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    Britalian's Avatar
    Britalian Posts: 24, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Jun 24, 2008, 10:14 PM
    Re-entry to earth's atmosphere
    Forgive the naïveté of this question. We all know that spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere utilize heat shields to protect the astronuats due to the high speed of the spacecraft. Obviously if there was another way to re-enter the atmosphere if would have been used by now. For instance, if, theoretically, it were possible to re-enter at a very slow speed.
    So is a slow-speed method possible? Would the heat shield become un-necessary?
    Thank you!
    WVHiflyer's Avatar
    WVHiflyer Posts: 384, Reputation: 34
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    #2

    Jun 24, 2008, 11:03 PM
    I suppose 'retro' rockets might enable a slower reentry, but then the craft would have to take so much fuel up with it that getting it into orbit in the 1st place would be a real challenge.
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