Video showing a prototype of a lander on Mars

Posted on 10/21/2022 12:21 / Updated 10/21/2022 12:22

(credit: NASA/Disclosure)

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has released a video showing the prototype of the module designed to land on Mars. The prototype, unconventional, has the shape of an accordion. The design is believed to absorb the shock of a forced landing.

In the video, the prototype was launched from a 27-meter tower. The idea was to see if the equipment would survive the landing. The prototype hit the ground at a speed of 177 km / h and the experiment was successful. “The only hardware that was damaged were some plastic components that we weren’t concerned about,” project manager Lou Gersh said in a statement.

The design is called the shield, for short Simplified high-impact power landing device. The idea in the new format is to reduce the costs of landing on Mars. NASA has landed nine times on the Red Planet using other technologies such as parachutes and airbags.

“We thought we could go to more dangerous areas where we don’t want to try to put a billion dollar rover with our existing landing systems,” Lou Gersh said.