Using a single material for two functions has great potential for carmakers, says Per-Ivar Sellergren, a senior engineer at Volvo's Material Laboratory in Gothenburg.

ECONOMIST: Carbon-composite batteries

"You probably would not damage your bumper if you hit a car at this speed, " said landing-system engineer Devin Kipp at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who helped design the parachute.

WSJ: Mars Mission Seeks a Happy Landing

"I personally like to think of it as an intellect upgrade, since the 'brain' remains the same, " said Jim Donaldson, the mission's avionics chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

MSN: Mars rover survives 'brain transplant' with flying colors

"The message did not arrive at the device meant to deploy the chute, " said Gentry Lee, chief engineer of planetary systems at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

CNN: High hopes to salvage Genesis science

"We are very pleased that the engine started and continued to thrust, " said Marc Rayman, Deep Space 1's chief mission engineer and deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

CNN: Deep Space probe's ion engine working smoothly, NASA says

"This is the first time any robot has drilled in any rock on Mars" or anywhere else beyond Earth, said Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

WSJ: Rover on Mars Extracts First Rock-Core Sample