On June 28, NASA successfully test-launched a saucer-shaped craft that could one day be used to transport astronauts to Mars. An enormous helium balloon carried the "Low Density Supersonic Decelerator" 23 miles into the air, where it then got a boost from a rocket engine before an inflatable ring started the craft's deceleration on its return plummet into the Pacific Ocean.
While the Los Angeles Times notes that the craft's final braking component, a 100-foot-wide parachute, frayed and tore as it dropped, scientists said they were very pleased with the first test.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Aston Martin Vantage Roadster: 'a rare treat indeed'The Week Recommends The Roadster version of Aston Martin's new Vantage coupé makes even 'the most mundane journey feel special'
-
Bad Friend: Tiffany Watt Smith explores why women abandon friendshipsThe Week Recommends A 'deeply researched' account of female friendship through history
-
Brazil's reborn dolls crazeUnder The Radar The 'hyper-realistic' babies soaring in popularity in South American nation have spawned controversy
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beatspeed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
-
Humans heal much slower than other mammalsSpeed Read Slower healing may have been an evolutionary trade-off when we shed fur for sweat glands
-
Novel 'bone collector' caterpillar wears its preySpeed Read Hawaiian scientists discover a carnivorous caterpillar that decorates its shell with the body parts of dead insects
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant worldSpeed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocketSpeed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes
-
Scientists map miles of wiring in mouse brainSpeed Read Researchers have created the 'largest and most detailed wiring diagram of a mammalian brain to date,' said Nature
-
Scientists genetically revive extinct 'dire wolves'Speed Read A 'de-extinction' company has revived the species made popular by HBO's 'Game of Thrones'
