Crash Course in Safely Crashing on Mars

Posted by timothy on Wednesday November 5, 2003 @03:37AM from the go-fast-turn-left dept.

An anonymous reader writes "NASA described today how they prepared for the twin air-bag crash landings on Mars. The sites are Gusev Crater on January 4th and Terra Meridiani on January 25th. The golfcart-sized rovers have double-lined bladders, that must protect against: the equivalent of a forty mile-per-hour crash, compression against a surface of unknown sharpness, impacts repeated in rapid succession up to sixteen times, and the big bounce covering more than half-a-mile. Airbag landings are considered easier than retro-rocket or soft landings."

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Hmmm... by JofCoRe · 2003-11-05 03:47 · Score: 3, Funny

Airbag landings are considered easier than retro-rocket or soft landings.

Hey, maybe they should land airliners this way?

...and the big bounce covering more than half-a-mile.

Hmmm... maybe not.. :)

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