Terminal Descent by wblack

Bryce • Science Fiction • posted on May 12, 2013

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Description

Terminal Descent 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: Future History Timeline Context Link: Orion’s Arm Future History Timeline. The final image for my Mars Settlement vehicle EDL (Entry, Descent, Landing) sequence. On final, descending through 450 feet. The fury of hydrogen burning with oxygen touches the Martian surface. Work on this image involved building within the rocket plume a delicate balance of light and shadow: the thickening shadow as the plumes density is increased via rebound and ground-scatter impregnated with sand and dust thrown up from the Martian surface, balanced against the furious illumination of hydrogen/oxygen combustion – while the descending spacecraft and the Cargo-Landers already on the surface are brushed with the luminance of early dawn Martian sunlight. Atmosphere is custom, created in Bryce, color matched against raw true-color images from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. Landing craft models are my own Bryce creations, constructed in Bryce 6.3 and rendered in Bryce 7 Pro. Post-work in Photoshop includes rocket flare, smoke plume, and levels adjustments. As always thank you for your interest, thoughtful comments, and encouragement.

Comments (11)

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wblack

11:28AM | Sun, 12 May 2013

Concept Note Hard Science to Hard Science Fiction: applications from real world technological innovation in a science fictional context. NASA’s advanced projects office is currently investigating systems to land vehicles in very close proximity to one another – a requirement of proposed Mars human exploration missions. The technology to precision land a vehicle was demonstrated by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity touchdown – the next step is to scale the physical landing systems up to accommodate landing craft several orders of a magnitude larger. Current designs call for a 40 ton logistics lander and an even more massive crew vehicle (additional mass due to the requirement to include an ascent stage). These design-study vehicles are said to be equivalent in scale to an average two story family dwelling. Nothing currently under consideration by NASA comes close to the scale imaged here. The landing craft of my fictional endeavor (110 in total) mass ten thousand tons each and are approximately the size of a twenty story building: about 200 feet high (this is the equivalent of tail-landing a Saturn 1b)). No ascent stage is required – the effort to settle Mars is a one-way trip. The only feasible means, using existing technology, to deliver such payloads is via something like the Orion nuclear fission initiated pulsed plasma rocket. Flight control systems required for the kind of landing envisioned here are presently under development at SpaceX. Reference link: Grasshopper 250m Test Ring of Fire My thoughts regarding the task of precision landing such a large number of vehicles includes the consideration that the Orion’s carrying the Cargo Landers, arriving well in advance of the crewed Settlement Landers, would deploy, in low Martian orbit, a series of orbital navigational data relay satellites. Each following lander would then send position data to these, and act as ground tracking stations, increasing the number of surface beacons and thus the level of data available to assist in guiding the following descending vehicles. Pointable laser-ranging instruments and laser target illuminator/designators (the latter as a landing-target designator) are presently produced in compact and light-weight form as part of a multitude of military weapons systems and the application of these technologies could be easily incorporated as part of the flight logistics package mounted on the landing vehicles. Precision positioning 110 vehicles in a pre-planned pattern would require something like this kind of systematic approach.

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wblack

11:28AM | Sun, 12 May 2013

ronmolina

11:29AM | Sun, 12 May 2013

Incredible effects!

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grafikeer

11:46AM | Sun, 12 May 2013

Nice work on the dust and flare effects,and the Bryce modelling is very well done...like the low POV looking up,which adds drama to the scene!

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geirla

12:25PM | Sun, 12 May 2013

Great image! Nice work on the rocket plume. My first thought on seeing the image was "they're awfully close together". But then I read your text. GPS for Mars. Perfect answer.

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