Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars
October 21, 2022
Like a car’s crumple zone, the experimental SHIELD lander is designed to absorb a hard impact.
NASA has successfully touched down on Mars nine times, relying on cutting-edge parachutes, massive airbags, and jetpacks to set spacecraft safely on the surface. Now engineers are testing whether or not the easiest way to get to the Martian surface is to crash.
Rather than slow a spacecraft’s…