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  When a polar satellite designed to improve weather forecasting was launched early Thursday, an experimental heat shield appeared.  It could land humans on Mars.   

  Both separate missions were launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California.   

  Both missions were originally scheduled to lift off on November 1, but a faulty battery in the rocket’s upper stage caused a delay.  Engineers swapped and retested the battery to create the basis for a new launch date.

LIFT OFF! The final @ULALaunch Atlas V rocket to soar from @SLDelta30 is on its way to deliver two separate missions into Earth orbit: #JPSS2 and #LOFTID. pic.twitter.com/Kg5Cns0Dwt — NASA (@NASA) November 10, 2022 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA have launched weather satellites since 1960. The Joint Polar Satellite System-2, or JPSS-2, will be the third satellite in a fleet of NOAA’s latest generation of polar-orbiting environmental satellites.

  The orbiter will collect data that can help scientists predict and prepare for extreme weather events such as hurricanes, blizzards and floods.   

  The satellite will be able to monitor wildfires and volcanoes, measure the ocean and atmosphere, and detect dust and smoke in the air.  It will also monitor ozone and atmospheric temperature, providing more information on the climate crisis.   

  Once in orbit and orbiting the planet from the North Pole to the South Pole, the satellite will be renamed NOAA-21.  The satellite will observe every point on Earth at least twice a day, according to NOAA.  And when you check the weather on your phone, it will be powered by data captured by the satellite.   

  JPSS-2 will join two other satellites, the Suomi National Polar-Obiting Partnership and NOAA-20, that make up the Joint Polar Satellite System.   

  “JPSS provides more than twice-daily observations over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that help meteorologists monitor weather systems where we don’t have the benefit of weather balloons and only limited buoys, compared to the dense network of land-based weather stations” , said Jordan Gerth.  , a meteorologist and satellite scientist at NOAA’s National Weather Service before the launch.   

  A secondary payload arriving on a rocket ride is NASA’s low-orbit flight test in an inflatable decelerator technology demonstration, or LOFTID.   

  The mission is designed to test the inflatable heat shield technology needed to land crewed missions to Mars and larger robotic missions to Venus or Saturn’s moon Titan.  Something like LOFTID could also be used when returning heavy payloads to Earth.   

  Sending robotic explorers or humans to other worlds that have an atmosphere can be challenging because the current airfoils or heat shields used depend on the size of a rocket’s envelope.   

  But an inflatable aircraft could bypass that dependency—and open up the possibility of sending heavier missions to different planets.   

  When a spacecraft enters a planet’s atmosphere, it is hit with aerodynamic forces, which help slow it down.   

  On Mars, where the atmosphere is only 1% the density of Earth’s atmosphere, extra help is needed to create the drag needed to slow down and land a spacecraft safely.   

  That’s why NASA engineers believe a large deployable craft like LOFTID, which inflates and is protected by a flexible heat shield, could brake while traveling through the Martian atmosphere.   

  The airfoil is designed to create more drag in the upper atmosphere to help the spacecraft decelerate sooner, which also prevents some of the extremely intense heating.  The LOFTID display is approximately 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter.   

  About 90 minutes after JPSS-2 and LOFITD lift off into space, the technology demonstration will be removed from the polar satellite once it reaches orbit and LOFTID’s incredibly short mission will begin.   

  After inflation, the LOFTID will be reorientated by the rocket’s upper stage.   

  The airframe will then separate from the upper stage and attempt to re-enter the atmosphere from low Earth orbit to see if the heat shield is effective in slowing it down and survivability.   

  Sensors on the LOFTID will record the heat shield’s experience during its painful descent.  Six cameras will capture 360-degree video of the LOFTID experiment, said Joe Del Corso, LOFTID project manager at NASA’s Langley Research Center.   

  Upon re-entry, LOFTID will encounter temperatures reaching 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and speeds of nearly 18,000 miles per hour.  It will be the ultimate test of the materials used to build the inflatable structure, which includes a woven ceramic fabric called silicon carbide.   

  It is expected to launch about 500 miles off the coast of Hawaii, where a team will recover the airframe.   

  Currently, NASA can land a metric ton (2,205 pounds) on the surface of Mars, such as the car-sized Perseverance rover.  But something like LOFTID could land between 20 and 40 metric tons (44,092 to 88,184 pounds) on Mars, Del Corso said.   

  The results of Thursday’s demonstration could define the entry, descent and landing technology that one day delivers human crews to the surface of Mars.