re life on mars in article may den mmc com seale possum den mmc com eric h seale writes i can t speak for the russian probes but the last i heard the us probe is planned to have air bags on it seriously to cushion the impact hopefully it won t be a bouncer should just hit and go thud the jpl san gabriel aiaa session last week showed the russian lander encased in a single large airbag with ravelable stitches the russian design is pretty firm and hardware is due from international experimenters by the proposed american lander has a bunch of airbags shaped like a bunch of grapes they were dropping it in the desert last month it may have a kg mini rover in it
