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NASA has planned the second test run of breaking technology for its Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator or LDSD.
NASA is hoping for more success with the giant parachutes that could one day help it slow down as it lands on Mars.
Reports from NASA stated that this high altitude test is going to take place in Hawaii. The test will take place in U.S. Navy pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai.
NASA reported that the current condition of the seas in Hawaii has made it difficult to launch the LDSD, and the height of the waves is not suitable for the safe recovery of the test vehicle once it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.
Before this, the space agency had to postpone the test flight of the LDSD twice because of unfavorable ocean conditions.
On July 3, saucer shaped LDSD will be launched with a weather balloon to test its redesigned supersonic parachute, which has last year shredded during its first 3,000 mph descent. But the test was scrubbed for the third time today because of a line of rain showers that caused unstable wind conditions.
The next available launch date is tomorrow.
The supersonic parachute which was the largest ever flown last year has been reshaped, reinforced and enlarged.
The LDSD is having a doughnut shaped balloon that creates atmospheric drag as it descends through a planet’s atmosphere before parachutes open to further slow it and allow for safe landing.
NASA is having four cameras mounted on the craft for the test, two will show the performance of the balloon as it inflates, the other one is focused on the rockets that allow NASA to control the LDSD in space, and the last one on the parachutes.
The test will be streaming live on NASA TV, no earlier than 1:30 p.m. EDT.
The biggest concern of NASA is what happens to the supersonic parachutes at Mach 2.35.
Mark Adler, manager of the project LDSD at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said, “You get to see all the same video I do, at the same time I do. This year’s test is centered on how our newly-designed supersonic parachute will perform. We think we have a great design ready for the challenge, but the proof is in the pudding and the pudding will be made live for everyone to see.”
