It wasn’t a Darwin Award alert, but serious science as NASA recently trialed a rocket sled in the California desert. Cameras were strapped on to the apparatus so we can feed our need for speed while NASA uses the sled to test the forces felt by supersonic spacecraft when landing.
The sled is part of the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator Project (LDSD), testing various inflatable and parachute decelerators that might be attached to spacecraft. It allows NASA to create varying levels of force, weight of payload and other factors as a way to hone how future spacecraft might perform.
via DVICE
April 2, 2012
