[meteorite-list] Take a Spin With NASA Cutting-edge Mars Landing Technology (LDSD)

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4526

Take a Spin With NASA Cutting-edge Mars Landing Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
March 26, 2015

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project will be flying 
a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space from the 
Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, in June.

The public is invited to tune in to an hour-long live, interactive video 
broadcast from the gallery above a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where this near-space experimental 
test vehicle is being prepared for shipment to Hawaii. During the broadcast, 
the 15-foot-wide, 7,000-pound vehicle is expected to be undergoing a "spin-table" 
test. The event will be streamed live on www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL2 on March 
31, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. PDT. JPL's Gay Hill will host the program while 
LDSD team members will answer questions submitted to the Ustream chat 
box or via Twitter using the #AskNASA hashtag.

The LDSD crosscutting demonstration mission will test breakthrough technologies 
that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of 
Mars, or other planetary bodies with atmospheres, including Earth. The 
technologies will not only enable landing of larger payloads on Mars, 
but also allow access to much more of the planet's surface by enabling 
landings at higher-altitude sites.

More information about the LDSD space technology demonstration mission 
is online at:

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

The LDSD mission is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, 
which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in 
future missions. NASA's technology investments provide cutting-edge solutions 
for our nation's future. For more information about the directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech


Media Contact

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

2015-100