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mikeash
on Oct 3, 2012
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Are Those Spidery Black Things On Mars Dangerous?
There is, to a first approximation, no atmosphere on Mars. To a slightly better approximation, there is an atmosphere on Mars, but only enough to cause trouble, not enough to actually be useful for anything.
wtracy
on Oct 3, 2012
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There's enough atmosphere for Nasa to seriously consider deploying airplanes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_aircraft
stephengillie
on Oct 3, 2012
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We've had the discussion:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4261806
A cessna would need wings as large as a 747 and be traveling about mach 1 to take off, iirc.
skeletonjelly
on Oct 3, 2012
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Thats an awesome metaphor! Going to use this one, thanks.
DiabloD3
on Oct 3, 2012
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So it would need wings that have ten? times more surface... that doesn't mean this couldn't be done using small scale drone designs.
JonnieCache
on Oct 3, 2012
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Mach 1 where?
goodcanadian
on Oct 3, 2012
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Mach 1 always means the speed of sound in the local environment.
stephengillie
on Oct 3, 2012
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On Mars. Mach, the speed of sound (vibrations), varies with changes in heat, density, etc.
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