Steve Squyres Comments On Msl |
Steve Squyres Comments On Msl |
Dec 21 2005, 03:59 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 408 Joined: 3-August 05 Member No.: 453 |
At the afternoon seminar on Dec 12, 2005 at the Hayden Planetarium, Steve Squyres also talked a little about MSL (he is a member of MSL's review board). I apologise if some of these notes are redundant in this forum:
- MSL's skycrane technology will be tested via a physical simulator in addition to computer simulations; quite an elaborate setup is being constructed for this purpose at JPL. - There will be no "local" landing control, i.e. if unlucky, MSL could land right on top of a rock. - The re-entry capsule's center of gravity will be offset from the geometric center and thus dynamic steering (a la Apollo) will be possible - and indeed required, to meet the much smaller landing ellipse [10km instead of 50km I think he said?]. Airbag |
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Dec 21 2005, 06:01 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 |
Oh noes! Could the ghost of Big Joe come back to haunt us?
I don't doubt what you heard, Airbag, but methinks this really must be a misstatement somehow - hazard avoidance is one of the main reasons for the new system! It would be more than tragic to have the last meter defeat you after safely completing the many millions kilometer journey. I am slowly warming to the skycrane concept, and though I hunger for more testing details, but they would belong over here. -------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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