Landing large payloads on the Martian surface

Landing large payloads on the Martian surface is needed for the construction of a base or colony. This requires untested technologies.

Space elevator

Main article Space elevator

A space elevator could be used to drop payloads onto the martian surface. A cargo pallet docks with the counterweight, and slides down the the cable to the surface. A space elevator must be built at or near the equator, whereas the cargo might be needed thousands of kilometers away. Airships could be used for long distance transport. Construction of a space elevator may require many "conventional" landings on the surface and a large amount of infrastructure in space if it is to be feasible. Even if a space elevator is implausible to construct a colony in the first place, it might be useful in future.

Aeroshell landing

The upcoming Mars Science Laboratory will use an aeroshell, parachutes and a rocket powered "skycrane" to land on Mars. This may be used to land medium sized payloads on Mars with great precision. Larger payloads are harder to land, but increasing the size of the aeroshell may help. An inflatable regallo wing made out of inconel wire and silicon rubber was considered as a manned rescue vehicle from LEO, and so was a system called MOOSE, using a foldable heatshield as a one-man escape system. Other system to be considered include high speed ballutes.