The American Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars in 1997, took pictures of the topography, analyzed the atmosphere, and sent data back to Earth. It was the first such exploratory work on Mars in 21 years.

The landing system for the spacecraft was somewhat unusual. Pathfinder left the mother ship at a low altitude and dropped toward Mars, wrapped in airbags to cushion the landing. The airbags were made from Vectran, a fiber manufactured by fiber-maker Kuraray Co., Ltd., of Japan.

Kuraray first marketed Vectran in 1990, after it became the first company in the world to make fiber out of Vectra, a resin developed by an American company. Vectran is tremendously strong — you could suspend a weight of 150 kg on a strand of Vectran no thicker than 1 mm. In addition, it has excellent fire-resistant properties, its size remains stable, and it doesn't deteriorate easily.

After Vectran performed well in the harsh Martian environment, its superior properties were recognized worldwide. Today, it is used for making fixed nets and different kinds of rope, for industrial purposes like strengthening optical fiber, and for sporting goods like rackets and nets.

Nakaya Takao, a department head at Kuraray, put it this way: "When we developed it, we were looking for something even stronger than iron, which is used more than any other industrial material. Vectran's main advantage is that it is much lighter than iron, so it is easy to transport. It can be used in any environment, on land or sea, or in the air."

Having proven itself on Mars, Vectran surely has a great future on Earth, making life here more convenient.