New answers tagged landing
8
Yes disclaimers apply
Others addressed "classic" SRBs that fire continuously, and the near-impossibility of such an endeavor with them. But there is an experimental (though quite matured) technology of Electric Solid Propellant which allows extinguishing and relighting your SRB at will, and even fine-tuning the thrust mid-flight. You will likely ...
15
Fundamentally soft landing a solid requires controlling the thrust. This is not totally impossible, as demonstrated by the Nulka system that hovers by adjusting away from the optimal nozzle shape to 'waste' thrust. The burn off of fuel makes the rocket lighter, so to do a hovering descent would involve a very complex grain structure that runs a tapering down ...
1
High rotor blade speed is a limiting factor on earth. Blade tips go supersonic. Even raindrops erode blade tips (let alone Mars grit !) The speed of sound will be lower on Mars (due to temperature) so that will set a lower speed limit. I'm not optimistic about Mars helicopters with heavy lift capacity. –
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