Lander Conquers Europa's Harsh Terrain: Watch the Video
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tested a landing system for a hypothetical future mission to Jupiter's moon, Europa. The lander, equipped with a sky crane mechanism, slowly lowered onto simulated terrain resembling Europa's surface. The legs of the lander adjusted and bent to maintain stability, and the craft would stop its descent when encountering terrain to lock the legs and keep the spacecraft level. NASA plans to perform several flybys of Europa with the Europa Clipper, and a lander mission to the moon is highly anticipated.