Posted by tourdemars to Technology at August 17, 2004 12:03 AM

Boeing has won a $1.5 million, three-year NASA Mars Technology Development contract to develop guidance parachute technology for future Mars missions. The contract award, which will be managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, supports NASA's Mars Exploration Program, an initiative to utilize cost effective innovations for precision entry, descent and landing. NASA's proposed robotic Mars missions, using this parachute guidance technology, would be capable of landing on the surface of the planet within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of the target area. The technologies could also have applications for future manned Mars missions.