What seriously blows my mind about the Descent Stage and Sky Crane system: YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY TEST THE WHOLE SYSTEM ON EARTH. It's /Mars-only/, it only works there.
Over a decade after design and 2 for 2 on use, this is the first time we've seen it all at work.
Over a decade after design and 2 for 2 on use, this is the first time we've seen it all at work.
https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1363929492138254340
You can test the parachute by launching it to the fringes of the Earth's atmosphere. You can test the cables, and test the mobility deploy in a lab. You can test the radar and terrain navigation systems on a plane/helicopter. But you CANNOT test the system as a whole all at once.
It is so rare in engineering for a system to be tested as individual pieces, not as a whole system.
It's even rarer for that whole system to work.
It is, by all accounts, practically impossible for that each-piece-by-itself-tested system to work twice.
Until now.
It's even rarer for that whole system to work.
It is, by all accounts, practically impossible for that each-piece-by-itself-tested system to work twice.
Until now.
That's JPL™
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