Why can’t the space shuttle just go slow enough to not be heated up by friction with earths atmosphere on re-entry?
In: 5
So basically, there is a couple things going on here.
First, the space shuttle (or any space craft) doesn’t carry enough fuel to do this. By the time they get into orbit all they have is enough fuel to maneuver a bit and then to start back descending when the time comes. Because they have to go so fast to stay in orbit, there is no way for them to slow down. They’ve used all their fuel to get there.
Second, as they break orbit and come in to earth, gravity pulls them faster and faster. Think of like a hotwheels car on a track. The track goes up, then back down on the other side. You send your car and it goes up the track, and by the time it reaches the top it’s going pretty slow, but then it goes down the other side and keeps speeding up until it reaches the bottom. Same thing for spacecraft. They accelerate a lot on the way back to earth, and as I stated in the first reason, they don’t carry enough fuel to slow down.
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