[meteorite-list] NASA to Hold Briefing to Discuss Status of 'Flying Saucer' Test

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2015 08:49:01 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201506091549.t59Fn16Z015904_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

June 08, 2015

MEDIA ADVISORY M15-089

NASA to Hold Briefing to Discuss Status of 'Flying Saucer' Test

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project completed its
second flight test when the saucer-shaped craft splashed down safely Monday
in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. A
post-flight media teleconference will be held at 1 p.m. EDT (7 a.m. HST),
Tuesday, June 9 to review the test.

Briefing participants are:

 * Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission
   Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
 * Mark Adler, LDSD project manager at NASA???s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
   (JPL) in Pasadena, California
 * Ian Clark, LDSD principal investigator at JPL

To participate by phone, reporters must contact Kim Newton by email at
kimberly.d.newton at nasa.gov or 256-653-5173 no later than 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

LDSD launched at 7:45 a.m. HST (1:45 p.m. EDT) from the U.S. Navy's Pacific
Missile Range Facility using a large scientific balloon. After it was carried
to an altitude of nearly 120,000 feet, the LDSD test vehicle separated from
the balloon. An on-board rocket motor ignited and continued to carry the
vehicle to nearly 180,000 feet.

Two advanced decelerator technologies - a supersonic inflatable aerodynamic
decelerator and a supersonic parachute - were tested. The supersonic
inflatable aerodynamic decelerator deployed and inflated. The supersonic
parachute also deployed, however, it did not perform as expected. Data was
obtained on the performance of both innovative braking technologies, and the
teams are beginning to study the data.

The LDSD project is one of several cross-cutting technologies NASA's Space
Technology Mission Directorate is developing to advance the critical
technologies required to enable future exploration missions to destinations
beyond low-Earth orbit, including an asteroid, Mars and beyond.

LDSD testing is conducted through NASA's Technology Demonstrations Missions
program, based at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama, with technology development work and testing led by JPL. NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia coordinated range and safety support with
the Pacific Missile Range Facility and provided the balloon systems used to
launch the LDSD test vehicle.

For more information on LDSD, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ldsd

For more information on NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

-end-
Received on Tue 09 Jun 2015 11:49:01 AM PDT