NASA Developing New Technologies to Send Humans to Mars

NASA scientists are developing new and safer technologies to send larger space vehicles, and eventually even humans, to Mars.

NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are aiming to eventually get humans on Mars with new technology like the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD).

"We're trying to develop a wide range of technology needed for the next generation of science and human exploration," said Jeffrey Sheehy, Senior Technical Office and Space Technology Mission Directorate. "The entry descent of landing on Mars is much different than with on Earth."

Mars' thin atmosphere makes it difficult for large vehicles to land safely.

"It's very hard to slow things down on Mars because its atmosphere is so thin, unless we deploy these deaccelerators," said Mark Adler, LDSD Project Manager.

"Some of the challenges we've had is how do you test these devices?" said Ian Clark, LDSD Principal Investigator. "We're building devices that are larger and in environments beyond anything anybody has used in the past."

The new test vehicle will launch from Hawaii in June. The new technology includes a wider inner tube that will help the vehicle deaccelerate.

Testing of the new technologies is expected to go through 2015. If successful, they could be used in a human space mission to Mars.