article_snippet: The technologies will not only enable landing of larger payloads on Mars, but also allow access to much more of the planet's surface by enabling landings at higher-altitude sites.
article_snippet: The system is designed to land large vehicles on the surface.
article_snippet: The Curiosity rover, for example, needed an innovative landing method due to The Curiosity rover size but this technology wasn’t ready yet.
article_snippet: Instead, to land the rover on the surface ’ Nasa developed a landing mechanism that used rockets known as the ‘sky crane’.
highlights_snippet: Nasa says it could one day be used to take humans onto Mars .