Masten Video: Xombie 650m Mars EDL Divert Trajectory

Building on the success of the 500 meter downrange flight on July 25, we’re excited to announce the completion of a flight that reached 476.5 meters in altitude and translated 650 meters downrange on August 9, 2012.

Like the July 25 test, this test was completed for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to test its powered descent and landing trajectory optimization algorithms for future Mars Entry Descent & Landing (EDL) applications.

This flight reached a higher translation velocity than the previous flight and successfully expanded Xombie’s flight envelope. The flight was controlled by Masten’s native Guidance, Navigation & Control system.