A test scheduled for Monday will investigate how a large landing vehicle will slow down as it falls through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds.
A tube around the vehicle inflated as planned during a similar test last year. The vehicle decelerated from Mach 4.3 — more than four times the speed of sound — to Mach 2. But a giant parachute that was expected to slow the descent further failed to inflate.NASA says a main goal this time will be to test the redesigned parachute.
The parachute is twice as big as the one that carried the Curiosity rover to Mars.
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