[X] My Assistant

[nprev]

YouTube sure is great for finding lost memories. Anybody else remember this theme song?

Loved it as a kid, but can't even watch it as an adult. They were supposed to be on a 50-year journey to Alpha Centauri in the pilot (in suspended animation, no less), but after that damn Dr. Smith sabotaged the Jupiter II they couldn't stay in space for more than 20 minutes without crash-landing on a planet with a habitable atmosphere & (often incredibly comical) aliens to boot. Can't decide to this day whether they should have hung Smith or given him the Nobel Prize in physics for about ten years in a row...

[Greg Hullender]

I think you've completely misunderstood something. :-) First off, note that the Apollo Command Module weighed a ton and a half, yet it had no reentry troubles. Obviously there is some way around the problem you describe.

I found this illuminating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_shield#E..._considerations

Among other gems, the Galileo probe disipated 380G joules, losing just 1/4 of its weight in the process.

As for the liability issue, I don't think it survives serious examination. First, you wouldn't bother with a parachute; you'd just drop the things in the desert. Second, the odds of hitting anything else are awfully low. Finally, it's just a ton of metal at terminal velocity; no worse than the occasional plane crash -- and without the jet fuel.

--Greg