NASA has launched a huge LOFTID heat shield it looks like Flying saucer In space, it could one day help humans land safely on Mars and LOFTID, about 20 feet in diameter, was launched by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in California.
According to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, a “valve problem” forced the launch window to be extended to just over half an hour from the scheduled time.
LOFTID made its way into low Earth orbit, less than 1,200 miles from the surface of our planet, at supersonic speeds before inflating and then starting to return to Earth.
It will deploy a parachute to allow light to flow into the Pacific Ocean east of Hawaii before being recovered by a navy ship called the Kahana 2 in about two days.
NASA hopes the test will demonstrate how the heat shield can act as a giant brake to slow a future spacecraft as it enters the Martian atmosphere.
The launch was originally scheduled for November 1, but has been postponed due to the need to replace a battery aboard the Centaur launch vehicle’s upper stage.
Launched alongside the JPSS-2 satellite in polar orbit, LOFTID, which stands for Low Earth Orbit Flight Test, NASA said it is a deceleration test, meaning the giant antenna acts as a giant brake as it passes through the atmosphere. Martian.
