Titan — the largest moon of Saturn — has a fairly denseatmosphere (mostly nitrog

Question

Titan — the largest moon of Saturn — has a fairly denseatmosphere (mostly nitrogen and methane); near the Titan's surfaceit has density =5.5 kg/m3. In 2005,the Huygens probe landedon Titan using aerobraking to kill its orbital velocity and then asequence of parachutes to slow down its descent. The last parachutehad diameter 2R=3.03 m and aerodynamical dragcoefficient C=1.50 — meaning, the air drag onthe chuteis FD=C×½airAv2;Huygens mass was 318 kg; Titan;s gravity is1.35 m/s2.
As Huygens descended, it had plenty of time to reach the terminalvelocity. What was its velocity as it landed on Titan?

Explanation / Answer

If I'm interpreting your formula correctly F = m g = C * * A * v2 v2 = m g / [C * * A] = 318 * 1.35 /[1.5 * 5.5 * * 1.522] = 8.78 m2/ s2 v = 3 m/s v = 3 m/s

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