Updated 04:00 PM EDT, Sat, Nov 02, 2024

NASA is Testing Out a Supersonic "Flying Saucer" -- Watch Live on UStream (Video)

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WIth NASA in a bid to land on Mars, scientists must invent cool stuff -- like the "flying saucer" -- to do so. They're testing out that supersonic craft live on UStream Saturday, June 28, and the world will be watching.

A number of delays have kept the craft from going up, but NASA swears they are now finally ready to test the flying saucer, which is more technically known as a "Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator" (LDSD) vehicle.

The craft is built specifically to land on Mars, where the 99 percent atmospheric difference makes it nothing like landing on Earth.

NASA will also have to duplicate Mars' thin atmosphere to see if the craft can withstand the test, That process is actually kind of rad -- they'll take the flying saucer to 120,000 feet into the air with the help of a huge air balloon built just for this purpose.

From there, the flying saucer will launch into space with the help of its rockets -- sending it up to 180,000 feet -- and to some sweet supersonic speeds. The vehicle will hit Mach 4 and a 20-foot balloon-like device with deploy, expanding the craft's surface area and slowing it to a Mach 2.5 in the process.

And then, what all that crazy scientific stuff is over and the craft is at Mach 2.5, the craft's enormous supersonic parachute will deploy, and the craft will float safely down into the ocean.

Well, if it works, that is.

None of the technology that NASA is testing out has been used before. That's what makes the whole live-stream experiment so awesome. While NASA hopes the experiment will go as plan, they're actually not sure what's going to happen.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and join them on the live stream below at 11:15 a.m. PT, shall we?

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

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