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back to article FLYING SAUCER 'designed for Mars atmosphere' in Pacific US military base

NASA reckons the weather in Hawaii is looking vaguely hopeful for the launch later today of its Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) - the flying saucer ballocket mission designed to test inflatable deceleration airbags for possible deployment on future Mars landings. The agency slapped a photo up on Twitter yesterday …

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  1. Anonymous Custard
    Joke

    Our calculation suggest...

    Our calculations suggest the unit would easily allow a plucky Playmonaut to slip the surly bonds of Earth and then some.

    Yes, but where are you going to find a tree big enough for it to get tangled up in when it does come down? Still at least if it came down in the drink you'd have a chance of finding it.

    In fond memory of our heroic and sadly missed pioneer...

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    1. Robert Helpmann??
      Reply Icon
      Childcatcher

      Re: Our calculation suggest...

      Presumably on some other planet. Too, I am not so sure about what went on with the previous Playmonaut. I suspect he faked his own death and is enjoying a life of peace and relaxation somewhere out of the public's eye.

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      1. James Hughes 1
        Reply Icon

        Re: Our calculation suggest...

        I'm not sure that's possible. Playmonauts have rigid arms (no elbows), and are therefore unable to paddle a canoe.

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  2. imanidiot Silver badge

    And another bust...

    Cancelled for today too. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/ldsd/

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  3. detritus

    I trust 963,000m³ of helium isn't a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, given our increasingly limited stocks of the stuff...? Anyone know why they don't just use hydrogen?

    Would make for a nice stratospheric WHUMP! when the rocket ignites...

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    1. imanidiot Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Stock is getting limited because the US is dumping its reserves. We're not actually running out (yet).

      I think the use of hydrogen for a project of this magnitude has to do with the cost of failure/premature ignition. Eliminating a hydrogen explosion as a factor is probably a big one in an FMEA.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Truth Is Out Here

    I can imagine Martian teenagers with posters containing the 'mysterious alien symbols' 9, 11, 12 and JPL. I hope they have their cameras ready.

    By the way, do we have a grappling hook on the craft to abduct the Martians and stick probes up their bottoms?

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  5. Ben Rosenthal

    And how exactly do they plan on avoiding the chrono-synclastic infundibulum?

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