P1_1 "Prepare for Titanfall"

Abstract

In the popular digital entertainment title Titanfall, “titans”, or large metal exoskeletons are dropped onto the battlefield on Earth, from a region in low earth orbit (LEO) at approximately 160 km. From start to finish, this process takes approximately 10 seconds in-game, subsequently requiring an average velocity of around 1.6_x10⁴ ms^-1. This paper aims to incorporate the often neglected aspect of quadratic drag into the dynamical calculations in order to show that the time required for this movement is closer to 223.2 seconds once the correct atmospheric impacts have been accounted for.