Bow Launch Drop Tower at JPL
Jet Propulsion Laboratory https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ Oct. 20, 2022
This drop tower at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California includes a bow launch system, which can hurl test articles 110 mph into the ground, re-creating the forces they would experience during a Mars landing.
The drop tower was used for testing the collapsible-base of a prototype Mars lander design called SHIELD (Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device) on Aug. 12, 2022. The SHIELD concept could one day allow lower-cost missions to reach the Martian surface.
In this image, the SHIELD base prototype can be seen being lifted up to the top of the tower.