[meteorite-list] NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Readies for First Test Flight

[Ron Baalke]

June 2, 2014
     
NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Readies for First Test Flight

NASA's flying saucer-shaped test vehicle is ready to take to the skies from 
the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, for its 
first engineering shakeout flight.

The first launch opportunity for the test vehicle is June 3, when the launch 
window opens at 8:30 a.m. HST. The test will be carried live on NASA TV and 
streamed on the Web. The Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) will 
gather data about landing heavy payloads on Mars and other planetary 
surfaces.

"The agency is moving forward and getting ready for Mars as part of NASA's 
Evolvable Mars campaign," said Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for 
Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We fly, we learn, we 
fly again. We have two more vehicles in the works for next year."

As NASA plans increasingly ambitious robotic missions to Mars, laying the 
groundwork for even more complex human science expeditions to come, 
accommodating extended stays for explorers on the Martian surface will 
require larger and heavier spacecraft.

The objective of the LDSD project is to see if the cutting-edge, 
rocket-powered test vehicle operates as it was designed -- in near-space at 
high Mach numbers.

"After years of imagination, engineering and hard work, we soon will get to 
see our Keiki o ka honua, our 'boy from Earth,' show us its stuff," said Mark 
Adler, project manager for the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator at NASA's 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "The success of this 
experimental test flight will be measured by the success of the test vehicle 
to launch and fly its flight profile as advertised. If our flying saucer hits 
its speed and altitude targets, it will be a great day."

The way NASA's saucer climbs to test altitude is almost as distinctive as the 
test vehicle itself.

"We use a helium balloon -- that, when fully inflated, would fit snugly into 
Pasadena's Rose Bowl -- to lift our vehicle to 120,000 feet," said Adler. 
"From there we drop it for about one and a half seconds. After that, it's all 
about going higher and faster -- and then it's about putting on the brakes."

A fraction of a second after dropping from the balloon, and a few feet below 
it, four small rocket motors will fire to spin up and gyroscopically 
stabilize the saucer. A half second later, a Star 48B long-nozzle, 
solid-fueled rocket engine will kick in with 17,500 pounds of thrust, sending 
the test vehicle to the edge of the stratosphere.

"Our goal is to get to an altitude and velocity which simulates the kind of 
environment one of our vehicles would encounter when it would fly in the 
Martian atmosphere," said Ian Clark, principal investigator of the LDSD 
project at JPL. "We top out at about 180,000 feet and Mach 4. Then, as we 
slow down to Mach 3.8, we deploy the first of two new atmospheric braking 
systems."

The project management team decided also to fly the two supersonic 
decelerator technologies that will be thoroughly tested during two LDSD 
flight tests next year.

If this year's test vehicle flies as expected, the LDSD team may get a 
treasure-trove of data on how the 6-meter supersonic inflatable aerodynamic 
decelerator (SIAD-R) and the supersonic parachute operate a full year ahead 
of schedule.

The SIAD-R, essentially an inflatable doughnut that increases the vehicle's 
size and, as a result, its drag, is deployed at about Mach 3.8. It will 
quickly slow the vehicle to Mach 2.5 where the parachute, the largest 
supersonic parachute ever flown, first hits the supersonic flow. About 45 
minutes later, the saucer is expected to make a controlled landing onto the 
Pacific Ocean off Hawaii.

NASA TV will carry live images and commentary of LDSD engineering test. The 
test vehicle itself carries several onboard cameras. It is expected that 
video of selected portions of the test, including the rocket-powered ascent, 
will be downlinked during the commentary. Websites streaming live video of 
the test include:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 

and

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 

For more information about LDSD, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/ldsd/ 

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington funds the LDSD 
mission, a cooperative effort led by JPL. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center 
in Huntsville, Alabama, manages LDSD within the Technology Demonstration 
Mission Program Office. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is 
coordinating support with the Pacific Missile Range Facility and providing 
the balloon systems for the LDSD test.

-end-

David Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz at nasa.gov 

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle at jpl.nasa.gov 

Stefan Alford
Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii
808-335-4740
stefan.alford at navy.mil