module d'atterrissage à faible impact

OBS: module d'atterrissage : Le module d'atterrissage de la mission Viking mesurait 3 mètres de haut, pour une masse d'une demi tonne. Il emportait un total de 15 expériences scientifiques. Ses principaux objectifs étaient l'étude du sol martien, des vents et de l'atmosphère ainsi que la recherche d'éventuelles formes de vie.

CONT: In addition to environmental conditions during the operations on the surface of Mars the MIDD will have to be able to sustain the loads which occur prior to deployment from the lander. Since recent and currently studied designs for Mars landers in many cases use a ""semi-hard"" landing technique, the shock incurred during impact on the surface becomes the driver for sizing and qualification of components rather than the launch loads or the quasistatic loads during entry into the martian atmosphere. The MARS PATHFINDER lander, being the most prominent example of a semi-hard lander since it is the only one thus far having been built and flown, experienced an actual impact velocity of 18 m/s and a maximum deceleration (first bounce) of around 18 g, both values being lower than the hardware had been designed for.