Poor Weather for Flying Saucers: NASA Postpones Tests

NASA has postponed plans to send a "flying saucer" plummeting towards Earth just outside of Kauai, Hawaii, noting that flying conditions were not ideal Wednesday morning.

It is not that the "flying saucer," which will actually be taking a free-fall from 180,000 feet above the Pacific ocean, simply can't take a little rain.

The Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test Vehicle (SFDTV) - part of the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project - is designed to withstand extreme wind speeds and heavy turbulence as it plummets through Earth's atmosphere.

According to forecasts from Hawaiiactive, it's been an overcast day, with up to 50 percent chance of showers but relatively low wind intensity.

Unless thunder were to strike, the SFDTV could certainly make its journey - first by balloon and then by rocket booster - to thinner Mars-like conditions in the Earth's upper atmosphere. However, NASA reportedly launched the LDSD project to test deceleration technologies that will hopefully help future landers touch down safely on the Red Planet.

Rain and heavy clouds certainly don't reflect Martian landing conditions.

In accordance with a predetermined schedule, NASA will roll out the LDSD again this weekend, the Associated Press (AP) reports, even though current forecasts are predicting a 60 percent chance of rain.

NASA hopes to test two devices during this phase. Once high enough in the atmosphere, the testing craft will deploy the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) - an inflatable Kevlar tube designed to catch wind drag and stabilize free-fall. The saucer-like craft will also deploy the Supersonic Disk Sail Parachute (SDSP) once it has approached landing speeds, according to a NASA release.

This will be the first test of a new class of stronger parachutes intended for landing large cargo and even astronauts on the Red Planet.

According to lead investigator Ian Clark, the success of this test is certainly not a definite thing.

"We are pushing the envelope on what we know," Clark said in a statement. "We are accepting higher risk with these test flights than we would with a space mission, such as the Mars Science Laboratory. We will learn a great deal even if these tests, conducted here in Earth's atmosphere at relatively low cost, fail to meet some of the mission objectives."