In article ,
Montblack wrote:
("Mark Hickey" wrote)
Mark "the prop's gonna be a problem too" Hickey


All the money, and weight, saved on that BRS chute will just end up going
into oxidizers.

Hey, if I fall 1,000 ft at a speed of roughly 180 mph on earth, does that
mean I'll fall at 30 mph on the moon? That's like Olympic 100 meter
sprinters running into a wall - at 28 mph. Ouch.

"Not Exactly".

Assuming a stationary vertical-component starting point, a free-fall of
1000 ft, at 1 G takes a bit over 7.9 sec, and you have a final velocity of
about 172.5 mph (disregarding air friction, etc. effects.)

Same assumptions, a free-fall of 1000 ft, at 1/6 G takes somewhat over
19.36 seconds, and you have a final velocity of just over 70.41 MPH.

Note: ratio of 'final velocity' after a fall of a constant distance is
directly proportional to the _square_root_ of the ratio of the
gravitational constants