Quote:
Originally Posted by flatbutt
I'm a fairly educated man but this stuff still thrills me. Imagine aiming at a spot in three dimensional space, calculating when an orbiting body will enter that space, firing a rocket at the calculated coordinates ( on 3 axes!) and hitting the target. Yes I know it's all highly predictable but dang. I should tell you that I am also still amazed by the fact that an airplane can fly. I understand the physics but still...
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The math to figure that out was not even invented until the late 1960s. That ability allowed for the Voyager missions to be launched and do the grand tour, and they had to hit their spots to get the gravitational boosts necessary way back then.
Now with modern super fast computers the calculations can be done with ease. As long as all the data was input perfectly.
Yea, it is incredible. Only the USA has ever successfully landed on Mars, and deployed a remote vehicle to move around. And we only get it right about 50% of the time.