Questions tagged [landing]
Questions regarding the specific part of flights, during which a spacecraft touches down on the solid ground of a celestial body.
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Fuel profile for Apollo 11
I downloaded a dozen of NASA documents about post-flight analysis of Apollo 11 mission, but I cannot find a table or a plot of fuel usage and remains;
Some of the documents which I found:
http://www....
2
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2answers
169 views
Why do New Shepard's drogue chutes just "hang there" for ten seconds before deploying the main parachutes? What happens during that time?
The cropped and sharpened screenshots below are from the Blue Origin video Replay: New Shepard Mission NS-19 Webcast after about 02:03:16 (T+08:07) and show a ...
2
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0answers
80 views
What are the innovative aspects of New Shepard's "retro-thrust system on the bottom of the capsule"?
Background:
The final velocity of the capsule after the main parachutes are deployed is a balance; it should always be slow enough that the crew is not injured and for reusable capsules and for space ...
3
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1answer
804 views
Hard (15mph) landing, no retrorockets fired?
Today’s (12-11-21) Blue Origin New Shepard crew landing looked to be at full 15mph with no evidence of retro rockets firing or slowing of the capsule. Did they fire?
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2answers
2k views
Is it possible to propulsively land an SRB?
I am wondering if it is possible to propulsively land a solid rocket booster after it detaches from the core booster. I know you could use thrust termination ports to stop thrust, but it would drop ...
1
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1answer
147 views
Why does the New Shepard Crew Capsule sometimes deploy 3 parachutes and sometimes deploys only 2 parachutes?
The NS-18 capsule on Oct 13 2021 (with William Shatner aboard) landed with 3 parachutes deployed. In contrast, The NS-12 capsule on Dec 11 2019 landed with 2 parachutes deployed. Strangely in both ...
10
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0answers
145 views
Which kinds of survival equipment does Crew Dragon have, in case of an emergency landing?
Soyuz spacecraft has various survival equipment for different cases of emergency landing.
The cases include water landing, desert landing, snow winter landing (crews have special winter suits). They ...
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1answer
118 views
What flag is flying over the landing site of the Shenzhou 12 crew astronauts returning from Tiangong? What does it say?
NBC News has a short video clip Astronauts Return After 90-day Mission To China's Space Station
A trio of Chinese astronauts touched down in the Gobi Desert after completing China's longest space ...
3
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0answers
79 views
Why did the last two NASA rovers land in craters?
Perseverance landed in Jezero crater, Curiosity in Gale crater. Do craters have any specific properties that make them desirable landing sites for rovers?
3
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1answer
273 views
How do SpaceX intend to transport their starship/super heavy?
One of the design constraints of the Falcon 9, its skinniness, is to allow it to be transported by truck back to the launch site.
Falcon 9 is 3.7 metres in diameter, whereas Starship and the super ...
48
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1answer
5k views
Why were the Space Shuttle Orbiter's landing gear not level?
Looking at an image of the orbiter on the ground, it's obvious the nose landing gear is positioned higher than the other landing gear in the wings, making the nose of the orbiter droop down. As far as ...
3
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1answer
123 views
SpaceX live broadcast of booster & boat's eye view of the GPS III Space Vehicle 5 were both uninterrupted; have they make some upgrades to the system?
This answer to Why does the video feed always fail during Falcon 9 landings? shows that SpaceX seems to be "getting better at" or "less shy about" broadcasting continuous live ...
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1answer
180 views
What independent evidence is there that the Zhurong rover landed on Mars in May 2021? [duplicate]
The China National Space Administration announced, on the 17th of May 2021, that the Tianwen 1 mission landed the Zhurong rover on Mars, with the landing taking place on the 15th of May 2021. What ...
6
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0answers
116 views
Other than safety qualifications, was there any technical/engineering reason why propulsive landing was cancelled for the DragonV2?
The Dragon V2 cannot perform a propulsive landing. But the Starship will be making propulsive landings. Why?
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0answers
249 views
What are the G forces the Dragon 2 crew experience during splashdown? And what is the seat angle for the current configuration of 4 astronauts?
The Dragon 2 has a crew capacity of seven, but, NASA decided to change the specification for the angle of the ship’s seats due to concerns about the g-forces crew members might experience during ...
3
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0answers
168 views
Why does the landing trajectory of a blunt body take an S shape in the lower atmosphere?
