Watch NASA Launch Its Flying-Saucer to the Edge of Space

Overview

NASA is a few steps closer to landing even larger vehicles on Mars. Just recently, the space agency tested its new UFO-shaped heat shield Mars technology, called LOFTID, which makes it easy for spaceships to land on Mars. This mission is a keystone step in NASA’s long journey to eventually bring humans to the Red Planet.

The science and other stuff to know

Mars’s thin atmosphere makes landing on the Red Planet very tricky. Often, any space vehicle or spacecraft will encounter some drag that makes it hard for even lighter objects to land safely. But the LOFTID offers the solution.

This UFO-shaped inflatable is designed to compress tightly enough to launch aboard rockets, and it inflates considerably upon arrival at the planetary destination. This potentially provides enough atmospheric drag to help land heavy space vehicles such as spaceships on alien planets.

During the test launch, LOFTID made its way to low-Earth orbit at supersonic speeds before inflating and then starting to make its descent back to Earth.

NASA hopes the test will demonstrate how the heat shield can act as a giant brake to slow down a future spacecraft when it enters the Martian atmosphere. The space agency also launched a new weather forecasting satellite called Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) to space at the time of the LOFTIP test launch.