NASA’s flying saucer recognized as the ‘Best of What’s New’

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator project, LDSD for short, has earned Popular Science’s award for “Best of What’s New” in the aerospace category. LDSD, if you recall, is NASA’s take on the flying saucer but with one major exception: it’s rocketed powered. The vehicle was tested in near-space on June 28, 2014 out of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missle Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The saucer-shaped craft’s goal was to test technologies that will someday be used in future Mars missions, such as the ability to decelerate before landing on Mars. The vehicle performed this action by inflating a balloon around its perimeter to increase the surface area and create atmospheric drag.

During June’s experiment, LDSD was raised by a high-altitude helium balloon up to an altitude of 120,000 feet before a rocket lifted it an additional 60,000 feet. At this point the 20-foot-wide tube-shaped balloon deployed and LDSD began dropping toward Earth. Once a certain altitude was reached, a parachute was then released to create a drag that lowered the craft’s speed to 30 miles per hour.

Two additional tests are scheduled to take place around the middle of 2015; these will include the a rounder-shaped parachute and additional structural support

Source: NASA