PIA25581: Bow Launch Drop Tower at JPL
This drop tower at JPL includes a bow launch system, which can hurl test articles 110 mph into the ground, re-creating the forces they would experience during a Mars landing.
 Mission:  Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device (SHIELD) 
 Product Size:  1920 x 1080 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA25581.tif (6.223 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA25581.jpg (329.5 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This drop tower at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California includes a bow launch system, which can hurl test articles 110 mph into the ground, re-creating the forces they would experience during a Mars landing.

The drop tower was used for testing the collapsible-base of a prototype Mars lander design called SHIELD (Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device) on Aug. 12, 2022. The SHIELD concept could one day allow lower-cost missions to reach the Martian surface.

In this image, the SHIELD base prototype can be seen being lifted up to the top of the tower.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2022-10-20