Large parachute fails on NASA’s ‘flying saucer’

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LONDON: NASA put on a spectacular show Monday when it tested its “flying saucer” even though the large, supersonic parachute designed to slow the craft down failed during the test.
The saucer-shaped vehicle, officially known as the low-density supersonic decelerator (LDSD), is used to test parachute technology that is necessary to land humans safely on Mars.
The test began Monday by sending a giant balloon carrying the vehicle off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai and 23 miles up into the atmosphere.
The Associated Press reported that a booster rocket then lifted the vehicle to 34 miles into Earth’s atmosphere, an environment comparable to Mars’s thin atmosphere. At 34 miles, the descent began at four times the speed of sound.