Sunday, June 1, 2014

NASA to test giant Mars parachute on Earth - Sci/Tech news

It's not ET you'll be seeing, but our own:

NASA to test giant Mars parachute on Earth - Sci/Tech news: LOS ANGELES (AP) — The skies off the Hawaiian island of Kauai will be a stand-in for Mars as NASA prepares to launch a saucer-shaped vehicle in an experimental flight designed to land heavy loads on the red planet.

For decades, robotic landers and rovers have hitched a ride to Earth's planetary neighbor using the same parachute design. But NASA needs a bigger and stronger parachute if it wants to send astronauts there.

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