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jb1991

I can't find any articles that highlight what that component that "flies away" after the landing is going to do next. Does it just get dumped somewhere? Does it go back into orbit?

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It flies either forward (with respect to the rover) or backward -- whichever is closer to North -- and crash lands on the surface some distance away.

It GTFO with its remaining fuel and then crash lands. Going back to orbit would require enormous amounts of fuel.

It's funny that they never say. (My mother-in-law asked if it would go back to orbit, too.) Saying "it flies far enough away to be sure it won't hit the lander when it crashes" would sound funny. They never seem to drive over to check it out, either, AFAIK.

It started with ~800 lbs of hydrazine fuel on board that had to slow tons moving at 200 mph to a dead stop, and then hover for 10+ seconds while the lander spun down; and then boost away and crash. ("Crash-land" sounds like entirely more control than what really happened.)

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