Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) - NASA

Suggested Searches

As NASA plans ambitious new robotic missions to Mars, laying the groundwork for even more complex human science expeditions to come, the spacecraft needed to land safely on the red planet’s surface necessarily becomes increasingly massive, hauling larger payloads to accommodate extended stays on the Martian surface.

Current technology for decelerating from the high speed of atmospheric entry to the final stages of landing on Mars dates back to NASA’s Viking Program, which put two landers on Mars in 1976. The basic Viking parachute design has been used ever since — and was successfully used again in 2012 to deliver the Curiosity rover to Mars.
NASA seeks to use atmospheric drag as a solution, saving rocket engines and fuel for final maneuvers and landing procedures.

The heavier planetary landers of tomorrow, however, will require much larger drag devices than any now in use to slow them down — and those next-generation drag devices will need to be deployed at higher supersonic speeds to safely land vehicle, crew and cargo. NASA’s Low Density Supersonic Decelerators project, or LDSD, led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will conduct full-scale, stratospheric tests of these breakthrough technologies high above Earth to prove their value for future missions to Mars.

Three devices are being tested. The first two are supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerators developed in 6-meter-diameter and 8-meter-diameter configurations. Both are very large, durable, balloon-like pressure vessels that inflate around the entry vehicle and slow it from Mach 3.5 or greater to Mach 2 or lower. Also developed and tested is a 30.5-meter-diameter parachute intended to further slow the entry vehicle from Mach 1.5 or Mach 2 to subsonic speeds. The chute tests incorporated two different designs: a disk sail, employing a single, durable piece of fabric; and a ring sail, a stronger, paneled variation sewn together in concentric rings on high-strength Kevlar material.

All three devices will be the largest of their kind ever flown at speeds several times greater than the speed of sound.

Together, these new drag devices can increase payload delivery to the surface of Mars from our current capability of 1.5 metric tons to 2 to 3 metric tons, depending on which inflatable decelerator is used in combination with the parachute. They will increase available landing altitudes by 2-3 kilometers, increasing the accessible surface area we can explore. They also will improve landing accuracy from a margin of 10 kilometers to just 3 kilometers. All these factors will increase the capabilities and robustness of robotic and human explorers on Mars.

To thoroughly test the system, the LDSD team will fly the drag devices several times — at full scale and at supersonic speeds — high in Earth’s stratosphere, simulating entry into the atmosphere of Mars. The investigators conducted design verification tests of parachutes and supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerators through 2013. Supersonic flight tests were conducted in2014 and 2015 from the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. Additional development and testing is under consideration for 2016.

The devices are expected to maximize the capability of current launch vehicles, and could be used in Mars missions launching as early as 2020.

The LDSD project is sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

LDSD News

Getting the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) Vehicle to Test Altitude

LDSD Testing for Large Payloads to Mars

LDSD: We Brake for Mars

LDSD Completes Experimental Test Flight

Engineers are poring over the data following the second experimental landing technology test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project.

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator

Two members of the U.S. Navy's Mobile Diving Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 Explosive Ordnance Detachment work on recovering the test vehicle for NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project. — 150608-N-DT805-281 KAUAI, Hawaii (Jun. 8, 2015) Two members of the U.S. Navy’s Mobile Diving Salvage Unit (MDSU) 1 Explosive Ordnance Detachment work on recovering the test vehicle for NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project. The saucer-shaped LDSD craft splashed down at 11:49 a.m. HST (2:49 PDT/5:49 p.m. EDT) Monday, June 8, 2015, in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the Kauai, Hawaii, after a four-hour experimental flight test that investigated new technologies for landing future robotic and human Mars missions. During the flight test, a Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) and a supersonic parachute were deployed. The SIAD operated as expected, dramatically slowing the test vehicle’s velocity. When the parachute was deployed into the supersonic slipstream, it appeared to blossom to full inflation prior to the emergence of a tear which then propagated and destroyed the parachute’s canopy. As a result, the saucer’s splashdown in the Pacific Ocean was hard, resulting in fracturing parts of the structure. Memory cards containing comprehensive test data — including high-speed, high-resolution imagery recorded during the flight — were successfully recovered. Also recovered were the test vehicle and its components, the supersonic parachute, the ballute used to deploy the parachute, and a large weather balloon that initially carried the saucer to an altitude of 120,000 feet. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the LDSD mission, a cooperative effort led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. The Technology Demonstration Mission Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages LDSD. NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, on Wallops Island, Virginia, coordinates range and safety support with PMRF and provides the balloon systems for the LDSD test.
U.S. Navy

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator — NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator before a test.
NASA

Project manager Mark Adler discusses the LDSD flight test — On-site in Hawaii prior to launch, LDSD principal investigator Ian Clark, rear, watches as LDSD project manager Mark Adler discusses the flight test. Clark and Adler both work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which led the LDSD project for the agency.

Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD). — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) Project Manager Mark Adler, left, and JPL LDSD Project Principal investigator Ian Clark inspect the LDSD test vehicle, Thursday, May 28, 2015, at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), in Kauai, Hawaii. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Supersonic Disk Sail Parachute, one of the new technologies being developed as part of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project, floats in the Pacific Ocean after the completion of its first flight test, on June 28, 2014. — The Supersonic Disk Sail Parachute, one of the new technologies being developed as part of NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project, floats in the Pacific Ocean after the completion of its first flight test, on June 28, 2014. The test occurred off the coast of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The photo was obtained by Navy divers during recovery of the LDSD test vehicle and parachute.
NASA

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Space Technology Mission Directorate

STMD Solicitations and Opportunities

Technology Transfer & Spinoffs

Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM)