When NASA sends a rover or other piece of technology to the moon, there is no guarantee it will work under lunar gravity—an object that weighs 100 pounds on Earth weighs just 16.5 pounds on the moon. But the space agency now has a way to give lunar technologies a dress rehearsal.
Last week, Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard rocket—equipped with 30 payloads from NASA and other partners—simulated the moon’s gravity for two minutes during a suborbital flight. Previously, NASA could only recreate lunar gravity for seconds at a time, leaving a degree of uncertainty as to how payloads might perform on the moon.
