Life on Mars and an out of this World Golf Shot

When you’re in the midst of an 8-month Mars simulation mission, it doesn’t mean you have to give up on your golf game. Just ask Jocelyn Dunn.

Dunn, a PhD candidate from Purdue University’s School of Industrial Engineering is chief scientist on the NASA-funded mission in Hawaii. Oh yeah- and she’s a former college golfer.

The American credits her brother-in-law for insisting she bring a 7-iron on the project. As chronicled on her blog, http://fivestarview.blogspot.co.uk, with a little help from a co-worker and some 3D-printed golf balls Dunn donned her spacesuit to see what hitting a golf ball on Mars would be like.

After the practice and watching Jordan Spieth’s incredible Masters win, the Mars simulation crew has become a group of real golf enthusiasts! Converting Earth yardages into their Martian equivalents and giving us the totals for every hole at Augusta.

Dunn explains in her post, “The physics of golf is actually simpler on Mars. Without an atmosphere, Mars has just 1% of Earth's air density. Thus, aerodynamic forces such as lift and drag are trivial on Mars with magnitudes less than 10e-6. Simple projectile motion equations that only consider gravity are appropriate for computing the trajectory of a golf ball on Mars.”

Wait, what? The simple maths to know for this experiment, Spieth’s average driving distance at Augusta was 295-yards. Dunn’s equation works out that’s a whooping 635-yards on Mars!

Check out video Dunn’s research below.