Test of parachute for Mars flight fails
HONOLULU – A parachute failed to inflate during a NASA test of new technology for landing larger spacecraft – and eventually astronauts – on Mars.
NASA spokeswoman Kimberly Newton said in an email Monday that the parachute deployed but failed to inflate. She says the agency would have more details during a news conference on Tuesday.
The test off the Hawaiian island of Kauai is investigating technology designed to slow a large landing vehicle as it falls through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds.
The descent started 34 miles above Earth’s surface, where the environment is similar to Mars’ thin atmosphere.
Fire crews battling wildfires in Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – After a winter marked by little snow and warmer temperatures, fire crews on Monday were tackling two large wildfires burning on mostly treeless tundra in the southwest part of the state.
Weekend rain helped tamp down the lightning-caused fires that through Monday have burned 63 square miles in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, about 50 miles northeast of the commercial hub town of Bethel.
Alaska gets fewer fires in tundra than in forests, and tundra fires tend to be smaller, but they are not unheard of, said Fish and Wildlife Service fire ecologist Lisa Saperstein.
Associated Press
