numbers, a meteorite falling through the earth's atmosphere, starting itself at over 10,000 mph, will eventually slow to terminal velocity.
To not reach terminal velocity, a meteorite has to be massive; alternatively, man made objects that aren't massive have to be greatly accelerated.
Impacting on earth at higher than terminal velocity speeds from orbit is called hypervelocity.
Studies have been performed, and there have been many successes of man-made re-entry and landings on earth starting at hypervelocity.
Mars' atmosphere begins at a higher altitude than Earth's, and drag acts on the robot lander for a longer period of time. Also, the atmosphere at the surface is about equal to the atmosphere above Earth at about 35 km.
Also, the article you linked does NOT say it only takes six minutes for reentry into Mars: what's more, that lander is intended for people, not a robot (therefore must be heavier to carry fuel and food and earth air). Lastly, to accommodate the heavier weight of the crewed Mars lander, they're proposing rocket counterfiring during descent.
You can argue whether we can land people on Mars due to radioactivity, and you can also argue that robots won't do well with the radiation of the solar wind. But I don't really think the question here is the possibility of decelerating from orbital velocity to terminal velocity, which happens all the time.
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