I coded some Matlab plots of altitude vs time for the re-entry of a point mass (so no aerothermo analysis included). In all the trajectories, there is an S shape closer to the ground. Why? Please ...
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3answers
446 views
Is it possible to know where the Long March 5B will be landed approximately?
I have read some articles about the uncontrolled space rocket the Long March 5B including some space tracker websites but none of them give any useful information about the rocket landing.
Is it ...
8
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1answer
480 views
Did Yuri Gagarin really telephone officials in Moscow to come pick him up?
A farmer and her daughter observed the strange scene of a figure in a bright orange suit with a large white helmet landing near them by parachute. Gagarin later recalled, "When they saw me in my ...
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0answers
33 views
Why did SN10 rest at a slight incline after landing? [duplicate]
Recently when SpaceX's SN10 landed, before it exploded, it sat still on the ground for a few minutes.
It appears to be resting at a slight incline.
Why is this?
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3answers
204 views
Why did the communication cable of the Perseverance rover make an angle so great with the other three cables? [closed]
How can you explain the weird position of the communication cable in the image below?
The Perseverance about 20 meters above the surface of Mars. The communication cable, between the rover and its ...
3
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1answer
141 views
How many spacecraft bounced like a ball on Mars? How many tried to?
The answer to Why a rover bounces after landing on Mars? is "the Mars Exploration Rovers" of which there were two.
However, they might not be the only spacecraft to use bouncing like a ball ...
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3answers
257 views
A mysterious flash of light on the surface of Mars while the Perseverance rover was landing. What can it be? [closed]
A mysterious light that lasted a fraction of a second appeared on the surface of Mars while the Perseverance rover was descending. What can its source be?
See: Perseverance Rover’s Descent and ...
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4answers
509 views
The Mars parachute opened against a black sky on Earth but a blue-magenta sky on Mars during Perseverance landing. How is it possible? [closed]
I have discovered two images (see below) and I do not find an explanation for the different color of the sky as seen from below the parachute just starting to deploy. The video with the test performed ...
62
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4answers
11k views
How were Perseverance's cables "cut" after touching down?
In the NASA conference today regarding Perseverance's successful landing on Mars, they talked about how you can see the cable that held the rover in this picture below (I circled the cable).
I'm ...
6
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0answers
57 views
What are the rules for callouts during mission landings?
I remember hearing at one point that in the control room at JPL, only the GN&C Lead is allowed to make the announcement for touchdown. It's because they don't want someone prematurely (and ...
4
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0answers
161 views
Has there ever been an attempt or serious consideration for spacecraft to land on Mars without an ablative-type heat shield?
My answer to Do exploration spacecraft enter Mars atmosphere against Mars rotation, or on the same direction? lauds the use of ablative heat shields for minimizing radiative heating of a spacecraft by ...
6
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2answers
493 views
How tall are the "cliffs of the delta" in the Perseverance rover's landing ellipse?
edit: For all the cliff-doubters in comments, here's a quote of Project Scientist Ken Farley in the new NASA video After the Landing: An Update about NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover after ...
31
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8answers
8k views
Why not land SpaceX's Starship like a plane?
I get the reasoning behind designing Starship to land upright. It doesn't require landing gear and the turnaround is expected to be much faster. But I'm beginning to question that logic.
I think the ...
16
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1answer
1k views
Are launch windows to Mars avoided if they result in landings during dust storm season?
This comment suggests that orbit before descent to Mars' surface allows a mission to delay the landing if the weather conditions are bad. I think that Tianwen-1 will be the first to put a lander rover ...
6
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1answer
282 views
SpaceX Starship: Could they use the Vacuum engines during landing in case of other engine failure?
With the recent test (and RUD due to single engine relight failure) of SN-9, Musk has stated that what they should've done was light all three raptor engines simultaneously then turn one off so as to ...
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1answer
228 views
How long is Falcon 9 suicide burn?
My question is
How long is a Falcon 9 suicide burn?
I assume the answer might vary between rides, depending on the payload lifted and its destination orbit so the time might not be the same for a ...
6
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1answer
185 views
What is the heaviest object to have been returned to Earth with a parachute?
Per What were the biggest and heaviest spacecrafts to safely return from orbit?, the biggest and heaviest spacecrafts to safely return from orbit were space shuttles and space planes.
What were the ...
9
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1answer
535 views
Can the space shuttle use OMS engines during landing?
