Intended for Future Mars Missions, NASA LDSD Spacecraft to Test Land in Hawaii

Although Congress is hoping for an immediate trip to Mars, they probably won't get it. But NASA is doing all they can to prepare for the upcoming deep-space trips by first testing the new LDSD spacecraft, which is expected to land heavy loads on Mars.

The space agency's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) was designed for future deep-space missions with the intention of decelerating from the high speed of atmospheric entry, as seen with previous landings on Mars, especially with the most recent Curiosity Rover mission in 2012. The rover was accompanied by the sky crane, which was the first use of a soft-landing technique on Mars.

The sky crane utilized a parachute that helped slow the spacecraft and then activated four retro rockets to hover over the surface to safely and slowly land the Curiosity Rover. However, the future loads that will be taken to Mars are expected to be much heavier, and this technology will not be able to handle such weight.

NASA's development of the LDSD spacecraft is expected to safely land vehicle, crew, and cargo with much larger drag devices that can control heavy loads. The balloon-like decelerator on the LDSD attaches to the outer rim of the entry vehicle, inflates to add air resistance and decelerate, and then deploys a parachute to complete the landing.

"It may seem obvious, but the difference between landing and crashing is stopping," said Allen Chen at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in this Washington Post article. "We really only have two options for stopping at Mars: rockets and aerodynamic drag." Chen oversaw the Curiosity Rover landing in 2012.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California will test the LDSD spacecraft from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The spacecraft will launch 23 miles into the air over the Pacific Ocean and will then gently splash down into the water if all goes as planned. The LDSD then has three more tests in Hawaii after the first in June.

If the new technology proves to be effective, then we can be on Mars sooner than expected, depending on the NASA budget going forward.