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NASA To Test Inflatable Donut For Landing On Mars

Posted by Soulskill on from the mmmmmmm-donuts dept.

An anonymous reader writes: When NASA has put rovers on the surface of Mars, they've relied heavily on parachutes to get through the atmosphere safely. Aerobraking doesn't work as well as it does on Earth because Mars's atmosphere is so thin. Parachuting runs into the same problem, but it's easier to pack a bigger chute than it is to bring along a bigger heat shield. But NASA has been working on that exact problem, and they'll soon test the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), which looks an awful lot like a giant, inflatable donut. When a spacecraft is ready to enter an atmosphere, the LDSD will inflate along its outside edge, substantially increasing its surface area while not adding too much weight. Weather has postponed the test a couple times already, but NASA hopes to complete it on Monday.

20 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Oh? by Whiteox · · Score: 3, Funny

    A lander with a sore arse?

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    1. Re:Oh? by dotancohen · · Score: 4, Informative

      A lander with a sore arse?

      A writer with a sore arse. Here is one choice paragraph:

      Here is the problem. The Curiosity lander had a mass of 900 kg (1 ton). What happens when you want to have a larger mass payload? Maybe you want to land humans on Mars. If you double the mass of the payload, you need to double the area of the parachute. Curiosity used a parachute 15 meters in diameter. If you doubled the mass, you would need a parachute 60 meters in diameter.

      The first four sentences are complete non-sequiturs. The next three display a profound lack of basic math skills. The rest of the article is no better. That's what passes for "science writer" at Wired, it seems.

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      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  2. Inflated with... by garyisabusyguy · · Score: 2

    ... delicious jelly or Boston creme?

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    Wherever You Go, There You Are
  3. Latter Day Saints Donut? by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mormons in Space?

    1. Re:Latter Day Saints Donut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The lander was was at Berkeley back in the '60s, did a little too much LDS.

  4. They coulda got ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... a free one yesterday.

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    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  5. Typical NASA by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

    A day late, a dollar short.... *yesterday* was Donut Day.

  6. Donuts: Is there anything they can't do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    --Homer

  7. I watched the first robot land in a large ball by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Broadcst from JPL, over the com system it was announced it's still rolling, still rolling (nervous laughter), still rolling, ok forgot to account for Doppler, it's stopped now.
    (Mars was receding from us).

  8. Re:NASA testing by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    I believe NASA did all of its LSD testing back in the 60's...

    Ah yes, the days of jumping head first out of 5 story windows.

  9. Mmm ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    Mmm ... Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator. (drool)

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  10. Approved by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    This submission has been approved by Homer Simpson.

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  11. Obligatory by ssufficool · · Score: 1

    I would think this would be more useful for... Uranus.

    1. Re:Obligatory by camperdave · · Score: 1

      No. Uranus has a thick enough atmosphere that we could do aerobraking and parachutes.

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      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    2. Re:Obligatory by camperdave · · Score: 1

      No. J-LO is the actress. JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) is the space people.

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      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  12. Second test by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is their second test of this device.

    The first time they tested it, the parachute that was supposed to deploy shredded to pieces.

    Video of the last test here.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  13. Re:Originally it had another name by dotancohen · · Score: 1

    Reactive, maybe? Research? Radial? I hate to be the pedant, but on Mars we call entering the atmosphere "entry" or EDL, but not "reentry" because the craft has never been there before.

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    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  14. Re:NASA testing by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Ah yes, the days of jumping head first out of 5 story windows.

    Citation needed. Oh wait, it never happened, so you're unlikely to get a citation.

    Well that took all of a minute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

  15. The key question is: by fredrated · · Score: 1

    How does it taste?

  16. First words from mars landing by BadPirate · · Score: 1

    Ich bin ein berliner.

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