Aerobraking at Triton |
Aerobraking at Triton |
Jan 15 2007, 02:01 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Flying on Triton is no problem; you just need a chopper with blades a couple of kilometers long...
(Semi)seriously, would anything we think of as atmospheric flight work at all on Triton? I doubt that even a balloon "filled" with several cubic km of lab-quality vacuum would generate enough lift to get itself off the surface, much less a useful payload. Mars by comparison is a veritable pressure cooker. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jan 16 2007, 02:09 AM
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#2
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Interesting thought, TTY. I guess wind isn't even a concern; not a lot of Newtons there compared to a "traditional" atmosphere.
(This should probably be moved to the Neptune/Triton thread), but here goes anyhow: Do you think a lifting/reentry body (by this I mean a solid structure) would provide any real benefit for this mission profile? I wonder if an initial entry using something like a big inverted-umbrella disc would provide enough deceleration in that thin air to save a good deal of fuel for getting into orbit around Triton. The effective surface area of a ballute for this application seems a bit large given that it's presumably not as resistant to heating. EDIT: I probably didn't express my last point very clearly. What I meant was that a ballute large enough to do any good in Triton's atmosphere may suffer from asymmetric inflation problems, which in turn could cause localized heating problems (as well as aerodynamic instability)...just seems risky given our current lack of experience with them. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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