Japan’s space agency JAXA is working on a concept that could revolutionize the way spacecraft land on Mars. The Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, led by new director general Masaki Fujimoto, has teamed up with a company to develop an inflatable decelerator technology.
The approach combines technologies from JAXA’s upcoming MMX mission and its successful SLIM spacecraft, which landed on the moon in 2024. The inflatable soft aeroshell would handle the entry, descent, and landing phases of a Mars mission, eliminating the need for complicated operational supersonic parachutes and hard aerosheells.
The technology has similarities to hypersonic inflatable decelerators tested by NASA’s LOFTID project, which successfully flew in 2022. JAXA plans to use the inflatable aeroshell to deliver rovers weighing 100-200 kilograms to Mars’ surface. The agency is supported by the Space Strategic Fund, a Japanese government initiative offering $6.7 billion over 10 years to advance key space technologies.
While details about the technology are still limited, Fujimoto says it’s making progress and could play a crucial role in enabling small-scale Mars missions. No timeline has been set for when the technology might be ready to fly a Mars mission, but the development is moving forward.
Source: https://spacenews.com/jaxa-institute-studying-mars-lander-concept