willyh

Comment Threads

• Greg Tingey commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  Schiaparelli crashed. Not good. Is it just me, or is landing a probe on Mars significantly more "risky" than other distant missions?...
• Allen Thomson commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_Mars#Mars_Curse...
• Dirk Bruere commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  Aliens did it. Or possibly Trump....
• Pigeon commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  It has a decent amount of gravity to fight on the way down, it has bugger all atmosphere to act as a handy brake, and it is far enough away that control on Earth cannot intervene anything like usefully quickly if the onboard systems cock up. For all other possible destinations except Mercury, at least one of these conditions does not apply....
• Fletcher Christian commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  Venus probes have a fairly poor history, too. At least one of the conditions you mention (atmosphere) doesn't apply there - but there is the small matter of the viciously hostile environment once you do land. I don't know whether this was done at the time, but it seems to me that the designers of Venus probes would do well to consult a builder of submarines - since the pressure is roughly equivalent to a kilometre of water....