2006-07-15 21:19:22 · 7 answers · asked by Paul 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Egad... the other answers are so... so... well, I can't think of anything nice to say about them, so I won't say anything at all.
To answer your question, if you have sufficient propellant to spare, you can indeed enter the atmosphere at whatever leisurely pace you like. There are many advantages to doing this, among them that your spacecraft doesn't heat up to several thousand degrees from the effects of slamming into the atmosphere at 22,000 miles per hour.
So, you may ask, why don't modern spacecraft actually do this? The answer is that they don't have sufficient propellant to spare - consider that for the space shuttle to accelerate to orbital velocity, it needs to carry fuel and staging components in excess of 15 times its own weight. To decelerate from orbit would require roughly the same amount of fuel, meaning that to do this would require the shuttle have 15 times its mass in fuel while in orbit. Lifting all this fuel would require 15 times the mass of the fuel to be lifted, for a total of 225 times the shuttle's mass in fuel. It is clearly beyond impractial to design a spacecraft to carry that much fuel, and so NASA engineers use the "trick" of using the Earth's atmosphere to decelerate the spacecraft without using the engines. Unfortunately, this requires the spacecraft actually slam into the atmosphere at 22,000 miles per hour, with the associated heating effects. Even so, the the thermal shielding is MUCH less expensive than the required increase in fuel mass would be, which is why NASA continues to use it.
2006-07-15 23:17:55 · answer #1 · answered by Pascal 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes Theoretically. For Ex If V Can Figure Out A way To Costruct A Long Ladder With Nano Tubes, U Can Walk Up The Ladder Into Space and walk Down The ladder To Earth. Its a technology for the future
2006-07-16 05:06:22 · answer #2 · answered by savvy s 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Gravity would tear you apart. The earth is spinning in space. Therefore, in order to enter the atmosphere with a certain destination, you have to enter it at an angle with the spin and relative matching speed. Everything, the earth and its atmosphere are spinning in similar speeds.
2006-07-16 04:24:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well Pascal has it and I agree with it. If a space vehicle did not have forward velocity, it would enable its free fall to slam into the earth by gravity. Remember, when a shuttle or whatever is in orbit, it is actuially in free fall. that is why no gravity. Its forward velocity keeps it in space. Take away the forward velocity, down she a coming!
2006-07-16 22:57:17 · answer #4 · answered by orion_1812@yahoo.com 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no a space ship enters with a large speed
u can land in houston.. but u cant go straight down
2006-07-16 04:30:16 · answer #5 · answered by Prakash 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes and no
2006-07-16 04:25:14 · answer #6 · answered by noodle_212 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thanks, Pascal. Yes, the other answers were unbelievably bad.
My answer? cf. Pascal's. ;-)
2006-07-16 07:45:13 · answer #7 · answered by poorcocoboiboi 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