Can an aircraft bounce off the atmosphere?
You can’t bounce. When a spacecraft is reentering the atmosphere from some altitude, it will lose some energy. If it gets too hot, it will blow up. If it loses just enough energy, it will land.
How long does it take to re enter the earth’s atmosphere?
“If you think about it, we’re accelerating a 4-1/2 million pound system from zero miles per hour to its orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour in those 8-1/2 minutes. So it’s a heck of a ride for the astronauts,” explained Mike Leinbach, a launch director at NASA.
Can a space ship bounce off the atmosphere?
Yes, a capsule cannot literally bounce off the atmosphere and its kinetic energy must be reduced by an encounter with the atmosphere, rather it would just pass through the atmosphere and back into space, having failed to lose enough velocity to stay in the atmosphere.
What happens when a spacecraft re-enter Earth’s atmosphere?
Spacecraft re-entry is tricky business for several reasons. When an object enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it experiences a few forces, including gravity and drag. Gravity will naturally pull an object back to earth. But gravity alone would cause the object to fall dangerously fast. Luckily, the Earth’s atmosphere contains particles of air.
Why can’t we re-enter space with spacecraft?
Spacecraft re-entry is tricky business for several reasons. When an object enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it experiences a few forces, including gravity and drag. Gravity will naturally pull an object back to earth. But gravity alone would cause the object to fall dangerously fast.
How can a spaceship go to the surface of the Earth?
Your spaceship just needs to thrust continually at 1 g away from Earth to maintain position as it slows down, and then it can lower itself down to the surface, as slowly or as quickly as your pilot wishes. But we don’t have such fuels yet.
Can you re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere with a rocket?
You can do that too, but it would take a huge amount of fuel with ordinary rockets. You can do it with aerobraking, including a surprisingly slow re-entry with an orbital airship; and there are some other ideas that may be possible in the not too distant future, such as a space elevator, or spinning “skyhooks”.