This is front-burner for at least the next 24 hours. Hopefully it won't take as long as First Impressions to get out on the road. Until then, here's the money line. --Mal
Question: How do you land a space shuttle on Mars?
Answer: You can't.
There is no way in hell that you can land a space shuttle on Mars. You'd need wings the size of a football stadium - or bigger - to catch enough lift in the bad joke Mars calls an atmosphere. Your super-sized wings would have to be made of something lighter than a sheet of the thinnest possible plastic to avoid adding too much mass. Or you could just cut a hole in the belly and install a descent engine like the old Apollo LEMs. Maybe you'd have to do both. The shuttle's native orbital maneuvering rockets are useless in any sort of atmosphere. Alierons and rudder equally so when considering Mars.
Trying to land a space shuttle on Mars without some sort of handwavium support is, at best, an elaborate form of suicide.
Naturally, this was our only option.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Question: How do you land a space shuttle on Mars?
Answer: You can't.
There is no way in hell that you can land a space shuttle on Mars. You'd need wings the size of a football stadium - or bigger - to catch enough lift in the bad joke Mars calls an atmosphere. Your super-sized wings would have to be made of something lighter than a sheet of the thinnest possible plastic to avoid adding too much mass. Or you could just cut a hole in the belly and install a descent engine like the old Apollo LEMs. Maybe you'd have to do both. The shuttle's native orbital maneuvering rockets are useless in any sort of atmosphere. Alierons and rudder equally so when considering Mars.
Trying to land a space shuttle on Mars without some sort of handwavium support is, at best, an elaborate form of suicide.
Naturally, this was our only option.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"