[ExI] Landing Rover on Mars

[spike]

>...] On Behalf Of BillK
Subject: [ExI] Landing Rover on Mars

>...Following from recent discussions about the problems of landing
asteroids safely on earth, the new Curiosity Rover has a unique system for
landing safely on Mars. Their problem was that Curiosity is the size of a
small car, so airbags wouldn't be feasible.

Read here:
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-20013105-239.html>

Exciting video (5 minutes) here:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8>

>...BillK
_______________________________________________

This lander is the controls engineers' playground, but oh boy is it scary.
There is no practical way to really test it in a 1G field: you need to run
your computer simulations and do every calculation carefully and repeatedly,
check it over and over, and when you are finished go straight to the closest
church or synagogue, get down on your knees and pray to evolution that it
works.

spike