RE: RE: RE: starship-design: YES, we might do it.

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

Kelly,

> spiky balloon like things?  Doesn't ring any bells.  Could you reasonably
> build and drop safe ones for pennies a pound to surface and back
> to market?

I don't really know. They (NASA) have tested them, although I don't think
the drop was from orbit, I think so far they have just tossed them from high
flying aircraft to evaluate their impact performance. Basically it was just
an inflatable balloon shaped like a caltrop or a child's jack, very similar
to what was used on Mars. Apparently it can soft land a rather large payload
very cheaply.

Lee