Riding the Fire by wblack

Bryce • Science Fiction • posted on Apr 27, 2013

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Description

Riding the Fire Note: Image updated 4/30/2013. My original image suffered from an over-thinking of the gas-core rocket nozzle direction changes during separation, which resulted in an over-kill in terms of the smoke trails – this final approach is somewhat more aesthetically pleasing I think, and, in terms of the physics involved, perhaps somewhat more sound. An Orion’s Arm future history image. Image is part of a sequence of images depicting events centered around the Year Zero mark on my future history timeline – establishment of a permanent human settlement on the surface of Mars. See link below. Future History Timeline Context Link: Orion’s Arm Future History Timeline. Seen from above: externally mounted Gas-Core nuclear thermal rockets separate from the landing craft aero-shell leaving wild exhaust plumes and an expanding cloud generated by the separation pyrotechnics. Near burn-out the rockets fly in a wild tumble. Smoke trails from the blackened and scorched surface of the aero-shell, the heat shield can be seen glowing white to red hot from the heat of its passage through the Martian atmosphere. Aero-shell and Lander fly free for several more seconds before heat shield and aero-shell separation. For Reference to Mars lander powered entry systems, landing vehicle and aero-shell design, see link: Working Group Mars Settlement Transport Diagram Background is a crop of the Valles Marineris THEMIS mosaic, courtesy NASA/JPL. All models are my own Bryce creations, constructed in Bryce 6.3 and rendered in Bryce 7 Pro. As always thank you for your interest, thoughtful comments, and encouragement.

Comments (12)

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wblack

8:36PM | Sat, 27 April 2013

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Beausabre

9:57PM | Sat, 27 April 2013

Do the gas-core boosters soft-land, or is the surface of Mars covered with slightly radioactive craters up-trajectory from all the landing sites?

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ArtistKimberly

10:19PM | Sat, 27 April 2013

Wonderful Work,

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wblack

10:22PM | Sat, 27 April 2013

Beausabre, The open-cycle gas-core rockets impact the surface leaving radioactive craters – the settlement project is a all-in-one (and one-way) move to the red planet, 110 landing craft delivering one million tons of freight and supplies, along with one thousand settlers – the entire descent ground-track would require later clean-up. Considering the Martian settlers will spend the next 500 hundred years terraforming Mars via the resource importation method, this clean-up is a minor detail. A fact of owning property is that the owner may mess the place up a bit in the process of renovations, as property owners the concern is strictly their own concern, along with the responsibility of clean-up.

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geirla

11:20PM | Sat, 27 April 2013

Nicely done. Considering the pre-terraforming radiation hitting the surface, the damage is probably inconsequential for the first couple of centuries. But, yeah, probably ought to bulldoze that up before putting in the subdivision...

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peedy

12:03AM | Sun, 28 April 2013

WOW, fantastic image and clouds! Great models. Corrie

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ansgar2

1:55AM | Sun, 28 April 2013

Awesome...great POV. Fantastic idea and render...well done!!!

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krickerd

2:24AM | Sun, 28 April 2013

Nice blend!

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MarkHirst

3:02AM | Sun, 28 April 2013

As they say on the Curiosity landing video, there's just enough atmosphere that you have to deal with it, but not enough to slow you down for landing. Very impressive effect, looking forward to the next part of the landing sequence.

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