MIT alums recount their Martian experiences
Since NASA’s Curiosity rover made its extraordinary Aug. 6 touchdown on Mars, it has been roving the Martian landscape, returning startling images. So far, the rover has revealed rust-colored canyons and the remains of what appears to be an ancient riverbed — a sign that the Red Planet may have once supported water, or even life. For Allen Chen ’00, SM ’02, “it’s like Christmas every day,” as the rover sends new images and information back to Earth. Chen, who studied aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, was the deputy chief of the rover’s descent and landing team, and spent the last 10 years puzzling over how to safely land the car-sized rover on Mars. His team’s ultimate game plan involved a heat shield, a parachute, several rocket engines and, most daringly, a bungee cord-style sky crane. “I worked 10 years for seven minutes to go well,” Chen says, adding as...