Written by DC Agle
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, CA – A saucer-shaped vehicle designed to test interplanetary landing devices hangs on a tower in preparation for launch at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.
The saucer, which is part of NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project, will test two devices for landing heavy payloads on Mars: an inflatable tube and an enormous parachute.
The vehicle’s rocket takes it to even higher altitudes, to the top of the stratosphere, where the supersonic test begins.
NASA has six potential dates for launch of the high-altitude balloon carrying the LDSD experiment: June 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 14th. The launch window for each date extends from 7:00am to 8:30am HST (10:00am to 11:30am PDT and 1:00pm to 2:30pm EDT).
This image was taken during the vehicle’s Integrated System Test, an operations rehearsal that engaged all of the teams and systems required for launch and flight, and ran through activities that will be conducted before and during launch, ascent, powered drop and flight.
More information about LDSD is at: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/ldsd/
