Philip P. Ide

Author, programmer, science enthusiast, half-wit.
Life is sweet. Have you tasted it lately?

User Tools

Site Tools


blog:articles:science:landing_mars2020

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revision
Previous revision
blog:articles:science:landing_mars2020 [2019/07/03 14:30] – [What This Means] Phil Ideblog:articles:science:landing_mars2020 [2019/07/13 08:00] (current) – [What This Means] Phil Ide
Line 38: Line 38:
 A landing ellipse is 20km by 7km. Jezera is 49km in diameter. If we look at NASA's most recent landing - InSight - we can see a problem. InSight was meant to land at a longitude of 135.974°E, but it actually landed at 135.6234°E. Let's do some maths: A landing ellipse is 20km by 7km. Jezera is 49km in diameter. If we look at NASA's most recent landing - InSight - we can see a problem. InSight was meant to land at a longitude of 135.974°E, but it actually landed at 135.6234°E. Let's do some maths:
  
-  21,344 km (circumference of Mars) / 360 (number of degrees) = 59.288 km+  21,344 km (circumference of Mars) / 360 (number of degrees) = 59.288 km per degree
   135.974 - 135.6234 = 0.3506 (degrees)   135.974 - 135.6234 = 0.3506 (degrees)
   59.288 * 0.3506 = 20.786 km.   59.288 * 0.3506 = 20.786 km.
  
-Insight missed its target by 20.786km. What this means is the landing ellipse is 20km long, with a 20km variance of hitting the actually intended landing site. I'm pretty sure NASA can do better than that (perhaps a 10km variability or less), but at this sort of accuracy Jezera, at 49km wide, is pushing the limits of safe landing. Internally, Jezera is riddled with hazards. This new landing system is in effect a game-changer.+Insight missed its target by 20.786km. What this means is the landing ellipse is 20km long, with a 10km variance of hitting the actually intended landing site. At this sort of accuracy Jezera, at 49km wide, is pushing the limits of safe landing. Internally, Jezera is riddled with hazards. This new landing system is in effect a game-changer.
  
 Mars 2020 is taking a helicopter with it too. I'm pretty  excited about Mars 2020. Aren't you? Mars 2020 is taking a helicopter with it too. I'm pretty  excited about Mars 2020. Aren't you?
blog/articles/science/landing_mars2020.1562164207.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/07/03 14:30 by Phil Ide

Except where otherwise noted, content on this wiki is licensed under the following license: Copyright © Phil Ide
Donate Powered by PHP Valid HTML5 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki