NASA prepares for launch of saucer-shaped Mars lander

LDSD is scheduled for launch today from 0830 HST at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.

‘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 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 rocket-powered test vehicle operates 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 LDSD at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 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.’