NASA's 'Flying Saucer' Readies for First Test Flight
This artist's concept shows the test vehicle for NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), designed to test landing technologies for future Mars missions. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
June 02, 2014
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. Hawaii Standard Time (11:30 a.m. PDT/2:30 p.m. EDT). 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 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 approximately 20-foot (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:
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.
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011 agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Last stop, Mars: NASA preps its ‘flying saucer’ craft for test flight
Above: NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator craft on a crane at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
NASA’s next big leap toward Mars exploration missions is set for tomorrow, when it plans to launch a saucer-shaped vehicle into the sky at supersonic speeds.
The technology in NASA‘s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) vehicle is key to help the agency land large payloads on Mars, which has an atmosphere 99% thinner than Earth’s — making it difficult to slow down incoming spacecraft. NASA has equipped the LSDS with a 100-foot-wide parachute and a balloon-like device capable of rapid inflation, a Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD).
Those are the two technologies NASA aims to test tomorrow afternoon when it launches the LDSD from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. It originally planned to test the LDSD yesterday, but the weather proved uncooperative.
To duplicate the thin Martian atmosphere, NASA will bring its LDSD craft to 120,000 feet with a giant helium balloon (and we mean giant: fully deployed, it’s 34 million cubic feet, bigger than an entire football stadium). Then the balloon will detach and a rocket motor will kick in, boosting the craft to 180,000 feet – and to the supersonic speeds required to test the SIAD. When the vehicle hits Mach 4, the 20-foot SIAD will inflate, increasing the craft’s surface area and slowing it to about Mach 2.5 — a speed at which it’s safe to deploy a supersonic parachute. Finally, everything will touch down into the ocean, where NASA will recover the craft and its equipment.
At least, that’s how NASA envisions the test. The agency notes that it’s a risky mission with unproven technologies. But whether or not the test is successful, NASA will gather extremely valuable data — and it’s thrilled to take the LDSD out for a spin.
“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,” Mark Adler, LDSD project manager, said in a statement.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) boldly goes where no one has gone before. The federal agency's Aeronautics division conducts research on new flight technologies while its Exploration Systems works on human and robo... read more »
Pics NASA says it has successfully test-flown its “flying saucer” - the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) - after weather conditions permitted the trial on Saturday.
The LDSD is a concept lander design for future flights to Mars. The craft works by inflating a “Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator” (SIAD), which NASA describes as a “large, doughnut-shaped first deceleration technology that deployed during the flight.” The doughnut is actually a balloon-like “pressure vessel” that, by embiggening, increases friction to slow a payload while also cushioning it from atmospheric phenomena.
Lifted from the US Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai by a massive 963,000m3 helium-filled balloon - large enough when fully inflated to "fit snugly into Pasadena's Rose Bowl" - the vehicle released at 36,500m and was then blasted to 55,000m and Mach 4 by a ATK Star 48B solid fuel thruster.
The LDSD soars majestically heavenwards. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fire in the sky: The LDSD's rocket motor in action. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The LDSD then successfully deployed its inflatable deceleration airbags (the "Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator", or SIAD), slowing the vehicle to a modest Mach 2.5.
The test mostly went well, although the Supersonic Disk Sail Parachute didn't deploy properly.
LDSD project manager Mark Adler enthused: "We are thrilled about yesterday's test. The test vehicle worked beautifully, and we met all of our flight objectives. We have recovered all the vehicle hardware and data recorders and will be able to apply all of the lessons learned from this information to our future flights."
Recovery vessel Kahana pulls the LDSD from the Pacific. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The point of all this ballocket tomfoolery was to try out kit for future Mars payload landings, at altitudes which most closely match the planet's thin atmosphere. NASA says: "In order to get larger payloads to Mars, and to pave the way for future human explorers, cutting-edge technologies like LDSD are critical. Among other applications, this new space technology will enable delivery of the supplies and materials needed for long-duration missions to the Red Planet."
The agency has two further test flights scheduled for 2015. It's "analyzing data on the parachute so that lessons learned can be applied" to the next flights. ®
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NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator took a balloon up to high altitudes. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) NASA’s official name for it is the “Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator,” but let’s be honest – it looks like a flying saucer. But whatever it’s called, one thing that is true about this new concept vehicle being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory just had a successful test run.
The LDSD is being developed with a particular purpose in mind – making it easier to land larger and heavier robotic probes on the surface of Mars . Ever since NASA first landed the robotic Viking probes on the Red Planet in 1976, the technology used to land probes on Mars has remained unchanged.
But as future missions to Mars require more instruments and equipment, the robots themselves also get much bigger and heavier – which makes the engineering challenges involved in both launching from Earth and landing them on Mars more difficult with the current system. If NASA is successful in developing the LDSD for Mars missions, it might be possible to nearly double the weight of probes it sends. The LDSD will also enable more precise landings on the Martian surface. Concept drawing of the LDSD (Credit: NASA/JPL)
For this test, the test vehicle was taken to an altitude of 120,000 feet via helium balloon on the afternoon of Saturday, June 28. At that point, the vehicle was dropped from the balloon and its rocket engine fired, taking it to an altitude of about 180,000 feet at about Mach 4.
Upon reaching that altitude, the vehicle successfully deployed an inflatable ring called the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, which aims to increase the drag and help decelerate the vehicle. The next part of the test had less success – the parachute deployed but didn’t fully inflate.
“Imagery downlinked in real-time from the test vehicle indicates that the parachute did not deploy as expected,” NASA reported on its website.
The vehicle splashed down in the Pacific Ocean shortly thereafter.
It should be noted, though, that the purpose of this test was to test the actual flight profile of the vehicle following its rocket launch. That flight profile appears to have been just as expected. According to NASA, the test of the SIAD and the parachute were only included “as a bonus” with further testing aimed at refining those technologies in the coming months.
If you want to see the test flight for yourself, NASA has archived the video here.
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Jupiter II Going to Mars (Kinda)
The LDSD soars majestically heavenwards. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fire in the sky: The LDSD's rocket motor in action. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Recovery vessel Kahana pulls the LDSD from the Pacific. Pic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Concept drawing of the LDSD (Credit: NASA/JPL)
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