NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Fires Rocket Motor, Deploys SIAD, But Suffers Parachute Failure
- 10 years ago
After a 2 hour flight on a helium Balloon which brought the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) spacecraft, NASA's 'Flying Saucer' to 120,000 feet the Star 48B rocket motor was fired, the SIAD heat shield deployed, however during the deployment of the parachute a tanglement in the chute was seen in onboard video.
LDSD was fitted with what is called SIAD-R, a giant dounaut air bag that increased the diameter of the vehicle and helped slow it down to Mach 2.5 where a supersonic parachute was to deploy ahead of a safe landing in the Pacific Ocean for recovery. These tests are to prove future technologies for landing larger craft onto Mars.
LDSD was fitted with what is called SIAD-R, a giant dounaut air bag that increased the diameter of the vehicle and helped slow it down to Mach 2.5 where a supersonic parachute was to deploy ahead of a safe landing in the Pacific Ocean for recovery. These tests are to prove future technologies for landing larger craft onto Mars.