Largest Martian heat shield yet.

Progress in using larger heat shields for landing on Mars. Sadly, NASA
usually puts stuff up for 5th graders on their website, so it is difficult
to find the mass of the Mars science Laboratory that is going to be landed
on Mars, but it is "10 times" as massive than any other rover landed on
Mars.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnol...rs-rover-huge-
heatshield.html


Next Mars Rover Gets Huge Heat Shield By SPACE.com Staff

posted: 19 June 2009
04:09 pm ET

The largest heat shield ever built for a probe bound for Mars is ready for
the new rover Curiosity, a massive Martian robot the size of a car.