Red Planet Descent

Overview

With our project, we are hoping to gather information on which of the following entry landing, and descent (EDL) systems can protect a model rover the most when dropped; a shell, a parachute, or an airbag. After building our three models, we tested them by first weighing them, then dropping them. We then recorded the speed and the damage dealt to the rover, and finally repeated the process for more data on each system. For our hypothesis, we believed that the airbags would protect the rover the most, followed by the shell, and finally the parachute. This was proved partially correct, as the airbags did protect the rover the most. However, the parachute did better than the shell, which wasn’t in our hypothesis.

Competition history

• CSEF 2026 Physics & Astronomy (Junior Division) · Entry J-17-06

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