#SpaceX and #NASA have proposed supersonic retro-propulsive landing as a method to land large payloads on #Mars 🔴. This method has been tested and validated on Earth, using SpaceX Falcon 9 first stages in the high atmosphere to simulate Martian conditions. #Retropropulsion in the supersonic flight regime is used to slow the vehicle during part of the flight path. This element of the flight path compensates for the low Martian #atmospheric density https://marspedia.org/Landing_on_Mars#Supersonic_retro-propulsion_landing

July 📆 2024 The outlook for slowing incoming vehicles has improved, compared to a decade ago. #NASA’s #LEO Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (#LOFTID) took place in 📆 2022, successfully inflating a 6-meter- (20-foot-) diameter aerodynamic decelerator system in Earth’s stratosphere, which has a density similar to #Mars’ 🔴 atmosphere. Additionally, engineers now are optimistic about using thrusters for what is called supersonic #retropropulsion https://www.planetary.org/articles/challenges-facing-the-human-exploration-of-mars

April 📆 2016 #SpaceX has quietly been conducting the first flight tests of a technology known as supersonic #retropropulsion—in #Mars 🔴 -like conditions. #NASA had tested supersonic retropropulsion in small-scale air-in-air wind tunnel tests, but not live flights. If NASA were to try to conduct that kind of test on its own, the cost would probably exceed $3 billion 💰. "The stability was manageable, and while there are still some issues, there are no showstoppers." https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/spacex-has-already-demonstrated-its-key-mars-landing-tech-with-the-falcon-9