SpaceX planned mission nicknamed Red Dragon can set a new dawn for outer planetary exploration and pave the way for human exploration on the Red Planet beginning 2018.
The company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX, which is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport service company, run by Elon Musk proposes to launch one of its Dragon capsules towards Mars around May of 2018 for a trial run to institute the main agenda which is SpaceX's ambitious Mars colonization goal.
One of the revolutionary technologies to be used is supersonic retropropulsion. As the Dragon Capsule enters the Martian atmosphere, it will go much faster than the speed of sound. Parachutes won't be able to decelerate the capsule's tempo therefor, SuperDraco thrusters will be used to slow it down enough for a safe landing.
Previous efforts on the Red Planet have never relied on this technology. But NASA has looked into this and experts believe that this strategy is the key to making manned Mars missions possible.
On Wednesday, during a presentation with the agency's Future In-Space Operations or FISO, the director of the Commercial Spaceflight Division at NASA Headquarters, Phil McAlister, said, "Every single candidate EDL [entry, descent and landing] architecture we have for Mars human exploration relies to some extent on supersonic retropropulsion."
The outcome of the Dragon's trial ride to Mar's interplanetary zone will determine whether or not human exploration and eventually, colonization, will become a distant possibility. So, NASA will be providing a range of support to the 2018 Red Dragon
mission from deep-space communications to laying down the blueprint for "planetary protection" protocols designed to reduce the risk of contaminating Mars with microbes brought from our own planet.
However, the space agency's support will not involve funding, which is to be shouldered by SpaceX themselves.
