Thread: Huygens Descent
View Single Post
  #6 (permalink)  
Old 19-January-2005, 09:59 AM
Nicolas's Avatar
Nicolas Nicolas is offline
Order of Kilopi
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Belgium
Posts: 12,758
Default

Quote:
Huygens' explosive bolts (containing the same type of charges used in ejection seats) jettisoned the heat shield, flinging Huygens ~60 meters into the Titan air, briefly entangling in the still descending main parachute, and taking it with it. This sequence is caught in the earliest Huygens images.
Just how strong do you think the explosion of those bolts is? They are just strong enough to break the bolt, which has a thin wall at the point where the designers want it to break. An ejectionseat truly launches itself out of the cockpit, it's not like he just explodes the bolts connecting it to the floor.

Your reasoning is something like comparing a playgun gunpowder charge with Guy Fawkes' "private collection".
__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.