New Mars Forums
You are not logged in.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Announcement
Pages: 1
#1 2004-08-18 01:01:45
- atomoid
- Member
- From: Santa Cruz, CA
- Registered: 2004-02-13
- Posts: 252
Re: Mars steerable parachute
Sydivers dont use old WW2-style parachutes anymore, they use paraglider type chutes of course!
why not do this for probe descent to land within 2.5 miles of target and shrink those big landing elipses!
okay, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n040 … /]someones finally thinking about it how come i never thought of it? seems so obvious...
"I think it would be a good idea". - [url=http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mahatma_Gandhi/]Mahatma Gandhi[/url], when asked what he thought of Western civilization.
Offline
Like button can go here
#2 2004-08-18 01:52:12
- Rxke
- Member
- From: Belgium
- Registered: 2003-11-03
- Posts: 3,669
Re: Mars steerable parachute
What i do not really understand about this contract: why was it given to Boeing? If you read between the lines, all they contribute is some algorithm and oversight of the project. The real beef is done by smaller companies, uni's...
Boeing is probably going to charge $$$$$$ for a 100 line piece of code...
Why not give this to a smaller private company? Didn't they say they were going to do more stuff like that? X-38 used parafoils already, to do pin-point landing and AFAIK Boeing had nothing to do with that... Why not contract *those* people?
Offline
Like button can go here
#3 2004-08-18 08:55:51
- SpaceNut
- Administrator
- From: New Hampshire
- Registered: 2004-07-22
- Posts: 29,436
Re: Mars steerable parachute
Just what Nasa needs to do, award another contract to the big guy's in the space biz. Did not the commissions final report say to use the private industry. I know that they recently asked for information on just that section of the report.
Offline
Like button can go here
#4 2004-08-18 09:57:29
- Rxke
- Member
- From: Belgium
- Registered: 2003-11-03
- Posts: 3,669
Re: Mars steerable parachute
Yes. That's what makes me kind of mad... This relatively small-scale project is just perfect for smaller businesses, not for giants like Boeinq et al.
And so I'm a bit confused by another crazy contract. Boeing builds crafts, not subsystems.
Offline
Like button can go here
#5 2004-08-23 10:19:55
- SpaceNut
- Administrator
- From: New Hampshire
- Registered: 2004-07-22
- Posts: 29,436
Re: Mars steerable parachute
What I find even funnier is how the Genesis spacecraft is coming back to Earth for retrival.
Offline
Like button can go here
#6 2004-08-23 15:33:04
- Commodore
- Member
- From: Upstate NY, USA
- Registered: 2004-07-25
- Posts: 1,021
Re: Mars steerable parachute
Just what Nasa needs to do, award another contract to the big guy's in the space biz. Did not the commissions final report say to use the private industry. I know that they recently asked for information on just that section of the report.
Boeing is private industry. But they are going to subcontract this out, balloning the cost.
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
Offline
Like button can go here
#7 2004-08-24 07:00:46
- SpaceNut
- Administrator
- From: New Hampshire
- Registered: 2004-07-22
- Posts: 29,436
Re: Mars steerable parachute
If it were a typical private industry they would be making this with no contracts as a commodity to sell to Nasa.
Offline
Like button can go here
Pages: 1