John Doe wrote in news:483b242f$0$31242$c3e8da3
@news.astraweb.com:

The neat NASA animations provided to the media shows how rockets slowled
the ship down prior to landing.

Out of curiosity, doesn't that contaminate the soil all around the
landing side and kill off all life with the fire/heat of the rockets ?

How do they mitigate this problem ?


The thrusters cut off a few meters above the ground, which helps to
minimize the contamination. The low Martian gravity means the terminal
velocity isn't all that great and the legs take up the impact.

A future mission will have the lander descend on a hovering platform,
lowered by a winch. The platform will translate a distance away
before setting down/impacting.

--Damon