Mars space test slated for Hawaii

[Rob Tucker]

Road to Mars: JPL scientists prepare for a supersonic test over Hawaii


"If the wind blows the right way, sometime around sunset on Friday night, three tractor tugboats operated by P&R Water Taxi will pull up anchor in Honolulu and set off for the aquamarine waters west of Kauai.

On Saturday, assuming all goes well, these vessels will collect the sodden remains of a massive high-altitude balloon, a saucer-shaped spaceship and its black box (which is designed to detach when it hits the water in case the vehicle starts to sink).

If they do, it will mean the first full-scale test of NASA’s new Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (or LDSD) took place high in the atmosphere. The LDSD could be the space agency’s next hero in the quest to explore the Red Planet; the device acts like a brake pedal for large loads headed to its surface."

http://www.latimes.com/science/scienceno...story.html

[Andrew]

Q. Why Do you want to go to Mars?
A. No Party Roosters!
[]

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The saucer is up (Saturday morning 11 AM). Here's live streaming:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

[pahoated]

The balloon launch is on Youtube. It is freaking awesome looking anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0_rhvrdJVU

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Here's the drop from the balloon, with engines firing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9Or9fVQ7c

[protoss]

CNN story
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/28/us/nasa-fl...?hpt=hp_t2

'Your whole idea about yourself is borrowed-- borrowed from those who have no idea of who they are themselves.'

[Opihikaobob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0_rhvrdJVU

Really good comments from link above.

Anyone else think this is a ****ing joke?


balloon is launched balloon is launched LOL WOW way to go NASA
Now we send balloons in the sky amazing



Gnom Bastard Read the description, it's a test of a supersonic decelerator. It'll use a rocket to accelerate to mach 4, and then they'll inflate the airbags. This can be used for Mars landings in the future.#65279;


a balloon with a thing hanging from it... what a technical wonder.


*It is so easy to rig NASA parachutes for Pacific Ocean crash landings when NASA is not looking. Sack the NASA parachute rigger and hire a competent chute rigger.
NASA wastes such volumes of printed money on this non-sense?
Saturday's $150 million experiment
Why was this NASA Pacific Ocean Flight CRASH footage deleted from this video when the parachute failed to open properly


Get Real

We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” – William Casey, CIA

Like believing that launch was in any way necessary for the real
SSG SPACE PROGRAM - they already have a base on the moon for crying out loud .

Any one heard of this man? Gary McKinnon - hacking into NASA websites
google that for a reality check

[Tink]

Sent three Navy tugs with a full crew each from Pearl Harbor to retrieve the darn thing, also. Makes better sense to me to have kept the shuttle program, but instead of leaving from earth, leave from the moon, or the International Space Station, as too much fuel energy is wasted on defying earths gravity. It would be easy this way to build another station farther out to re fuel and re supply, leapfrogging so to speak to explore the universe.

Are you a human being, or a human doing?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The shuttles were not built to go much farther than a few hundred miles up. They weren't constructed to reach the speed required to leave earth orbit.

If we leave for deep space from the moon, or the space station, you still have to get the deep space capsule/spaceship, fuel and supplies to the moon or the space station. Right now, we're not capable of manufacturing anything at either the ISS or the moon.

Another space station at one of the Lagrange Points (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_po...lonization) would be a stable, jumping off point but would require even more effort and fuel to build than the existing ISS needed, as construction flights would have even greater forces of gravity to overcome.

[LaurelJ]

Sorry Rob, hate to burst your bubble or hijack your thread BUT NASA has outsourced the Mars lander to Thailand. Yes that is correct, just check out the referenced video and see for yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRQaXDafs_Y&feature=youtu.be

Laurel[:I]