FLYING SAUCER crashes into Pacific off Hawaii - NASA

Failed?

The test was only a failure if they didn't manage to gather enough data to determine what went wrong. Otherwise, the test was a success. The patient might have died, but it was successful.

Seven Is A Lucky Number - And Thus A Key To Success!

"But the seventh mission succeeded and it just so happened that one of the mission's controllers was munching a handful of peanuts at the time. Since then good luck peanuts are eaten as a superstitious tradition in this most scientific of organizations."

For some reason, I find that reassuring.

Still, it is interesting to note that the Nasaeans, very capable sciencemologists, apparently overlooked the significance of the mission being the seventh. The number seven has many mystic properties which could well have influenced the success of the mission. For example, as the Pythagoreans taught: "The Hebdomad [i.e., the number seven]—as being motherless, and a virgin—possesses the second place in dignity." See https://books.google.com/books?id=Sve3fLUG3bEC&pg=RA2-PA8-IA8&lpg=RA2-PA8-IA8&dq=number+is+%22motherless+and+a+virgin%22&source=bl&ots=DC_Tjqrzjm&sig=IheluBOygkBx311l2lcx-h_j34s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-2V2VZX1EsaYyASO8ICABw&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA

> the then world's biggest parachute

> the then world's biggest parachute

Which world would that be then? (Unless the article is written by AManFromMars, in which case, ah, say no more)

The LDSD detached from the balloon ... the Star 48 solid-fuel rocket in the center of the saucer punched it 60,000ft upwards

Clearly the LOHAN special projects team need to find out who NASA knows at the FAA, and get him/her to put in a word. If NASA can do it, so can El Reg.

Not the second failure?

The Mars Science Laboratory / Curiosity Rover had trouble with bursting test parachutes, too. They were never fully resolved but NASA went ahead with the Curiosity mission on the theory that the MSL's supersonic Martian parachutes were bursting in terrestrial wind tunnels because the aerodynamic regime was so different than Mars, despite similar Reynolds numbers. I could be mangling the story, it's been a while since I saw the documentary.

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/docs/p491.pdf

http://enu.kz/repository/2009/AIAA-2009-2913.pdf

"It is because of this lethargic opening behavior that the parachute inflation is reasoned as qualified exclusively based on the available test and flight experience base and not the subsonic wind tunnel tests." --Our testing didn't work, but older parachutes worked on Mars missions so we went with it anyway.

Apparently, supersonic Martian parachutes are tough to design, more than these two LSDS tests suggest. Kudos to NASA for sticking with it. Sometimes success in engineering is achieved by banging your head against a brick wall and hoping the wall crumbles before you hear a squishy sound.

I feel sorry for the whales. Must give them a heck of a headache