Unmanned spacecraft include satellite communications, weather and military surveillance satellites as well as telescopes. Landing on Mars can be an enormously complex challenge. NASA’s Curiosity rover demonstrated how difficult this task could be in 2012 by performing flawlessly through an incredibly complex sequence, including successfully deploying an elaborate sky crane system to lower itself onto…
Spacecraft are vehicles designed for travel in outer space, usually piloted or unpiloted and carrying scientific instruments for study and observation. China’s Tianwen 1 probe successfully reached Mars on May 14 and unloaded its six-wheeled rover Zhurong, named after the Chinese god of fire. To successfully land, retro rockets and landing legs were utilized. Mariner…
Spacecraft are vehicles designed for travel in outer space. Their systems and instruments vary depending on their mission, from piloted to unpiloted designs. To land on Mars, a lander must separate from its orbiter and descend slowly through its atmosphere, protected from its harsh environment by an aeroshell and heat shield. Phoenix Phoenix was named…
