NASA Is Developing What Can Only Be Called A Flying Saucer
PASADENA — It’s not exactly a flying saucer, but a new lightweight spacecraft from NASA soon hopes to invade the skies of distant planets in our solar system.
Officials with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) gave reporters a sneak peek Wednesday at its Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project, which will launch a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space this June from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.
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The LDSD mission will test what scientists are calling “breakthrough” technologies that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of Mars or other planetary bodies with atmospheres.
Researchers say future robotic missions to Mars and eventual human exploration of the “Red Planet” will require that payloads more massive than the one-ton Curiosity Mars rover in 2012 be delivered to the surface.
The LDSD project aims to develop and test two sizes of inflatable drag devices and a large new, supersonic ringsail parachute that will not only enable landing of larger payloads on Mars, but also allow access to much more of the planet’s surface by enabling landings at higher altitude sites, according to officials.
Once tested, the devices could be used in Mars missions as early as 2018, officials said.
