NASA has recently come up with a rocket sled that replicates “the forces a supersonic spacecraft would experience prior to landing.” And if you’re wondering why on earth would NASA want a contraption like that? It can be used to test inflatable and parachute decelerators. With the results from these experiments, NASA can then “increase landed payload masses, improve landing accuracy and increase the altitude of safe landing-sites” so that they can figure out what it takes to land humans, habitats and return rockets safely on Mars or other destinations. Now if only they would turn it into an amusement park ride. Check out a video of it in action above.
[NASA]
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