JENNIFER TROSPER: So, our landing system had these big airbags that inflated and they would bounce across the surface. ROB MANNING: The biggest problem, right off the bat, we started doing math for how much Spirit and Opportunity were going to weigh. And will those airbags be able to handle that weight? So we started doing tests.
PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: Airbag tests: “This is just dandy. This is a good rock. I like this rock.”
JENNIFER TROSPER: So we were trying out the airbags with the types of rocks we could encounter on Mars. We do the first big drop…huge gaping holes in these airbags get ripped by the rocks and we were like, “Oh...this is not good. Not good at all.”
PARACHUTE TESTS
PARACHUTE TESTS
ROB MANNING: The parachutes were another story altogether.
PARACHUTE CONSTRUCTION
PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: NASA people using a chalkboard to figure out landing: “Then, what I’m trying to look at is literally using 6 little bungee cords attached here to the airbags. And the challenge here is that there’s a lot of different ways to do this, a lot of different ways to do this. We don’t know which one is the best, we only get one shot at it.”
ROVER DESIGN TESTING
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