NASA has proven powered, controlled flight is possible on other worlds, just as the Wright brothers proved it was possible on Earth.
    • Match!!English
      9•5 months ago

      So, we should fly on Jupiter instead, right?

        • Captain AggravatedEnglish
          13•5 months ago

          Or leg powered. The gravity is so low and the atmosphere so thick a pilot could pedal power a Cessna Skyhawk. Until he froze to death.

        • @[email protected]English
          5•5 months ago

          I mean flying on Titan would be so easily theoretically a guy with really big wings could reasonably flap himself around

          • Rob T FireflyEnglish
            4•5 months ago

            Run out and find me a guy with really big wings, I’ve got a job for him.

      • gregorumEnglish
        6•5 months ago

        Is that even possible? I mean… with how volatile and exotic the atmosphere is, wouldn’t what a craft would be doing be more akin to how a submarine travels under water? Would “flying” even be the correct term? Wouldn’t it be more like navigating violent torrents of differently-dense gaseous layers? Some of which are (sometimes) liquid?

        What would one even call that?

        • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
          3•5 months ago

          Atmospheric pressure changes based on altitude, so there’s probably some point where Jupiter’s atmosphere that’s a similar pressure and temperature to earth.

          • midnight
            8•5 months ago

            I looked it up, and the region of Jupiter’s atmosphere at 1 bar is -100C. So you theoretically you could fly a modified Earth plane, it would just be a bit chilly.

            Interestingly, though, Venus does have a zone with Earth-like temperature and pressure.

            • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
              2•5 months ago

              Thanks! I did a quick search and couldn’t find it but I know that with this crowd I’ll get an answer!

            • @[email protected]English
              1•5 months ago

              What makes cold temperatures a problem on earth is ice forming frombwater wapour in the atmosphere. No idea what you’re likely to get on titan, but probably not that.

    • squiblet
      1•5 months ago

      Interesting. I was wondering how it would work at all with such a thin atmosphere. The author could chill out a bit though.

    • squiblet
      8•5 months ago

      I’m still confused about when there was ever a helicopter vs. just a rover

      • @[email protected]English
        10•5 months ago

        To test the concept, now they know that it works they can come up with a dedicated mission that can cover a lot more ground - the rovers are slllloooowwwwwwww.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•5 months ago

          Even just for finding the best path for a rover, interesting places for a rover to go, you can make much better use of the extremely limited speed of a rover

  • @[email protected]English
    33•5 months ago

    Somewhere in Hollywood, a studio exec is already pitching a sequel to The Martian, with the plot that Matt Daemon finds himself stranded on Mars again and needs to fix the helicopter to fly him back to Earth.