Heiwa wrote:rick55 wrote: I'm not sure what the equation for friction would be but you would think that even with a coefficient, that you would have a "lot" less friction. Friction in an atmosphere is called "drag".
So the simple question is:
Was there enough drag in the Mars atmosphere to decelarate Curiosity from 13000 to 900 mph in about 4 minutes.
When Apollo 11 returned from the Moon 1969 -
http://heiwaco.tripod.com/moontravel.htm - it was at higher speed and landing took longer but it seams Earth atmosphere was denser. And Apollo 11 dropped into international waters disregarding all rules for ships there. It was still a miracle - Apollo 11 should have gone down in flames.
As a frequent Earth airplane flier I have landed 500+ times and it always takes more than 4 minutes and start velocity is max 500 mph. Why does it take so long to land on Earth with an airplane when a Mars spaceship does it 100X faster at 100X greater deceleration? Without a pilot! Any ideas?
Good question: Was there enough "DRAG" in the Mars atmosphere to decelarate Curiosity from 13000 to 900 mph in about 4 minutes.
Apollo 11 came into the top of earth's atmosphere, according to the science fiction numbers, at about 18,000 mph I think I recall without googling. At age 12 - 18, despite being in high school, our teachers never drew a velocity curve for the capsule on the blackboard... and it never occurred to me to draw one myself. That would have been funny to have proven an Apollo hoax as a smart teenager. I'm sure Playboy would have interviewed me if I had. I could have been famous... and popular with the ladies.
Maybe the airplane takes longer to land because the whole vehicle is not, itself, a big flap. If you built the airplane so that the wings literally tilted 90 degrees like big flaps, or like birds do when the land, you could have some serious drag. As it is, the airplane slips through the air being aerodynamic. I suppose they want g-force to remain minimal too. Maybe they could experiment with an airplane that, when landing, ejects its wings, comes almost straight down with a heat
shield on the belly, ejects parachutes at the last 1000 m. or so... .and fires retrorockets for the last 10 feet. That way, they might go from 500 mph to 0 in 3 minutes.. and passengers would have more fun.
The last Chinese capsule came in a bit like that. Shengzou-9 I think they call it, fired retrorockets in the last few seconds before hit the ground hard, then was dragged along by the still-attached parachute, rolling over upside down-- while the Chinese mission control narrator laughed. I thought the laughing was cruel since it did not look like a comfortable thing to do.
Simon, let me know if you want me to stop. It's your forum. I just can't resist sometimes... and quite frankly,
Heiwa is onto this angle. With
Heiwa's force calculations applied to the drag, derived from deceleration, it's just a matter of time before we have a proof and some Illuminati comes knocking on our door telling us to stop doing high school math. But I'll just call Obama on them. Obama knows what's going on-- he cancelled the Shuttle and reduced NASA's science fiction budget.