11/9/2012
A team of researchers recently tested a new rotor landing system in the 550 foot tall Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The idea is for spinning blades to replace parachutes to enable soft and controlled landings on land instead of the ocean. The system, designed for capsule-oriented spacecraft like the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, is appealing because it combines the stability and control of a helicopter with the simplicity of an unpowered system; wind passing over the rotors as the capsule descends through the atmosphere is enough to make the blades turn. (Image Credit: NASA / Artist's impression)
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