Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator

Real-life flying saucer

By Popular Science Staff | Published Nov 21, 2014 2:12 AM

Space

NASA built a supersonic brake for landing on faraway planets, and it's amazing. Courtesy JPL

Landing safely on an alien planet requires drastic braking at hypersonic speeds. To practice techniques for slowing down, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory built the LDSD, which inflates a 20-foot-wide tube-shaped balloon to increase a craft’s atmospheric drag, slowing the LDSD until its parachute deploys.

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