Mars Landing

[Irving]

So what was the secret message in the parachute? I saw an article headline on Space.com talking about it, but didn't read it.

[Gman]

So what was the secret message in the parachute? I saw an article headline on Space.com talking about it, but didn't read it.

[hollohas]

I was wondering what the parachute said too. It was obvious to me that the pattern meant something but I didn't find out until today.

[Duman]

It's a rorschach test for Martians....

[flogger]

Pretty damn cool but very geekish.

[Irving]

What do the numbers and individual characters mean?

[hollohas]

What do the numbers and individual characters mean?

The numbers are the coordinates for the JPL. You know, to make it easier for the martians to find it when they want to attack.

Letters are "Dare mighty things".

[Irving]

I meant the W and N around the outside, but I assume those are part of the coordinates.

[MrPrena]

Parachute and decelerating thruster due to much higher terminal vel.

So some kids can hypothesize that venus do not need deecererating thruster due to much higher atmosphere than earth.

No. You probably need thruster everywhere to correct it from crazy winds. (Not to mention crazy pressure and temp).

Even though the surface gravity on Mars is only 3.7 meters/sec (compared to 9.8 meters/sec on Earth), the thin atmosphere means that the average terminal velocity hits a nail-biting 1,000 km/hour or so, compared to about 200 km/hour back home. That means you have to do a lot more work to shed speed.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com...%20back%20home.



Eta; it is meter per second squared..... not m/s.

[Ridge]

Pretty damn cool but very geekish.

I hear there are a few of those at NASA and JPL