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This article proposes an unusual way to land objects from orbit and probes returning from deep space. I won’t dwell on details best left for future study, but will suggest enough possibilities to encourage more study of the concept. The use of airbags to help spacecraft land on Mars is a recent example of just how important it is to consider unconventional recovery options like the one described here.
The goal is to reduce or eliminate the usual weight penalty and reliability issues associated with parachutes, touchdown cushioning rockets, water flotation devices, and other complex paraphernalia normally required to softly land a space vehicle on the Earth. New concepts deserve a memorable name, so I call this recovery system “Pit Stop” for reasons that will soon be obvious.
In this scenario, reentry of the spacecraft would be conventional until it slows and descends in the atmosphere to an altitude of perhaps 15,000 meters. At that height the landing capsule might separate from the disposable heat shield, which then drops away. The heat shield could remain attached, but it might present extra thermal problems for the recovery facility on the ground. Aerodynamic control surfaces would then pitch the vehicle over into a vertical dive where it would reach a terminal velocity of perhaps 100 meters per second.
Read more about it here.
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In a nutshell the returning object falls into a hole then compresses the air like a piston as it falls down the hole which slows the object eventually stopping it. I don't really know how much money it would save on conventional stuff but it sure would be useful in a space mining venture from the moon where they could catapult stuff back and save a ton of money
The goal is to reduce or eliminate the usual weight penalty and reliability issues associated with parachutes, touchdown cushioning rockets, water flotation devices, and other complex paraphernalia normally required to softly land a space vehicle on the Earth. New concepts deserve a memorable name, so I call this recovery system “Pit Stop” for reasons that will soon be obvious.
In this scenario, reentry of the spacecraft would be conventional until it slows and descends in the atmosphere to an altitude of perhaps 15,000 meters. At that height the landing capsule might separate from the disposable heat shield, which then drops away. The heat shield could remain attached, but it might present extra thermal problems for the recovery facility on the ground. Aerodynamic control surfaces would then pitch the vehicle over into a vertical dive where it would reach a terminal velocity of perhaps 100 meters per second.
Read more about it here.
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In a nutshell the returning object falls into a hole then compresses the air like a piston as it falls down the hole which slows the object eventually stopping it. I don't really know how much money it would save on conventional stuff but it sure would be useful in a space mining venture from the moon where they could catapult stuff back and save a ton of money
