Cascade Descent Profiles

Landing 220 tonnes of cargo on an unprepared surface is one of the hardest things a spacecraft does. This dataset records 1,900 Cascade Dropship descents: atmospheric entry, parachute and retro-propulsion phases, and touchdown accuracy, on worlds with very different gravity and atmosphere.

Mars landings average a touchdown dispersion of 11 metres; Titan's thick air and low gravity make for slower, gentler descents but stronger crosswinds. Throttle logs show exactly how the two-pilot crew and the autopilot shared control.

Released under CC-BY-4.0, the profiles are used by settlement planners to size landing zones and by guidance engineers at research partners to validate their own algorithms.

The team welcomes improved terrain-relative navigation analyses and comparisons with Areion hazard maps. Current products include entry and descent trajectories, touchdown dispersion data and engine throttle logs. Everything is distributed under the CC-BY-4.0 licence, with source and documentation at https://git.halcyon.example/cascade-descent, and the open data team answers questions on the community forum within two working days. Partners who build commercial services on top of it are asked only to credit Halcyon Stellar Works and to report errors they find, so that every user benefits from the fix.