Fresh water Splash down in the Great Lakes?

[ejb749]

I've read in multiple post on how bad salt water is on the Dragon after splash down.
Is there any reason that they couldn't splash down in fresh water in the Great Lakes?
Is the landing 'oval' too large?

The only down side I could see is that the lakes are sometimes frozen.  So in the winter, head back to the ocean.
Also, buoyancy in fresh water is slightly less.

[Jim]

I've read in multiple post on how bad salt water is on the Dragon after splash down.
Is there any reason that they couldn't splash down in fresh water in the Great Lakes?
Is the landing 'oval' too large?

The only down side I could see is that the lakes are sometimes frozen.  So in the winter, head back to the ocean.
Also, buoyancy in fresh water is slightly less.

The service module needs to be dispose of and could hit land

[cppetrie]

For ISS the inclination wouldn't necessarily be an issue, but for other orbits it could be a problem. The Great Lakes are fairly far north. I think the greater problem though is the risk of hitting stuff. There is a significant portion of the southern borders of the lakes that are heavily populated or near heavily populated areas. In addition to the service module issue Jim mentioned you also just have margin of error in landing that could increase risk to people. I'd guess the FAA wouldn't be keen on that plan.

[IanThePineapple]

Also there could be an issue with the deorbit burn and it could hit land. It wouldn't be great for Dragon to land in the middle of Chicago

[Kansan52]

Could it be that SX has improved the D1 with materials that are more salt water tolerant and make damaged parts easier to replace? Lessons learned from D1 refurb applied to D2 would make it better able to handle water landings.

[ejb749]

What was the plan for the service module when they were planning on landing on land?

[guckyfan]

The service module is part of Dragon. It will land and be reused. The trunk gets dumped. Coming in from the Pacific and landing on the West coast it would end up in the Pacific.

[mlindner]

Also there could be an issue with the deorbit burn and it could hit land. It wouldn't be great for Dragon to land in the middle of Chicago

Chicago is at the far tip of the lakes. So there's no way it would get anywhere close. It would target lake erie/lake ontario or possibly lake superior as those have better downrange distances.

Also as a Michigan native, non-natives seem to forget that the great lakes freeze solid (up to a meter thick in locations) every year and for a good portion of the year are covered in heavy storms or freezing spray (fresh water spray freezes onto EVERYTHING much better than salt spray does).

Example:

[Jim]

What was the plan for the service module when they were planning on landing on land?

Gulf of Mexico for  Florida landings

[Robotbeat]

How far down range does the capsule splashdown from the trunk?

Anyway, I think a better idea is steerable chutes and an artificial freshwater pond floating in the ocean.

[llanitedave]

Lake Elsinore?

[catdlr]

Lake Elsinore?

Did you post that without a wink?

[Basto]

I've read in multiple post on how bad salt water is on the Dragon after splash down.
Is there any reason that they couldn't splash down in fresh water in the Great Lakes?
Is the landing 'oval' too large?

The only down side I could see is that the lakes are sometimes frozen.  So in the winter, head back to the ocean.
Also, buoyancy in fresh water is slightly less.

The service module needs to be dispose of and could hit land

Not defending landing in the Great Lakes as that seems dicey to me.

How is this different from CST-100 which doesn't land at sea?  Does the Dragon trunk actually survive reentry?  Where does the Starliner SM end up?

Trying to find information on where they intend to land Starliner.

[whitelancer64]

I've read in multiple post on how bad salt water is on the Dragon after splash down.
Is there any reason that they couldn't splash down in fresh water in the Great Lakes?
Is the landing 'oval' too large?

The only down side I could see is that the lakes are sometimes frozen.  So in the winter, head back to the ocean.
Also, buoyancy in fresh water is slightly less.

The service module needs to be dispose of and could hit land

Not defending landing in the Great Lakes as that seems dicey to me.

How is this different from CST-100 which doesn't land at sea?  Does the Dragon trunk actually survive reentry?  Where does the Starliner SM end up?

Trying to find information on where they intend to land Starliner.

"the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah will initially be the prime return locations, said Chris Ferguson, deputy manager of the CST-100 Starliner program."

https://spaceflightnow.com/2015/09/22/boeing-identifies-cst-100-prime-landing-sites/

[llanitedave]

Lake Elsinore?

Did you post that without a wink?

I thought of it about two winks ago.

[Robotbeat]

I've read in multiple post on how bad salt water is on the Dragon after splash down.
Is there any reason that they couldn't splash down in fresh water in the Great Lakes?
Is the landing 'oval' too large?

The only down side I could see is that the lakes are sometimes frozen.  So in the winter, head back to the ocean.
Also, buoyancy in fresh water is slightly less.

The service module needs to be dispose of and could hit land

Not defending landing in the Great Lakes as that seems dicey to me.

How is this different from CST-100 which doesn't land at sea?  Does the Dragon trunk actually survive reentry?  Where does the Starliner SM end up?

Trying to find information on where they intend to land Starliner.

"the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah will initially be the prime return locations, said Chris Ferguson, deputy manager of the CST-100 Starliner program."

https://spaceflightnow.com/2015/09/22/boeing-identifies-cst-100-prime-landing-sites/

That doesn't answer the question, and I think this is actually a good point: Starliner has the same issue with the trunk/servicemodule as a lake-splashdown Dragon would have. Where does the servicemodule end up?

[AC in NC]

Also there could be an issue with the deorbit burn and it could hit land. It wouldn't be great for Dragon to land in the middle of Chicago

Opinions vary.

[OneSpeed]

Where does the servicemodule end up?

Vaporised? Apollo 13 Service Module (SM) and Lunar Module (LM) as they entered Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on April 18, 1970 between the Fiji Islands and Auckland, New Zealand

[Joffan]

Lake Elsinore?

If I had to pick a lake in California for splashdown, Clear Lake would be better IMO (despite a number of tempting dragon-shaped reservoirs). Can Dragon manage a 10km target circle?

[Oersted]

Lake Elsinore?

There is something rotten in the State of California.... So that probably won't happen.