The landing procedure for the Mars Space Lab is a complex chain of events that has never been utilized before for a project. The landing of the Space Lab is difficult primarily because of MarsŐ thick atmosphere and the LabŐs large mass. However, despite these challenges, a high-precision entry, descent, and landing system has been developed. This high-precision entry is due to an entry guidance algorithm. During the entry, the rover is safe within an aeroshell which protects it during the atmospheric entry. The lifting force experienced by the aeroshell is used to keep the MSL in the predetermined landing circle. After the initial entry phase, a supersonic parachute is released. This parachute has 80 suspension lines, is over 50 meters in length, is 16 meters in diameter, and can generate up to 65000 pounds of drag force. After the parachute is deployed, the rover drops out of the aeroshell along with the descent stage. The descent stage is a platform over the rover that has thrust mono propellant hydrazine rocket thrusters to slow the descent of the rover. During this time, the rover is changing into its landing configuration while being lowered from the descent stage by the sky crane. The sky crane is similar to cranes on Earth and lowers the rover to the ground. Once the crane lands the rover on solid ground, the rover fires pyros which frees it from the descent stage. The descent stage then uses the thrusters to find a crashing site. The rover is now free to explore Mars.
The landing procedure is intricate and contains many steps to safely land the Mars Space Lab. The process has never been used before, which adds to the significance of this mission.