In article ,
lid says...

On 18-03-18 15:56 , Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...
...
In a "Pan Am flight 006 to Mars and back, would the mass of the vehicle
making the drop from space and land to surface be roughly the same ? Or
would landing at one planet require much more fuel?

You'd need a lot more fuel and oxidizer to land on Mars since Mars
atmosphere is so thin you won't get anywhere near as much aerodynamic
braking as you get on earth.

Hmm. In his "Making Life Multiplanetary" address in September 2017, Musk
showed a simulation of a BFS Mars landing with text saying "over 99% of
energy removed aerodynamically". If less than 1% of the orbital energy
remains for rocket braking, is that really a significant difference
between Mars and Earth?

If that number is correct, perhaps not. The devil will be in the
details though.

Jeff

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