Re: Atmospheric entry
I thought Mars has a very thin atmosphere, is it really enough to produce significant entry heating?
Yep. The Curiosity rover saw 3800F on its heat shield during its 21,200kph entry**, and the Mars Climate Orbiter peppered the face of Mars as well-roasted confetti because of a too-deep aerobraking maneuver.
As Marketing Hack noted, Earth atmospheric entries tend to see peak heating at altitudes where pressures are similar to that of Mars. Most meteors burn up at ~50km altitude, so a fast-moving probe at Mars can see plenty of heating.
Or not. Several probes have used much, much higher altitude aerobraking maneuvers to save fuel. MCO, which lacked a real heat shield, planned to skim Mars' atmosphere at around 110km and could survive to 80km.
**I had to mix Imperial/metric because my next example was Mars Climate orbiter.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
