12 minutes agoThe LDSD team has started powering up the test vehicle for drop, including the GoPros, sensors and main avionics. In a few minutes, the saucer-shaped LDSD test vehicle will be dropped and its powered flight will begin. A fraction of a second after dropping from the balloon, and a few feet below it, four small rocket motors will fire to spin up and gyroscopically stabilize the saucer. Just over two seconds later, a Star 48B long-nozzle, solid-fueled rocket engine will kick in with 17,500 pounds of thrust, sending the test vehicle to the edge of the stratosphere, or about 180,000 feet, at a speed of Mach 4. At about Mach 3.8, the test vehicle will deploy the supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (SIAD).
|