NASA has released a brand new video of its “flying saucer” specifically developed to land on Mars and deliver payloads to the planet in the future.
The video shows a test flight in Hawaii about two month ago, where the spacecraft is lifted 180,000 feet high for high-altitude testing in the earth’s atmosphere where conditions rival those on Mars.
After successfully flying in the “Mars-like” conditions, NASA then moved on to testing a supersonic parachute and the new “Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator”.
NASA is calling this initial test a success even though the parachute appears to get shredded apart upon deployment.
However, it is worth noting that more tests are planned and Ian Clark of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said, “We are literally re-writing the books on high-speed parachute operations, and we are doing it a year ahead of schedule.”
More updates to come as soon as the next two test flights take place.
