After a number of false starts and launch delays, NASA has finally released HD footage of its flying saucer's inaugural test flight over Hawaii. The flying saucer, or Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) to give its full name, is one of the possible technologies that NASA is investigating for safely landing large spacecraft on the surface of Mars and other planets in the not-so-distant future. Unsurprisingly the first test of the flying saucer didn't quite go to plan - it shredded its supersonic parachute - but overall NASA is very pleased with the results. You can watch the flying saucer, and the shredded parachute, in glorious high-def (and slow-mo!) below.
On June 29, the LDSD was towed 23 miles (37 km) to the edge of space by a giant balloon. After the balloon released the flying saucer, an on-board solid-fuel rocket flared into life, propelling the craft to an altitude of 180,000 feet (34 miles) and four times the speed of sound (about 3,000 mph). Then, as the LDSD began its descent, the SIAD - the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator - inflated, causing the craft to slow to around Mach 2.5 (~1,900 mph). This is when the LDSD looked most like a flying saucer (though, disappointingly it looks like the LDSD only spins like a flying saucer for a few moments to stabilize its descent, and then falls fairly straightly once the SIAD is deployed).
At Mach 2.5, the LDSD deployed a supersonic parachute that was meant to slow the craft down to subsonic landing speeds. Sadly, due to the rather insane forces involved, the chute disintegrated just a few moments after deployment. NASA isn't too phased about this failure, though. 'There's a lot of physics to this problem that we're now gaining new insights into that we've never had before, and we're learning more about what it takes to build parachutes this size that can be safely deployed at these conditions,' said LDSD lead Ian Clark. 'We're going to take all of that knowledge and feed it back to our flights for next year.' The SIAD worked perfectly during the test.
The eventual goal is to use the LDSD to land large spacecraft on other moons and planets, such as Mars. While the crazy sky-crane technique worked for the one-ton Curiosity rover, NASA says it won't scale up for larger payloads. While just using a big parachute would be a simpler solution, Mars' atmosphere isn't thick enough to provide enough deceleration - thus the need for new solutions, such as the inflatable SIAD. NASA carried out the LDSD test at high altitude for a similar reason: The thin Earth atmosphere at 180,000 feet is a fairly good analog for the Martian atmosphere.
NASA will carry out more LDSD tests in 2015. If all goes to plan, the LDSD could be ready for action in the next few years - but in reality, we probably won't see it in use until sometime after 2020 (the 2020 Mars rover will use the same sky-crane landing as Curiosity). There's a good chance that the LDSD will be used when NASA finally sends humans to Mars in-or-around 2035. Yes, we just might send a flying saucer to Mars.
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 8 1 Name: LDSD Count: 6 2 Name: SIAD Count: 2 3 Name: Ian Clark Count: 1 4 Name: Hawaii Count: 1 5 Name: Earth Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1ydPq6F Title: LDSD: Supersonic Test Flight (HD) Description: Ian Clark, principal investigator of the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, takes us through a play-by-play of NASA's recent 'flying saucer' Test in Hawaii, using high-definition video shot from cameras on board the test vehicle.
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