With planning for manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, Mars, and many asteroids underway, engineers are using numerical simulations to understand how spacecraft thrusters interact with planetary surfaces. Most Keep reading
Tag: spacecraft
Galileo’s Descent
In December 1995, the Galileo probe made its dramatic descent into Jupiter’s atmosphere at a velocity of more than 47 km/s. In 30 seconds, it decelerated from Mach 50 to Mach 1, Keep reading
Sloshing Dynamics
[original media no longer available] Sloshing refers to the motion of a liquid inside a moving container, for example, in tanker trucks or inside a spacecraft’s fuel tank. The motion Keep reading
Feathering on SpaceShipTwo
Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites recently performed their first feathered flight with SpaceShipTwo, which is on track to be the first commercial spaceship. Feathering is a re-entry technique devised by Keep reading