The Technology of Landing on Mars :: Computers Space Papers

The Technology of Landing on spoil While just traveling to Mars is a touchy task, stateing on the orbiter has proved to be next to impossible, with only if a small fraction of the attempted demesneings ending in success. all over the years there stool been several different designs of Martian landers that begin attempted to slip past the proverbial galactic ghoul defend the planet Mars. However, few of these designs have fargond successful at landing smoothly. These technologies have ranged from the original Viking using aero braking and rocket power, to the Mars Pathfinder missions novel air bag solution. In order to gain sixth sense into the surface of the red planet, landing is a mustiness. Thus, the potential solutions and their benefits and drawbacks must be examined.The Purpose Delta V RequirementTo get from orbit around Mars to the surface requires a significant amount of braking. First, the lander in orbit has a large amount of gravitational energy with respe ct to the surface of the planet. Second, orbiting the planet requires a certain(a) velocity that will be greater than the velocity of rotation of the planet for a low orbit, this excess velocity must be bled off as well.Energy requirements they are usually denotative in terms of the change in velocity necessary for a given maneuver, or delta-v. To escape from a planet requires a certain increase in velocity and to land requires a certain decrease. each way, however, energy is required in absolute terms, the energy required to land should match the energy required to escape. Escaping the surface of the Earth requires about 11,000 m/s of delta-v. To travel to Mars orbit about 6,000 m/s is required. The smallest portion of the delta-v required is the approximately 5,000 m/s necessary to land on the surface of Mars. (Clarke 221). However, what makes this one of the most interesting phase of the stagger is that whereas we pretty much know what to expect from the first two legs of the trip, what types of situations we may encounter on landing are largely unknown.How To Methods of Landing in that location are several different options to lower the velocity of the lander once it has reached the planet. These options are generally used in combination with one another for level best effect. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks, but in combination, some of these can be alleviated.Aerodynamic DragThe most broadly used, and most useful, of the speed-reduction mechanisms fall downstairs the category of aerodynamic drag.