Back in 2012, a prototype for a large inflatable heat shield called an Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) was tested successfully, after launching on a sounding rocket and surviving at ...

Current heat-shield technology weighs too much to be used on larger spacecraft. NASA has relied on parachute-based deceleration on Mars since the Viking program in the 1970s.

Last week, on Nov. 10, NASA tested hardware that could help these crewed Mars missions land safely — an inflatable heat shield called LOFTID, which launched to Earth orbit with the JPSS-2 ...

When a polar satellite designed to improve weather forecasting launched early Thursday, an experimental heat shield tagged along. It could land humans on Mars.