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NASA Releases Footage of "Flying Saucer" Braking Test, Declares Success
According to the AP, in a story carried by the San Jose Mercury News, NASA engineers insisted Friday that a test of a vehicle they hope to one day use on Mars achieved most of its objectives, despite a parachute that virtually disintegrated the moment it deployed. The engineers laid out at a news conference what they've learned in the six weeks since the $150 million high-altitude test of a vehicle that's designed to bring spacecraft -- and eventually astronauts -- safely to Mars. Engineers said they achieved the main objective: getting a flying saucer-shaped craft to 190,000 feet above the Earth at more than four times the speed of sound under test conditions that matched the Martian atmosphere. Ars Technica has (beautiful, high-speed, high-definition) video of the test that shows the parachute tearing itself apart, as well as the many parts that went as planned.
bumper sticker, y'know.
190000 feet = 57912 meters.
Just helping NASA to prevent getting their units mixed up again.
This is not the sig you're looking for.
I'm no doctor, but I think you may be undervaluing the contributions of food and oxygen.