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Asked by shannoeaza to Helen on 21 Nov 2014.
Question: If you were coming back from space, how would you know where you are meant to land?
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Helen Johnson answered on 21 Nov 2014:
Great question! I think scientists are just able to really precisely calculate where and when a spacecraft is going to land, before it does, based on its orbit and any fuel it’s burned up to change course. The manned missions like space shuttle launches were able to be controlled on the way down, to land on a runway like a plane. Unmanned missions or ones with less control over their trajectory tend to be designed to land in the ocean, so that if anything goes wrong no one back on Earth is hurt.
Comments
Hugh commented on :
Anyone who has played Kerbal Space Program (which I definitely recommend) knows how difficult this is. Earth-based space programs are much better though, mostly because we have 60 years of practise on getting spacecraft into the right orbits. When Curiosity landed on Mars, more than 100 million miles away, it landed only a few miles from where the scientists were aiming, simply because they were able to tweak Curiosity’s orbit and know exactly when it was going to enter the Martian atmosphere and what would be underneath when it did.
Hugh commented on :
Oops; I didn’t realise that this wasn’t asked of me and I was commenting not answering. Apologies!