XJet's Mars Rover landing failure
NASA's Curosity Rover is due to land on Mars around 0500GMT on Monday 6th August 2012.
The descent to the planet's surface is incredibly complex and risky -- with the most uncertain part being the Sky Crane maneuver which sees the descent-vehicle lower the Rover on a cable while hovering overhead.
To see just how difficult this maneuver might be, the XJet channel spared no expense in sending its own rover to land on the surface of Mars, using exactly the same techinque.
The bad news is - it's a lot harder than you'd think. I hope they've found a way to damp any pendulum swing that might occur at this stage in the descent.
The good news - neither the XJet Rover nor the descent vehicle were damaged in the attempt.
And Mars tastes yummy by the way!
The descent to the planet's surface is incredibly complex and risky -- with the most uncertain part being the Sky Crane maneuver which sees the descent-vehicle lower the Rover on a cable while hovering overhead.
To see just how difficult this maneuver might be, the XJet channel spared no expense in sending its own rover to land on the surface of Mars, using exactly the same techinque.
The bad news is - it's a lot harder than you'd think. I hope they've found a way to damp any pendulum swing that might occur at this stage in the descent.
The good news - neither the XJet Rover nor the descent vehicle were damaged in the attempt.
And Mars tastes yummy by the way!
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