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NASA's Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, LDSD Technology Demonstration Mission scientists show the Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test, SFDT near-space experimental test vehicle to members of the media, before its shipment at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, in Pasadena, Calif., on Wednesday, April 9, 2014. NASA's LDSD project will be flying a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space this June from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The LDSD demonstration mission will test technologies that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of Mars, or other planetary bodies with atmospheres, including Earth. The SFDT vehicle will provide the experimental platform necessary for testing three new Entry, Descent, and Landing, EDL technologies under simulated Mars like conditions high in Earth�s stratosphere. (Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)
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