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.
October 20, 2022
CreditNASA/JPL-Caltech
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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.

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