NASA announced Monday that its flying-saucer-like vehicle would take its first flight test from Kauai, Hawaii on June 3, 8:30 a.m., HST.
Scientists aimed to examine the vehicle's engineering shakeout flight during the flight test. The flying saucer would be launched off the U.S Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility and would be broadcasted by NASA TV and online.
The flying-saucer like vehicle, called the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), will be used to gather data in supporting and landing payloads to Mars's surface and to other planets.
"The agency is moving forward and getting ready for Mars as part of NASA's Evolvable Mars campaign," associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington, Michael Gazarik said in a press release. "We fly, we learn, we fly again. We have two more vehicles in the works for next year."
Aside from the engineering shakeout, the test flight would also reveal whether the vehicle would be able to perform in near space at very high Mach numbers. The space agency stated that as they plan to carry out more missions to Mars, the need for more complex machinery to accommodate extended stays on the planet is imperative.
Mark Adler, project manager of the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained that they will use a helium balloon to carefully lift the test vehicle off the ground by 120,000 feet.
"From there we drop it for about one and a half seconds. After that, it's all about going higher and faster - and then it's about putting on the brakes," Adler said in a press release.
A fraction of a second after dropping the balloon, four small rocket motors will ignite to stabilize the flying saucer. After that, the Star 48B nozzle rocket engine will kick the flying saucer with 17,500 pounds of force, sending it to the ends of our planet's stratosphere.
Update: Due to weather conditions, the test flight has to be delayed. NASA will announce the new schedule on June 4.
