Abstract
The 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission has brought renewed awareness to the difficulty of landing large payloads on the surface of Mars. As a result, a new suite of decelerator technologies is being investigated for future robotic and human-precursor missions. One such technology is the supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (IAD). Previous studies have shown that a supersonic IAD can provide sizable increases in landed mass versus traditional parachute based systems, particularly for near-term robotic mission. This is due to the ability of an IAD to deploy at higher Mach numbers and dynamic pressures than a parachute, thus allowing for greater deceleration earlier in the entry sequence.
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