KAUAI, Hawaii, June 9 (UPI) -- On Monday, June 8, NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) vehicle underwent its second test flight. Though the flying saucer-like craft landed safely back in the Pacific Ocean, one of its braking mechanisms failed yet again.
After a high-altitude balloon carried the LDSD saucer 120,000 feet above the ocean, the craft's rockets boosted it into the stratosphere before was relinquished to gravity. On the way back to Earth, it attempted to deploy a massive supersonic parachute, which was subsequently shredded upon inflation.
After being torn and ripped from the vehicle, the craft deployed a secondary (and smaller) parachute, which helped slow the saucer's descent before it splashed into the Pacific just off the west coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
It's the second time the parachute -- which scientists say is the biggest ever deployed -- has failed, but researchers are happy that, this time, it inflated more fully before beginning to split apart.
"The physics involved with LDSD is so cutting-edge we learn something profound every time we test," Ian Clark, principal investigator for LDSD, said in a press release. "Going into this year's flight, I wanted to see that the parachute opened further than it did last year before it began to rupture. The limited data set we have at present indicates we may not only have gone well down the road to full inflation, but we may have achieved it."
Researchers are expected to release further details and data from the test in the coming weeks. Engineers on the project will soon go back to work improving the parachute's design. A third test flight is planned for 2016.
The donut-shaped LDSD craft and its aerodynamic braking technologies are part of NASA's plans to send a manned mission to Mars.
"Developing and demonstrating entry, descent and landing technologies such as supersonic decelerators is critical to enabling our journey to Mars," said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate
