this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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They have to. Because of the relative orbits, and rotation of earth, if they're off by even a little, the pod might hit land instead, or be in a completely different location.
This would be very dangerous for the recovery.
It's impressive, but also very necessary. Exact timing = exact landing location.
Exact timing, including air resistance, is far more than what's required. Sure, everything about the orbits needs to be almost exact, but the fact we can predict exactly how the craft bounces about in the atmosphere, which is turbulent, and predict the landing this accurately is insane. Landing on the moon, on the other hand, is a lot easier to predict. A high school calculus student can calculate that, and orbital information, down to the second if they have the starting conditions.
I heard Neil DeWeed Tyson explain they only use pi a few digits out though because it doesn’t need to be that specific… let me see if I can find the video.
Found this not looking for the video now lol
Not sure if I misunderstood what you said, but it's not that they only use a few digits because it doesn't need to be that specific, they only use a few digits because that's all that is needed to be that specific.
Yes
Edit : which is way cool because they need pi to make the calculations and we all know how pi is never ending.
He likes mirrors a lot too.