Mission managers postponed the second launch attempt of a high-altitude balloon carrying NASA’s Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) test vehicle due to unfavorable ocean conditions. The next launch opportunity is Thursday, June 4, no earlier than 7:30 a.m. HST (1:30 p.m. EDT).
The ocean wave height continues to be an issue for the crew that would recover the vehicle and its data after splashdown.
LDSD test success requires an intricate set of events, including use of a high-altitude balloon, rocket engines, an aeroshell and multiple supersonic decelerators. The LDSD crosscutting technology demonstration mission will test breakthrough technologies that will enable larger payloads to be landed safely on the surface of Mars or other planetary bodies with atmospheres, including Earth.
The project is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It’s supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, which manages the project as part of the Technology Demonstration Missions program for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.