jkonrath@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (jon) (12/22/90)
a bit ago someone was discussing the Apollo capsule's re-entry. The
capsule comes in at a 5.5 degree re-entry angle into a re-entry
corridor that is basically shaped like a narrow cone, 300 miles wide
and 40 miles deep. The reason the low angle is becuase the capsule 'bounces'
several times off the atmosphere to slow down. Not all craft had to
do that: Mercury and Gemini used a steeper angle, because they were slower
craft.
Now, how I picked this up: I got a game called Apollo 18: Mission to the
moon, by accolade. It's for the pc, and details an imaginary last trip
to the moon. The mythical mission has you landing at either Tranquility,
Littrow, or Descartes. One of the missins is to bring back pieces of
the Surveyor III, and the other is to EVA in moon orbit and recover
a satellite. The program is pretty accurate: it has you set a lot
of 'switches' and it involves a decent amount of reading along for
this. There's also 'programs' that you run on a telemetry computer to
do such things as depressurization, powerups, etc. Its a pretty fun game.
I havent got a lunar landing yet, the closest Ive got is an orbit with
a failed landing, and a return to earth. It isnt easy...it took me
a half hr or so to get the first stage fired up on the pad without an
explosion.....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JKONRATH@silver.ucs.indiana.edu $ brain := off
if behind 5 yrs: (VMS) @rose.ucs.indiana.edu $ set mind = 'unknown'
if behind 15: (prime) @sbway.iusb.indiana.edu $ ! after 5:00 pm
or even 25: 58319 Ironwood, Elkhart, IN 46516 $ set no_work_importance
disclaimer: I have a multiple personality disorder, all opinions are
of one of my other existences.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------heskett@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Donald Heskett) (12/22/90)
> a bit ago someone was discussing the Apollo capsule's re-entry. The > capsule comes in at a 5.5 degree re-entry angle into a re-entry > corridor that is basically shaped like a narrow cone, 300 miles wide > and 40 miles deep. The reason the low angle is becuase the capsule 'bounces' > several times off the atmosphere to slow down. Not all craft had to > do that: Mercury and Gemini used a steeper angle, because they were slower > craft. > Now, how I picked this up: I got a game called Apollo 18: Mission to the > moon, by accolade. I think you are wrong about the Apollo capsule bouncing off the atmosphere. If I remember correctly, its re-entry trajectory was monotonic non-increasing; i.e., always downward. Games are fun, but they usually cannot be relied on as sources of reliable information. According to Kenneth Gatland, at least some of the Russian Zond lunar probes did perform "skip" re-entries. However, from his description, that this was not for purposes of lessening the re-entry heating.