- #1
The Don
- 11
- 1
I was given the following drag profile for a spacecraft upon reentry. I understand that the moment it enter's Earth's atmosphere it will be accelerated due to gravity and pick up speed which in turn increases drag however I don't understand why drag then decreases.
Wouldn't density cause drag to keep increasing since density increases the closer you get to Earth's surface? The end makes sense because the object would reach terminal velocity thus drag should equal 1G but I just don't get why drag suddenly decreases after 70 seconds since velocity and density would still be increasing after that point.
Wouldn't density cause drag to keep increasing since density increases the closer you get to Earth's surface? The end makes sense because the object would reach terminal velocity thus drag should equal 1G but I just don't get why drag suddenly decreases after 70 seconds since velocity and density would still be increasing after that point.