Timeline for Can an escape pod land on Earth from orbit and not be immediately detected?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 12, 2019 at 15:42 | comment | added | Zeiss Ikon | To just get down, yes, very little dV is needed (I'm a pretty decent KSP player). To get down in a fairly precise location, and minimize your meteoric footprint, requires more dV and a steeper reentry profile (which also keeps the heat soak from cooking the occupants, though they take more Gs during descent). | |
| Jun 12, 2019 at 14:51 | comment | added | user | You don't need much delta-v to change the orbit sufficiently to reenter the atmosphere. Compare How could a 90 m/s delta-v be enough to commit the space shuttle to landing? on Space Exploration. Full disclosure: My own question. | |
| Jun 12, 2019 at 11:33 | comment | added | John Dvorak | @Flater conspicuousness is an excellent point. It takes one amateur astronomer to notice an unusually aerodynamic meteor, and soon you have at least a couple of professionals wanting to take samples. | |
| Jun 12, 2019 at 11:29 | comment | added | Flater | @JohnDvorak: If anything, it would achieve the opposite effect. Slowing your descent first of all increases your time spent in radar range, and additionally proves that you're not just a dumb space rock falling to Earth. If you just fall naturally, you're pretty much indistinguishable from a similarly sized meteor (which may still be noticed, but not necessarily investigated, especially when you make a water landing) | |
| Jun 12, 2019 at 11:23 | comment | added | Zeiss Ikon | Without "alien" technology, this isn't possible. A rocket that could slow your pod enough not to come in like a meteor would have a plume as visible as the meteoric reentry (and a fuel tank as big as a Falcon 9, give or take), and wings don't help at the altitude where the ionization and compression heating is a major and highly visible issue -- you're still too high. @JohnDvorak | |
| Jun 12, 2019 at 11:20 | comment | added | John Dvorak | Would it help to reduce visibility by using an aerodynamic craft and taking my sweet time to slow down to a reasonable speed? | |
| Jun 11, 2019 at 18:47 | comment | added | Zeiss Ikon | There's poor radar coverage south of Hawaii -- virtually nothing pointed at the sky that could see an orbiting craft. Reenter at noon and virtually no one will see, and over Antarctica, there's virtually no one to see. | |
| Jun 11, 2019 at 18:42 | comment | added | puppetsock | There are probably some ways to decrease the net brightness. An ablative hull that kept the temperature lower would dump heat at the expense of leaving a lot of stuff in a trail. As well, entering at a time when the sun is in people's eyes. Also, using a pod with very little radar signature will help. Also, some jim-jam to convince people you are still aboard, such as relayed signals or recordings or such. | |
| Jun 11, 2019 at 18:34 | comment | added | cal | Thanks a lot! I edited my question, as I forgot to add that the ship would be under observation from Earth. | |
| Jun 11, 2019 at 18:21 | history | answered | Zeiss Ikon | CC BY-SA 4.0 |