The NASA vehicle that looks like a flying saucer and is designed to blaze a trail for future Mars landings will have to stay on the ground in Hawaii for at least two additional days.
The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, or LDSD, has to be sent up on a balloon from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii when the winds are blowing out to sea, so that it splashes down safely into the Pacific Ocean at the end of its high-altitude test.
Weather conditions weren't right for a Thursday launch, NASA said in an advisory.
Unfavorable winds forced a scrub on Tuesday as well. NASA said future launch opportunities are available on June 7, 9, 11 and 14. When the test happens, NASA TV will provide live video coverage.
The test launch serves as an opportunity to see how a new kind of atmospheric braking system performs under conditions similar to those faced during entry, descent and landing on Mars. The 15-foot-wide (4.7-meter-wide) vehicle looks like a flying saucer because that's the shape used for Mars descent spacecraft.
The LDSD would be sent up to an altitude of 120,000 feet using a helium-filled balloon. Then it would drop away and fire a solid-fueled rocket engine to zoom up to 180,000 feet. At that height, Earth's atmospheric density is similar to that of Mars' atmosphere.
As the saucer descends at a supersonic speed of Mach 3.8, a coated Kevlar 'inner tube' would inflate, widening the craft's diameter to 20 feet (6 meters). The extra drag should slow the saucer down to Mach 2.5, and then a super-strong 100-foot-wide (30.5-meter-wide) parachute will unfurl to further slow the descent to a gentle drift.
About 45 minutes later, the craft would be recovered from the Pacific for analysis. If the system works, NASA says it could eventually be used on spacecraft that carry multiple-ton payloads to Mars. That would be a significant improvement on the system that was used to get NASA's 1-ton Curiosity rover to the Martian surface in 2012.
To get the latest word on the weather outlook in Hawaii, keep tabs on the LDSD mission's website or follow @NASA_Technology on Twitter.
First published June 4 2014, 4:21 PM
Alan BoyleAlan Boyle is the science editor for NBC News Digital. He joined MSNBC.com at its inception in July 1996, and took on the science role in July 1997 with the landing of NASA's Mars Pathfinder probe. Boyle is responsible for coverage of science and space for NBCNews.com.Boyle joined NBCNews.com from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where he was the foreign desk editor from 1987 to 1996. Boyle has won awards for science journalism from numerous organizations, including the National Academies, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Association of Science Writers. Boyle is the author of 'The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference.' He lives in Bellevue, Wash.
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 7 1 Name: Boyle Count: 4 2 Name: Hawaii Count: 3 3 Name: LDSD Count: 2 4 Name: American Association for the Advancement of Science Count: 1 5 Name: Pacific Ocean Count: 1 6 Name: Bellevue Count: 1 7 Name: National Association of Science Writers Count: 1 8 Name: Pacific Count: 1 9 Name: Pluto Count: 1 10 Name: NBC News Digital Count: 1 11 Name: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Count: 1 12 Name: Earth Count: 1 13 Name: Alan Boyle Alan Boyle Count: 1 14 Name: National Academies Count: 1 15 Name: U.S. Navy Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1kr91hQ Title: Last stop, Mars: NASA preps its 'flying saucer' craft for test flight Description: NASA's next big leap toward Mars exploration missions is set for tomorrow, when it plans to launch a saucer-shaped vehicle into the sky at supersonic speeds. The technology in NASA 's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LSDS) vehicle is key to help the agency land large payloads on Mars, which has an atmosphere 99% thinner than Earth's - making it difficult to slow down incoming spacecraft.
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