[extropy-chat] Pluto New Horizons launch -getting ready

[Dan Clemmensen]

Robert Bradbury wrote:

> Sounds like you need a combination orbiter + lander.  Let the lander 
> just worry about getting signals up to the orbiter and the orbiter 
> worry about getting them back to Earth.  But they you still have the 
> deceleration problem again.  I think an inflatable antenna on a 
> hard-impact lander might be the way to go.  The crater problem can be 
> solved if you can bring it in at a low angle and/or let it bounce/roll 
> along until it came to a stop.
>
> On 2/14/06, *spike* <spike66 at comcast.net <mailto:spike66 at comcast.net>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Oh I see where you are coming from, ja.  The chips themselves can
>     likely withstand a lot of
>
>     acceleration, but we need to get the signals back home somehow. 
>     That requires the kind
>
>     of equipment that cannot with current technology handle the sudden
>     stop, nor figure out a
>
>     way to dig itself out of the crater it would form on impact.  I'll
>     keep thinking tho. 
>
>
What about unreeling a very long fiber from the vehicle and orienting 
the fiber to hit the surface as the vehicle just barely misses? You have 
years to get the fiber oriented just right during the outbound trip. The 
fiber will then drag on the surface and decelerate the vehicle. The 
fiber is in tension, not compression, and is so thin that the 
deceleration will be modest.  Of course, any intelligent crystalline 
life-forms on the planet will probably not appreciate the damage done to 
the surface along the path of the fiber....

This technique can be used to put the vehicle into an orbit, or to land 
it, or the vehicle can deploy an orbiter after some deceleration has 
occurred and then remain attached to the fiber to effect a landing.