June 2015
Beagle 2: discovering the lost Mars lander
... pilot/ drogue chute (still attached as intended) and the main parachute close by. The locations of the front heat shield and the airbags remain to be identified. The targets are within the expected landing area at a distance of around...
October 2015
Earth independence: new definitions of home on Mars missions and beyond
... of the space shuttle. In 2012, the Curiosity rover’s “Seven Minutes of Terror” to the Martian surface, which included a heat shield, parachutes, and skycrane, maxed out our current ability to land something on the surface of Mars – the one...
January 2022
Earth - no longer humanity’s only home
... of the Space Shuttle. In 2012, the Curiosity rover’s ‘Seven Minutes of Terror’ to the Martian surface, which included a heat shield, parachutes and skycrane, maxed out our current ability to land something on the surface of Mars – the one...
October 2025
Pioneering affordable and flexible access to near space
...for validation of re-entry and recovery systems, which involves drop tests from 25-35 km altitude. It supports testing of heat shields, aerodynamic decelerators, parachutes and structural integrity during terminal descent. The ability to repeat tests...
28 February 2017
The future is here: Elon Musk announces commercial flights to the Moon
... this year in order to test the spacecraft for manned flights. The new craft has newly designed heat shields that will allow it to reenter the Earth's atmosphere up to ten times. Musk had also mentioned installing a “deep...
26 November 2018
Success for InSight as it performs a flawless landing on Mars
... point, the lander reached a velocity of 2000 metres per second as it plummeted towards the surface, causing the heat shield to experience temperatures of over 1650 degrees celsius (3000 degrees fahrenheit). After a tense minute or two, MarCO...
