This NASA technology could one day help land humans on Mars

A NASA technology that could one day help land humans on Mars is scheduled to launch later this year. According to the agency, the inflatable decelerator technology is scalable to both crewed and large robotic missions to the Red Planet.

The Bernard Kutter Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is scheduled to launch with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's JPSS-2 polar-orbiting satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in November 2022.

LOFTID will inflate and then descend back to Earth from low-Earth orbit to demonstrate how an inflatable heat shield or an aeroshell can slow down a spacecraft to survive re-entry.

NASA’s Bernard Kutter Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, could one day help land humans on Mars! @NASA is inviting media to see it inflated for the final time on Earth before its spaceflight demonstration.MORE >> https://t.co/xy3Vrn8CcH pic.twitter.com/Wa2pRRWuPd

— NASA_SLS (@NASA_SLS) June 9, 2022

According to NASA, LOFTID's large deployable aeroshell acts as a giant brake as it traverses the Martian atmosphere. It creates more drag than a traditional, smaller rigid aeroshell and starts slowing down in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, allowing the spacecraft to decelerate sooner, at a higher altitude, while experiencing less intense heating.

NASA says its inflatable aeroshell technology enables a variety of proposed NASA missions to destinations such as Mars, Venus, Titan as well as return to Earth.

LOFTID is a part of the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. The agency has invited the media to see it inflated for the final time on Earth before its spaceflight demonstration. The event will take place Wednesday, June 15, at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.