Balloon Launched Decelerator Test Vehicle

This Balloon Launched Decelerator Test Vehicle was used to test the Viking Mars Lander decelerator in a simulated atmosphere of Mars, including parachute deployment. Its structure provided an external envelope that simulated the Viking Lander Capsule so the decelerator could be qualified in the wake of a blunt body similar to the actual capsule. Carried to high altitude by a helium-filled balloon released at Roswell, New Mexico, it drifted west with the prevailing wind to about 120,000 feet, around 22 miles, as it reached White Sands Missile Range. There it was released from the balloon, set spinning for stability, and fired by four solid rockets visible on its bottom, which sent it upward on an arched trajectory to about 135,000 feet, or 26 miles, at roughly 1.2 times the speed of sound. Near the top of that arch, the spin was stopped and an explosive charge deployed a large parachute from a compartment in the bottom center of the vehicle. The vehicle then decelerated, floated to the ground, and was recovered. NASA tested four such vehicles at White Sands Missile Range in July and August 1972, and this was the second, launched on July 26, 1972, in a test that lasted almost three hours.

White Sands, New Mexico · United States