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NASA's flying saucer gets ready for test flight

Xinhua, June 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

NASA is all set to test-launch its rocket-powered flying saucer into near-space to check out landing technologies for future Mars missions, but wave conditions in the Pacific Ocean aren't so good for a splashdown and recovery.

The saucer will be launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

The flying saucer is formally known as the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, or LDSD. The rocket-powered platform incorporates an inflatable, doughnut-shaped device called the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD), plus a parachute that's meant to withstand supersonic wind speeds.

Mission managers postponed the second launch attempt of a high-altitude balloon carrying an LDSD test vehicle due to unfavorable ocean conditions, NASA said in a statement Tuesday.

The next launch opportunity is Thursday, June 4. The ocean wave height continues to be an issue for the crew that would recover the vehicle and its data after splashdown.

An LDSD test success requires an intricate set of events, including use of a high-altitude balloon, rocket engines, an aeroshell and multiple supersonic decelerators.

The flying saucer had its first field test on June 28, 2014. A helium balloon lofted the payload up to 120,000 feet (36,576 meters), and then the rocket pushed the LDSD up another 60,000 feet (18,288 meters), a region of the stratosphere where the air is as thin as it is on Mars.

The 20-foot-wide (6.096-meter-wide) inflatable decelerator worked as expected, but as soon as the 110-foot-wide (33.5-meter-wide) parachute opened, it was shredded apart.

The test was deemed a success by engineers, despite the vehicle's huge parachute apparently failing to deploy properly, according to local media.

The LDSD project, led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and sponsored by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, is conducting this full-scale flight test of two breakthrough technologies: a SIAD and an innovative new parachute. These devices may help scientists deliver double the current amount of payload, 1.5 metric tons, to the surface of Mars.

They also will greatly increase the accessible surface area we can explore, and will improve the landing accuracy from a margin of approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to a little more than 1 mile (1.6 km). All these factors will dramatically increase the success of future missions on Mars. Endi