Re: landings (SG/DS)

On 10-Jun-02 at 13:18, John Sowerby (sowerbyj@fiu.edu) wrote:

> Thinking on this one, in terms of time to ground, some of it will
depend on
>  propulsion.
> 
> A drop cap, fired into the atmosphere of a planet, with no propulsion
unit,
>  will slow up as the atmosphere gets thicker, until it loses the
initial 
> velocity imparted to it. After that, it will fall under gravity, until
the 
> terminal velocity for that planet is reached. This will depend on
size, 
> atmospheric density, initial velocity, etc... (This is a well known
process
>  in meteoritics)

Wheras the dropship will slow up until it loses initial velocity.
It will then fall under gravity+thrust faster than terminal
velocity.  At the last safe instant the dropship reverses thrust
pulling high Gs and lands.

Looks to me like a dropship gets them down faster.