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As noisy as we found Project Morpheus' tethered flight test, its untethered follow-up was far, far louder. Yesterday, the experimental lander suffered a hardware component failure, which NASA says "prevented it from maintaining stable flight." This caused it to crash into the ground and well, explode. On the upside, the space agency says that these kinds of failures were anticipated, stating that they are a normal part of the development process and will be used to build better systems moving forward. You didn't think Curiosity made its touchdown on Mars without learning from a few mistakes, did you? Click onwards to check out the test -- and its aftermath -- in 5, 4, 3, 2, er...

Continue reading Morpheus lander crashes, burns and explodes in untethered flight test, NASA remains optimistic (video)

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Morpheus lander crashes, burns and explodes in untethered flight test, NASA remains optimistic (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it's not landing on Mars any time soon, NASA took a breather from Curiosity's adventures to showcase the Morpheus Lander. The prototype went through its first (tethered) flight test at the Kennedy Space Center just before the weekend, showcasing its methane-powered rocket system. It's this rocket setup which could make the Morpheus Lander a strong candidate for future landings. It's both safer than rocket fuel and NASA suggests that methane gas discarded from the International Space Station could be enough to top up the lander's fuel tanks without necessitating a visit back to Earth. Morpheus' built-in guidance system also reduces the amount of input needed from mission control -- the pod has been practicing hard on its own hazard field near the Space Center. After passing the test with its training wheels on, the first free flight descent has been tentatively penned in for later today. Crank the volume low -- it gets loud -- and watch Morpheus test those right rockets after the break.

Continue reading NASA's Morpheus lander detects hazards, noisily passes tethered flight test (video)

Filed under: Transportation, Science

NASA's Morpheus lander detects hazards, noisily passes tethered flight test (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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