The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and SpaceX are working together to make progress on the mission to Mars. With the partnership between JPL and SpaceX, both parties are hopefully pushing forward the effort to make progress on the mission.

JPL and NASA plan to help SpaceX with the mission details such as location and design, and in return JPL and NASA get to use the data obtained from the mission in order to further their knowledge of space.

The mission, named Red Dragon, will be an unmanned mission. According to NASA, this mission is meant to test the supersonic retropropulsion technology that is needed to send humans to Mars. Red Dragon is expected to be very heavy, more than ten times the weight of the Curiosity Rover, meaning that the same technology used for the Curiosity Rover landing cannot be used in the same way for the Red Dragon.

For the landing site, Arcadia Planitia is a plain area on Mars that appears to be the best option for landing so far. This region is also near ice deposits, which is a good point because the goal is to choose a landing site near resources that could be used for a potential colonization effort, thinking into the future and not just regarding the mission itself.

This appears to be a win-win situation for all the organizations involved. NASA gains information that would be very helpful in its research and knowledge of Mars without having to construct and carry out the whole mission by itself. By sending its employees to work on the SpaceX mission, NASA does not need to directly fund the physical building of the Red Dragon.

Not only is this mission a goal of people in NASA, JPL, and SpaceX, but even President Donald Trump is eager for there to be progress on space exploration. President Trump voiced his wishes for NASA and aerospace companies to collaborate, and this Red Dragon project is the perfect way for them to work together and further human accomplishments in space.

SpaceX wishes to send Red Dragon off in the next four years, although this may not happen in the ideal time suggested. From this partnership, NASA can acquire knowledge that will further human understanding of space, while SpaceX also can reach another milestone in its missions.