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Originally Posted by mugaliens
Mars aerobraking works fine. What's the issue, again???
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Yes, it works fine for smaller, light weight craft.
But a simple cone shape, as used by Apollo landers, would not give enough surface area to brake a heavy craft in Mars' very thin atmosphere; so the cross sectional area of the aerobrake has to be increased, and a ballute is one way of doing this.
The toroidal section seems to be important in many designs- see this NASA proposal.
http://fun3d.larc.nasa.gov/ballute_CAD.jpg