Team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover’s final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.
Team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover’s final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.
Didn’t they develop a system to tip the tetrahedron upright, which ultimately wasn’t used, since they literally got a lucky roll of the (D4) die?
Starship would be an interesting (and large!) landing system. Use the entire upper stage of the rocket for heatshield and aerobraking, then transition to a propulsive landing. If the technique works, you could probably deliver several bus-sized rovers at once.
I read somewhere that the geometry of the capsule was designed in such a way that it was guaranteed to result in the rover being upright after bouncing. I have now idea how they guaranteed that or if they could have righted it if it was not upright :)