Mary K. McGuire
Papers
2
Total Citations
124
H-Index
2
About
Mary K. McGuire is a leading aerospace engineer whose work has been instrumental in shaping NASA’s strategy for landing large payloads on Mars. Her primary research areas include entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems analysis, planetary exploration architectures, and technology roadmapping for human-scale missions. McGuire’s major contributions are encapsulated in her two most-cited works: the Phase 1 and Phase 2 reports of the Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis (EDL-SA) Study, commissioned by NASA senior management in 2008. These landmark reports, with 97 and 27 citations respectively, identified critical EDL technology investments needed to enable both robotic and human-scale Mars landings. By systematically analyzing and prioritizing technologies such as supersonic retropropulsion and advanced aeroshells, McGuire’s work provided the foundational roadmap that guides NASA’s current and future Mars exploration efforts. Her research has directly influenced the agency’s ability to plan missions requiring larger, heavier landers—a key step toward eventual human exploration. McGuire’s achievements demonstrate her pivotal role in bridging high-level strategic planning with practical engineering solutions, making her a respected authority in planetary entry systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis Study: Phase 1 Report97 citations · 2010
- 2Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis Study: Phase 2 Report on Exploration Feed-Forward Systems27 citations · 2011