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NASA looks to SpaceX for Mars landing tips

ByDavid Szondy

October 21, 2014

1 Comment3 Pictures

The powered landing capability of SpaceX's Falcon 9 makes it a good test bed for studying how

to land on Mars

Image Gallery(3 images)

SpaceX founderElon Muskhas made it no secret that he plans to go to Mars, and it looks likehes giving NASAs ambitions about the Red Planet a bit of a boost along the way. During a

Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in September, the space

agency sent a pair of chase planes up to take high-resolution images of the booster as it made apowered test landing on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean as a way of gather critical engineering

information for future Mars missions.

TheFalcon 9is SpaceXs attempt at a paradigm shift inspaceflight as the company works on aspace launch system where all the major components from booster stages to spacecraft are able

to return to Earth for a quick refueling and relaunching at a fraction of what current systems cost.

Though still in its early stages, the powered landing system is already paying dividends toNASA, who sees the Falcon 9 as a source of data for future Mars missions.

In September, NASA sent up a pair of chase planes; one from NASA's Scientifically CalibratedIn-Flight Imagery (SCIFLI) project team, and one from the US Naval Air Systems Command

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Weapons Division's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron-30 at Point Mugu, California. The idea

was that by studying the Falcon 9 as it re-fired its engines at supersonic velocities, it would be a

low cost way for both NASA and SpaceX to gather the needed data for building future spacecraftfor making powered landings on Mars.

The planes consisted of a NASA twin-engined WB-47 high-altitude research aircraft, and a Navy

NP-3D Orion maritime patrol plane. These were stationed 50 mi (80 km) from the Falcon 9

rocket's flight path, where infrared and high definition cameras focused on the exhaust from theFalcon 9 as it fired and re-fired. The WB-57 carried a full-motion infrared video camera system

that is gimbal-mounted on the nose with full-color high definition and infrared video capability,and the NP-3D Orion had a long-range infrared optical system.

Though the Falcon 9 rocket is designed exclusively for launching payloads from Earth, its

powered landing capability makes it a serendipitous test bed for studying how to land on Mars,

since the problems of making a powered landing in Earths atmosphere while traveling atsupersonic speeds are very similar to those of landing a spacecraft on Mars.

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"Because the technologies required to land large payloads on Mars are significantly different

than those used here on Earth, investment in these technologies is critical," says Robert Braun,

principal investigator for NASA's Propulsive Descent Technologies project and professor at theGeorgia Institute of Technology. "This is the first high-fidelity data set of a rocket system firing

into its direction of travel while traveling at supersonic speeds in Mars-relevant conditions.

Analysis of this unique data set will enable system engineers to extract important lessons for theapplication and infusion of supersonic retro-propulsion into future NASA missions."