Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: thedoc on 07/08/2012 15:56:06

Title: Why do Ships Lose Contact When Entering the Atmosphere?
Post by: thedoc on 07/08/2012 15:56:06

Why do ships lose contact when they're entering the atmosphere?
Asked by Teo Gibson, via Facebook


                                        Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/specials/show/20120806-1/)

[chapter podcast=4066 track=12.08.06/Naked_Scientists_Specials_12.08.06_10531.mp3](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2FHTML%2Ftypo3conf%2Fext%2Fnaksci_podcast%2Fgnome-settings-sound.gif&hash=f2b0d108dc173aeaa367f8db2e2171bd)  ...or Listen to the Answer[/chapter] or [download as MP3] (http://nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/split_individual/12.08.06/Naked_Scientists_Specials_12.08.06_10531.mp3)

Title: Why do Ships Lose Contact When Entering the Atmosphere?
Post by: thedoc on 07/08/2012 15:56:07

We answered this question on the show...



If you have a high speed entry, you create a pocket of ionised gas around your probe.  The gas is heated up so much, it becomes ionised - it’s stripped of its electrons.  That is not transparent to radio waves, so you have a radio black out. 
The same thing happens with vehicles re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.  It used to happen with the shuttle I think and the Apollo vehicles.  So that’s the main reason.  It’s the state of the gas around a high speed probe.