Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Davis
A feather reentering from orbit will never reach the ground. It's
kinetic energy has to go somewhere. The feather does work on the air
which gets very hot which in turn heats the feather, destroying it,
at a higher altitude than your steel pellet.
Jim Davis
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Interesting forum, everyone. Reading this thread, I wondered if some sort of propellor system would be of any use in converting the work done by a re-entry capsule into mechanical motion, and in that way dissipate the energy? Maybe something like a spinning heat shield?