WATCH LIVE: NASA tests flying saucer over Hawaii

Jun 8, 2015

12 minutes ago

The large scientific balloon carrying Low-Density Supersonic Decelerators test vehicle lifted off from the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, at 7:45 a.m. HST/1: 45 p.m. EDT. The balloon will take approximately three hours to reach its float altitude of 120,000 feet.

Watch live as our Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator takes to the skies from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, Hawaii. Via cameras aboard the test vehicle, media and public can watch live on NASA TV and http://ustream.tv/NASAJPL2 as the rocket-propelled craft attains velocity four times the speed of sound, inflates and deploys the world’s largest parachute. This technology may someday help land humans on Mars.

Info: http://www.nasa.gov/ldsd

NASA’s LDSD project is designed to investigate and test breakthrough technologies for landing future robotic and human Mars missions and safely returning large payloads to Earth. The test, performed over the Pacific Ocean, will simulate the supersonic entry and descent speeds at which the spacecraft would be traveling through the Martian atmosphere.

The launch will be broadcast live on NASA TV and online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

and

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

NASA’s LDSD program is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington, which innovates, develops, tests and flies hardware for NASA’s future missions. For more information about NASA’s investment in space technology, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech