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So what does an agency like NASA do after making a daring new type of landing with the Mars Curiosity rover? Try to make it even better for next time.
NASA is readying a new technology for landing on the Red Planet that is supposed to help brake the spacecraft in the atmosphere by inflating a buffer around the heat shield to slow things down. And after testing this so-called 'Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator' on a rocket sled in January and April, the team is ready for the next major test: heading aloft.
As early as June 3, NASA will strap a test device below a high-altitude balloon and send it up to 120,000 feet - about the same altitude that Felix Baumgartner jumped from in 2012. The device will then drop from the balloon sideways, spinning like a football, and reach a velocity of four times the speed of sound. Then the LDSD will inflate, if all goes as planned, and NASA will evaluate how well it performs.
The agency hopes to use this technology to land heavier and heavier spacecraft on the Red Planet. If the testing goes as scheduled and the funding is available, NASA plans to use an LDSD on a spacecraft as early as 2018.
You can read more about LDSD at this website.
Elizabeth Howell is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter @howellspace or contact her at her website.
Tagged as: low density supersonic decelerator, rocket sled
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 5 1 Name: LDSD Count: 2 2 Name: Felix Baumgartner Count: 1 3 Name: Utah Count: 1 4 Name: Elizabeth Howell Count: 1 5 Name: NASA Lunar Science Institute Count: 1 6 Name: NASA Astrobiology Magazine Count: 1 7 Name: Universe Today Count: 1 8 Name: Red Planet Count: 1 9 Name: Space.com Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1tiSPP8 Title: NASA Schedules June 3 Test Flight for Mars Flying Saucer Description: Stay Connected with Us! Follow TechnoBuffalo That saucer-shaped UFO you see streaming across the sky is just a NASA experiment. Having finished development on its Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) vehicle, the agency has scheduled a test flight for June 3 in Hawaii.
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