Sky-Diving Question

Originally Posted by kkesler
Thought experiment, if all orbits decay why does the moon move a teeny bit farther away from the earth every year?

To make it harder to tell the footprints are fake?

 

Now we are talking...

 

I don't know where to take this thread seriously or if it's just post after post of sarcastic gibberish. Since when does the beebs go scientifical...

 

It is a semi-serious question. I do wonder if we could do something like this, but i think the technical resources needed to make it happen are otherwise engaged.

You know...in no longer going to space.... and shit.

 

Captain Obvious: the heat of re-entry is from friction of the atmosphere when gravity is pulling you down. It's not like the outer layers are somehow superheated.

The point: if there was a way to slow re-entry in such a way that it wouldn't require all the thermal insulation, NASA would probably have done it as both a safety measure and to be cost effective.

 

God this thread reminds me of Archer.

 

I'm going to use the teleporter. I'll meet you guys down there!