NASA to test Mars ‘flying saucer’ vehicle on Earth
A saucer-shaped test vehicle known as a Low Density Supersonic Decelerator holding equipment for landing large payloads on Mars is shown in the Missile Assembly Building at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kekaha on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. AP
LOS ANGELES–NASA will try to launch a “flying saucer” into Earth’s atmosphere Saturday to test technology that could be used to land on Mars.
After several weather delays, the attempt off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai will test the disc-shaped vehicle and a giant parachute.
Since the 1970s, NASA has used the same parachute design to slow landers and rovers as they streak through the thin Martian atmosphere. With plans to send heavier spacecraft and eventually astronauts, the space agency needs a much stronger parachute.
NASA is testing the technology high in Earth’s atmosphere because conditions there are similar to that of Mars.
High winds at the Kauai military range forced NASA to miss its original two-week launch window in June.
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