NASA 'flying saucer': A better way to land on Mars?
NASA is testing a 'flying saucer' and a giant parachute off the Hawaiian island of Kauai Saturday. The new test technology that could be used to land on Mars.
NASA is testing a 'flying saucer' and a giant parachute off the Hawaiian island of Kauai Saturday. The new test technology that could be used to land on Mars.
After several weather delays, NASA will try to launch a "flying saucer" into Earth's atmosphere Saturday to test technology that could be used to land on Mars.
鈥淟anding on Mars is an extremely challenging thing to do,鈥� Ian Clark of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said at a press briefing from Kauai.聽鈥淚f you are going to cast your eyes on the prize of landing people on Mars, you鈥檙e going to need extremely large drag devices to slow those vehicles down.鈥�
As 海角大神 reported earlier this month:
The attempt off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai Saturday 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.