# "Red Planet" landing question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313 "2004-05-15T20:08:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/1 "2004-05-15T20:08:54Z")
I’m watching Red Planet. In their landing on Mars, they used balloons to cushion the landing just like they did with the mars rovers. Did the scientists at JPL get the idea from the movie? Vice versa? The movie was released in 2000. How long has that landing technology been around? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/2 "2004-05-15T20:30:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Sojourner was carried to Mars by Pathfinder which launched on December 4, **1996** and reached Mars on July 4, 1997, directly entering the planet’s atmosphere and **bouncing on inflated airbags**. [http://www.robothalloffame.org/mars.html](http://www.robothalloffame.org/mars.html) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/3 "2004-05-15T22:03:47Z")
I haven’t seen the movie, so I’m wondering about the description of using balloons to cushion the landing. The Mars landers bounce violently when they hit the surface: that’s the whole reason for the airbags. In fact, they bounce around for a while and then come to a halt in a random position, which could even be upside down. And that’s for a relatively tiny body, already slowed by a parachute. Even beside the obvious point that a manned space ship would be far too heavy for this to work in the first place, did they really have the astronauts slam into the planet like a race car going into a wall? Or did they fudge it by somehow coming down for a nice soft but impossible upright landing? ---
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/4 "2004-05-15T22:25:50Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I haven’t seen the movie, so I’m wondering about the description of using balloons to cushion the landing. > > The Mars landers bounce violently when they hit the surface: that’s the whole reason for the airbags. In fact, they bounce around for a while and then come to a halt in a random position, which could even be upside down. > > And that’s for a relatively tiny body, already slowed by a parachute. Even beside the obvious point that a manned space ship would be far too heavy for this to work in the first place, did they really have the astronauts slam into the planet like a race car going into a wall? Or did they fudge it by somehow coming down for a nice soft but impossible upright landing? No, I f I remember right, they slammed down pretty hard, rolled around a bit, then rolled off a long steep cliff and bounced around some more before stopping. I think they landed so hard that one of their air bags got punctured in the process! (if I remember it right) ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/5 "2004-05-15T22:27:12Z")
Thanks for the answer **Squink**. So the writers borrowed it. **Exapno Mapcase** …The lander was slowed by parachutes but it did land hard and it bounced and rolled quite a ways. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/6 "2004-05-16T00:54:41Z")
Sure hope the astronauts had _internal_ airbags too, in that case. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/7 "2004-05-16T05:23:43Z")
Remember that Mars has a very thin atmosphere compared to earth so even a huge parachute can’t give enough drag for a low impact speed. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/8 "2004-05-16T08:07:06Z")
Yeah, it was BS. The only restraints were harnesses, IIRC, so they got tossed around a little and one guy broke an arm. IRL, they’d have been pâté. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-planet-landing-question/245313/9 "2004-05-16T10:02:09Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > …did they really have the astronauts slam into the planet like a race car going into a wall? Here’s my recollection: The lander was slowed by a heat shield and then a parachute system. The final descent was supposed to be done with a controlled rocket thrust (Viking/Apollo style), but due to the damage suffered earlier in the film they either lost control, or strayed from the path. They jettisoned the lower section of the lander (along with some cargo) and deployed the airbags, which I assume were intended as a backup system. It bounced a few times, which didn’t seem to cause any injuries. However it proceeded to roll into a deep canyon, resulting in serious injuries.