Why would the weight of a landing module be different on different planets
The weight of a landing module would be different on different planets due to the varying gravitational forces experienced on each planet. The weight of an object is a measure of the force of gravity acting on it. Gravity is a fundamental force that pulls objects towards the center of a celestial body, such as a planet.
The strength of gravity depends on the mass and radius of the celestial body. Planets with larger masses and diameters will have stronger gravitational forces compared to smaller ones. Therefore, the weight of an object on a planet depends directly on the mass of the planet and inversely on the square of the distance between the object and the planet's center.
For example, Earth has a higher mass and larger radius compared to the Moon. Thus, the gravitational force on an object on the surface of Earth is stronger than on the Moon. As a result, the weight of the landing module on the Moon would be much less than its weight on Earth.
Similarly, other planets in our solar system like Jupiter and Saturn have significantly larger masses than Earth, resulting in much stronger gravitational forces. Consequently, a landing module sent to these gas giants would experience much higher weights compared to Earth.
Therefore, the weight of a landing module would vary depending on the planet's mass and radius, which ultimately determines the strength of the gravitational force acting on it.