Abstract:
Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) is the most pivotal phase for Mars landing exploration. Compared to the Earth reentry, EDL process of Mars has some similitudes. However, the composition and physical characteristics of Mars atmosphere have much discrepancy with earth atmosphere, and it has quite great uncertainty. As a result, this makes the Mars EDL process quite short and changeable, which requires high deceleration ability and makes a tough scheduling. With consideration of project realization, the problems and challenges of Mars EDL process are identified, also the technical solutions of the pivotal phase are proposed.