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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The test flight of the flying saucer-shaped inflatable decelerator, developed by the United States for extraterrestrial planetary landings such as manned Mars exploration, has been successfully completed.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted a low Earth orbit flight test (LOFTID) of the inflatable decelerator for performance verification at around 1:25 a.m. local time on the 10th. On that day, NASA launched the inflatable decelerator alongside the JPSS-2, an Arctic orbit satellite for ocean observation produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), using an Atlas V rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to verify its performance.

The inflatable decelerator developed by NASA is a type of parachute inspired by children's ring-stacking toys. When a heavy spacecraft lands on a planet with a thin atmosphere like Mars, it cannot use air buoyancy as on Earth, resulting in tremendous acceleration. Unless it is a small probe weighing around 1 to 2 tons, parachutes are ineffective. The maximum speed upon atmospheric entry reaches up to 19,000 km/h, making the approximately seven-minute duration known as the "seven minutes of terror." Although retro rockets can be used, they are inefficient due to the weight of fuel and thruster systems.

Therefore, NASA developed the inflatable decelerator, a device that inflates like an upside-down umbrella beneath the spacecraft to maximize the use of the faint atmospheric resistance, reduce the descent speed, and absorb frictional heat to protect the spacecraft. This was the first flight test of the device.

According to NASA, the Atlas V rocket launched that day successfully separated its first payload, the JPSS-2 satellite, 28 minutes after launch. Immediately afterward, the inflatable decelerator also separated and re-entered the atmosphere. During this process, the inflatable decelerator functioned normally, inflating as designed after separation. According to the plan, the inflatable decelerator is designed to reduce the maximum descent speed from Mach 29 to Mach 0.7 over approximately 16 minutes of descent. The inflatable decelerator, which fell into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii that afternoon, was recovered by ship, and detailed data is currently being analyzed.