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We have had a few brushings into this topic in other threads.
So what is it and how does it work?
[url=http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050824/NEWS02/508240384/1007]Aerocapture plan gives space a brake
Atmosphere could slow spacecrafts[/url]
Les Johnson is working on the space version of skipping a rock on a pond.
The idea is called "aerocapture." It relies on a planet or moon's atmosphere to slow down an arriving spacecraft without burning it up or bouncing it off into space.
A satellite using this method to enter Mars' orbit will resemble an upsidedown turtle. A hard shell made of tiles will bear the heat with all the fragile components and instruments safely tucked inside.
So why would we want to use it:
The advantage: The technique uses up to 40 percent less fuel than current methods. For researchers, that means adding more instruments and cameras to a flight, or a rocket that could launch a scoop of Martian soil back to Earth.
As noted It is the galactic equivalent of exiting the interstate safely. Of course, the coasting speed for the spacecraft is as high as 25,200 mph that we must slow down by using this techniques.
"If you come in too shallow, you skip off the atmosphere. If you come in too deep, you do an unplanned landing," Johnson said.
How much money is Nasa investing into this research:
The aerocapture concept is one of 11 proposals battling for a NASA-sponsored test flight at a cost of about $90 million -- less than a fifth the cost of one shuttle launch, said Ray Taylor, who leads NASA's New Millenium program.
The agency gave researchers about $1 million for basic tests and will select a winner next year. The prospect of taking more instruments to measure other worlds is tantalizing to scientists.
How do we do it:
A satellite using this method to enter Mars' orbit will resemble an upsidedown turtle. A hard shell made of tiles will bear the heat with all the fragile components and instruments safely tucked inside.
It is much the same idea that capsules returning from space have used since NASA started launching monkeys into space.
Johnson, manager of NASA's In-Space Propulsion directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, said tests on heat shield tiles similar to those used on the shuttles have been successful.
But it may take a test flight to prove that computers can safely guide a satellite through a series of invisible keyholes to reach orbit using nothing more than the laws of physics and a heat shield.
Ya we has seen what happens to a heat sield made of tiles, oh so not so good.
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They don't have to be flimsy RCC tiles however, they might be high-temp ceramic or even metal.
NASA has already picked a particular aerobrake shield design for its Mars ship, which is a bit like a stubby bullet.
Such a thing wouldn't be all that useful for travel to the Moon and back, since it really isn't nessesarry with capsules, and would be pretty heavy versus the fuel it would save.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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