ALT This 11 second looping GIF shows a SHEILD design test at a nearly 90 feet (27 meters) drop tower at JPL. The tower features a giant sling – called a bow launch system – that can hurl an object into the surface at the same speeds reached during a Mars landing. Hanging from the top of the tower is a full-size prototype of SHIELD’s collapsible attenuator – an inverted pyramid of metal rings that absorb impact. The attenuator hangs on a grapple and the bow launcher slams the SHIELD into the ground at roughly 110 miles per hour (177 kilometers per hour). That’s the speed a Mars lander reaches near the surface after being slowed by atmospheric drag from its initial speed of 14,500 miles per hour (23,335 kilometers per hour) when it enters the Mars atmosphere. The high-speed camera footage of the test then shows the SHIELD impact the ground at a slight angle, then bounce about 3.5 feet (1 meter) into the air before flipping over.