Sky crane

The rocket-powered descent stage that lowered Curiosity and then Perseverance onto Mars. Hovering about 20 metres above the ground on eight throttleable engines, it let the rover down on nylon cables, cut them at touchdown and flew off to crash at a safe distance. The manoeuvre made it possible to land rovers of about a tonne, too heavy for the airbags of earlier missions.

Key figures

Builder

JPL

Status

Retired

First flight

2011

Last flight

2020

Flights

2

Missions

• Curiosity: The Complete Mission in Real-Time 3D
• Perseverance: The Complete Mission in Real-Time 3D

Destinations

• Mars
• Curiosity

Launch pads

• SLC-41 (2011, Modelled for Curiosity)
• SLC-41 (2020, Modelled for Perseverance)

All spacecraft