LANDER

Lander

A lander is a spacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body. For bodies with atmospheres, the landing occurs after atmospheric entry and the lander is first a re-entry vehicle. In these cases landers may employ parachutes to slow down and to maintain a low terminal velocity. Sometimes small landing rockets are fired just before impact to reduce the impact velocity. The Mars Pathfinder mission also used inflatable airbags to cushion the lander's impact. When a high velocity impact is planned, the spacecraft is called an impactor.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Lander (spacecraft)
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lander

Noun

  1. A spacecraft, particularly a probe, designed to set down on the surface of another celestial body.
  2. A person who waits at the mouth of the shaft to receive the kibble of ore.
  3. An illegal immigrant.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: lander
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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