Space Craft Landing
•Parachutes vs Runway landing – Each have their own benefits:
• - Parachutes have the upside of being very simplistic and low weight in design and are typically well tested. An issue with parachutes is they can only carry so much weight •- A Runway landing, like the space shuttle used, allows for a much safer and controlled final landing phase, but also makes it more complex and requires much heavier systems like the hydraulics and landing equipment
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/space-shuttle-landing1.jpg Apollo 17 Command Module Descending On Main Parachutes
VS
Crowd Question:
What are some other examples of up and downsides to each?
Parachute -> Non-Guided
Runway -> Including the gear system, wings, ailerons, rudders, brakes, etc. Having so many systems also creates many avenues for a serious system failure.