SpaceX is planning its first visit to Mars with the company's 2018 Red Dragon Mission. The unpiloted rocket will use supersonic retropropulsion to break through the Red Planet's atmosphere.

What makes SpaceX's 2018 Red Dragon mission very unique is the fact that it will showcase an innovative new type of technology for spacecraft landing on the Red Planet. Previously, NASA has utilized subsonic retropropulsion, using parachutes and firing the spacecraft's rockets towards the surface in order to slow down its descent to the planet.

However, such a technique works well on small missions. Once heavy payloads are taken into consideration, things get a lot more complicated. In fact, NASA officials themselves admitted that subsonic retropropulsion has been maxed out during the agency's 2012 Curiosity mission, which brought down the 1-ton Curiosity rover to Mars' surface.

This is where the 2018 Red Dragon mission's supersonic retropropulsion comes in. Unlike subsonic retropropulsion, supersonic retropropulsion involves allowing a spacecraft to enter the Red Planet's atmosphere faster than the speed of sound. Instead of parachutes, the spacecraft would use its thrusters to slow down enough to land.

While very daring, supersonic retropropulsion would be tried out by Elon Musk's SpaceX Red Dragon rocket, which is set to be launched in 2018. If successful, the mission would prove to a be a vital step towards making manned missions to Mars possible.

SpaceX's initiatives on the 2018 Red Dragon mission are fully supported by NASA, with Phil McAlister, director of the Commercial Spaceflight Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., stating that supersonic retropropulsion is a vital aspect of future Mars missions.

"Every single candidate EDL [entry, descent and landing] architecture we have for Mars human exploration relies to some extent on supersonic retropropulsion," he said.

McAlister further stated that he believes the 2018 Red Dragon mission is a win-win situation for both SpaceX and NASA.

"So this was a unique opportunity for NASA to partner on a mission that we could not otherwise do. Could we do one like this in the future? Sure, but we don't have one on the books right now. It's not funded and, to my knowledge, hasn't even been proposed," he said.

Elon Musk has been very open about his intentions behind the creation of SpaceX. According to the eccentric billionaire, he plans to have the first Martian pioneers land on the Red Planet by 2024, in order to take the first steps towards the colonization of the planet.

Read more
Tags
SpaceX, Mars