Can the space shuttle use its OMS engines if the shuttle is short during the runway approach? Is fuel available for use in such a situation and will the engines provide reasonable thrust to get to the ...
4
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1answer
229 views
Starship deceleration during belly flop?
Was just wondering what level of deceleration did they get during that belly flop manouver?
Updated:
Hiya, you're all correct, and I was a tad vague in my question! What I'm after is the vertical ...
4
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2answers
279 views
How was an emergency landing site at Diego Garcia used during the Apollo program?
On the current Starlink mission as the 2nd stage passed over the Indian Ocean I heard mention of contact with a ground station at Diego Garcia. Checking that article I found the subsection Space ...
3
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0answers
67 views
How to get MSL coordinates during EDL from SPICE kernel?
Upon trying to extract MSL position above surface by decoding a SPICE kernel, I am gettin this error:
At epoch 3.9750216818313E+08 TDB (2012 AUG 06 05:16:08.183 TDB), there
is insufficient ...
4
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1answer
93 views
Does the SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage fleet, fly in order?
SpaceX by the end of 2020, made it very clear that they have solved the first stage reflight problem. Two cores have flown 7 times. Several are over 4 flights. At the beginning of 2021 they have about ...
2
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2answers
279 views
Can the Space Shuttle land on Mars assuming there is a paved surface for landing?
Can the Space Shuttle land on Mars if it had a paved runway?
Can the Space Shuttle use aerobraking and will its control surfaces provide attitude control?
Can the parachute and braking systems stop ...
3
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1answer
100 views
Besides landing several folks on the Moon and returning them safely to the Earth what criteria did Human Landing System proposals to NASA meet?
The new NASA video NASA 2021: Let's Go to the Moon shows artwork for three very different spacecraft sitting on the lunar surface with the overlain caption
Selecting A Human Landing System
"...
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1answer
308 views
Can Starship use dedicated smaller auxiliary landing fuel tanks?
Would it be better for Starship to have a separate set of small fuel tanks dedicated to landing the ship, maybe controlled separately or plumbed differently.
7
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1answer
102 views
Is there possible engine damage without launch platform on Mars return flight?
When a Starship has landed on Mars, there is not going to be any kind of prepared platform initially. (That may be a task for early crews to resolve).
Is there the possibility that Starship, sitting ...
6
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2answers
769 views
How many burns does New Shepard have during a descent?
The Falcon 9 first stage is making two or three burns for descending:
boostback burn (optional, depends on return to launch site vs ocean landing)
entry burn
landing burn
But how many burns is the ...
11
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2answers
2k views
Land a cubesat on the moon with ion engine
Say I have a 3U cubesat with a BIT-3 ion thruster, an iodine tank and landing legs. Can it land on the Moon with just an ion thruster?
4
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0answers
261 views
How heavy is SpaceX's Octagrabber?
SpaceX's drone ships have a vehicle that drives under a booster after landing and then clamps onto it to secure it. Photos of it suggest that it has neither ballast nor any way to clamp onto the ...
4
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1answer
221 views
Can the grid fins affect the rotation of the Falcon 9 descent?
Can the grid fins control the rotation of the Falcon 9 on descent?
How would they have to be positioned to stop the rotation?
If used to rotate the ship, then how they would they have to be positioned ...
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0answers
104 views
Could SN8 miss its "bellyflop" if Center of Gravity is too far forward?
Very excited about the upcoming Space X Starship SN8 test flight, but was concerned about the ability to perform the high drag horizontal belly flop with some of the rocket thruster hardware missing ...
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5answers
4k views
Which astronauts or cosmonauts were injured by a hard landing?
Sigmund Jähn, the first German in orbit, was injured during a hard landing of the Soyuz 29 capsule on September 3rd, 1978. He got permanent damages of his vertebral column.
Are there other astronauts ...
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3answers
4k views
Did Apollo have braking rockets for soft landing on Earth?
Did Apollo have braking rockets for soft landing on Earth? I have checked Google but cannot find an answer.
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1answer
92 views
How long it takes for the Falcon 9 payload fairings to reach the sea?
The payload fairings of Falcon 9 are released at about 3:15 min
How much time they need to fall and reach the sea?
And what is their maximum speed while reentry?
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1answer
101 views
Falcon 9 landing stages
I know the first stage of Falcon 9 separates at about 2:30 min and it lands at about 8:30 min
But what are the distinct stages of the descent? Like deorbit burns, grid fin deployment, leg deployment ...