Mars in a Minute: How Do You Land on Mars?

Getting a spacecraft to Mars is one thing; getting it safely to the ground is a whole other challenge! This 60-second video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains three ways to land on the surface of the Red Planet.

[gauravshinde]

8 years after this video NASA successfully landed "Perseverance" using one of these highly challenging manoeuvre. Great Work Team 👏👏

[TurkiyeCumhurbaskani]

just send it with UPS, those guys deliver anywhere

[danthemango]

great we're on mars! How do you get back now?

[redkb]

Great video! Can't wait till August!

[youme]

I would go for option 3. Formidable and quaranteed!

[BonScottAC]

Does it make a beeping sound when you put it in reverse?

[NightBazaar]

"There's nothing easy about landing on Mars." I agree with that statement. The landing of the MSL is going to be a remarkable accomplishment.Hopefully it won't land on a large rock. What is the terrain like at the expected landing site? Sandy? Rocky? Generally flat?

[StonesDunedin]

I agree about the glider idea, but for the same reasons, any dust storms (or 'dust devils') are not violent. Mars has less than 1% of Earth's surface pressure. Therefore any movement of the air (95% CO2) also has very little pressure.

[davife]

MinutePhysics YouTube channel + Mars = This video.

[NightBazaar]

Thank you. I already understood that part of it. Most of the images and landing illustrations seem to show the general landing site inside crater as being hilly but rather smooth from a layer of dust and sand. Judging from the landing sites of other landers and rovers, Mars seems pretty littered with rocks and debris. What's the likelihood of debris from erosion, rockslides, etc, around the targeted landing site at the foot of the mountain?

[JuggaloOzi]

When the rover separates the back shell the hard part is over.

Largest aero shell and parachute ever on Mars, MLEs have been demonstrated before so should be a soft landing from there.

I'm most worried about the turbulence from the chute at around Mach 2.

Good luck JPL.

[wake_flick]

What ensures that the cushions medhold lands the fight way up?

[wowzabowza]

Actually, the dust storms can blow 60-100 mph, it isn't the air pressure, its the solar wind that blows up a dust storm which could easily knock out a glider.

[deepeyes]

I remember the JPL animation on landing Curiosity

[sciencemanguy]

since there is enough atmosphere for a heat-shield and parashute, why can't we land it like an airplane and have it take off like an airplane. If you think im a moron, please tell me why, just a suggestion.

[cannonCoder]

dahhh! NASA, please stop hitting yourself in the head by dumbing stuff down! I know that it's not friction that heats up anything entering an atmosphere but the air getting compressed in front of the spacecraft.

[captcaveman]

The correct way is to have a Starship in orbit, deploy large shuttle craft back and forth from it, and have boots on the ground.

[wowzabowza]

There isn't enough atmosphere for a glider to work, and with violent dust storms, it could be easily blown away and trashed.

[PhpXp]

How do you make the rover bounce to a stop in the upright position with the airbag option?

[Upuauta]

And I still think that option 3 is overly complicated and risky. I think it will fail this summer. Of cause I hope to be