May 9, 2015 M15-074
Reporters are invited to a media day Monday, June 1, at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, Hawaii, to learn about NASA's second flight test of its Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD).
NASA's LDSD project is designed to investigate and test breakthrough technologies for landing future robotic and human Mars missions, and safely returning large payloads to Earth. The test, performed over the Pacific Ocean, will simulate the supersonic entry and descent speeds at which the spacecraft would be traveling through the Martian atmosphere.
The media day will begin with a mission overview briefing at 8 a.m. HST. Briefing participants will include:
- U.S. Navy Capt. Bruce Hay, commanding officer, PMRF
- Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of 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
The briefing will be broadcast live at:
and
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
To participate by phone, media must contact Kim Newton at 256-544-0371, 256-653-5173 or kimberly.d.newton@nasa.gov. Briefing participants also will answer questions submitted to the Ustream chat box or via Twitter using the #askNASA hashtag. After the briefing, media at PMRF will be taken on a tour of the launch area and Range Operations Center, as well as a driving tour of the facility.
The test launch window is from June 2-12, and extends each day from approximately 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
Media are invited to watch the launch live at PMRF and, once the vehicle is no longer in unaided view, continue watching the test on monitors in the LDSD media center. Reporters must arrive no later than 5:45 a.m. each launch-attempt day for escort onto the base.
At launch time, a giant balloon will carry the test vehicle to an altitude of 120,000 feet (37,000 meters). After released from the balloon, a booster rocket will lift the disk-shaped vehicle to 180,000 feet (55,000 meters), during which it will accelerate to supersonic speeds.
Traveling at about three times the speed of sound, the vehicle's inner-tube-shaped decelerator, called a supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, will inflate and slow the vehicle. Then, at Mach 2.35, its parachute will inflate and gently carry the vehicle to the ocean's surface.
NASA's LDSD test vehicle carries several onboard cameras. Selected portions of the test, including the rocket-powered ascent, will be broadcast live on Ustream and NASA TV.
Image: NASA's saucer-shaped experimental flight vehicle -- the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator -- is prepared for an April 2014 Range Compatibility Test at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kaua'i, Hawaii.