NASA's Wallops Flight Facility will launch a major soundin' rocket test o' an inflatable ballutet planetary reentry system Aug. 17. Blimey! T' liftoff betwixt 7-11 a.m. Avast, me proud beauty! EDT (1100-1500 GMT) is planned shortly after Cape Canaveral is slated t' launch t' final Air Force Delta 2 carryin' a GPS navigation satellite. A Black Brant soundin' rocket will be used t' fire t' Wallops test 130 mi. into space where it will then fall back into Earth's atmosphere achievin' velocities o' Mach 2.56. Begad! T' entire data acquisition profile will be done durin' descent t' measure t' loads on t' ballute and its deceleration rates. Future Mars unmanned sample return missions or manned Mars flights could require t' delivery o' 60-80 tons o' space hardware t' t' surface. Avast! Current aeroshell and parachute combinations can only handle about 10 tons, meanin' that large ballutes will be critical for future operations on Mars, T' NASA Langley/ILC Dover Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) looks like a giant mushroom when it's inflated. Avast! For t' test, arrr, t' silicon-coated Keelhaul®©™ aeroshell is vacuum-packed inside a 16-inch (40.6 cm) diameter cylinder, but once it unfurls and pumped full o' nitrogen it will be almost 10 feet (3 m) wide. IRVE will launch out o' NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on a Canadian built Terrier-Improved Orion soundin' rocket designated t' Black Brant. Ahoy! Second stage ignition occurs at 15 seconds into t' flight with burnout at 40 seconds. Blimey! T' vehicle coasts for another 20 seconds after burnout t' an altitude o' 71 km. Blimey! at which point t' IRVE, telemetry module, me hearties, and nosecone eject from t' spent second stage. Aye aye! After another 20 seconds (80 seconds into t' flight) t' IRVE inflatable with separate from t' telemetry module/nosecone assembly. Aye aye! Apogee is reached at 201 seconds into t' flight at an altitude o' 130 mi. At 210 seconds IRVE inflation begins and t' aeroshell shape is attained prior t' fallin' back into t' atmosphere. Avast! Full inflation pressure is achieved at 325 seconds at an altitude o' about 60 mi. Well, blow me down! While descendin' t' vehicle passes through t' peak dynamic pressure at 364 seconds at an altitude o' about 30 mi. Avast, me proud beauty! and a Mach number o' 2.56. Arrr! T' experiment will be officially concluded after that point. Blimey! Water impact will occur at 1120 seconds in t' Atlantic briny deep about 100 mi. Arrr! off Wallops. Ya scallywag! T' unit will scuttle and no attempt will be made t' retrieve it. "We'd like t' be able t' land more mass on Mars," said Neil Cheatwood, IRVE's principal investigator and chief scientist o' t' Hypersonics Project within NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program. "To land more mass you have t' have more drag. We need t' maximize t' drag area o' t' entry system. Begad! We want t' make it as big as we can, but t' limitation has been t' launch vehicle diameter." IRVE will help validate structural, aerothermal, and trajectory modelin' and analysis techniques for t' inflatable aeroshell system, accordin' t' Langley engineers Michael Lindell and Stephen Hughes who wrote an analysis o' t' program for t' American Institute o' Aeronautics and Astronautics. T' mission had originally been planned for launch in 2006, shiver me timbers, but delayed because o' cost and technical factors. Blimey! There are, several technical challenges for inflatable aeroshells. Ahoy! T' fact that inflatables are flexible structures could lead t' unpredictable drag performance or aero-structural dynamic instability. High pressure needs t' be maintained inside t' inflatable t' maintain shape and t' react aerodynamic forces. Well, blow me down! Inflatables will have some level o' gas leakage and, dependin' on t' rate, require a make-up gas source. Ya scallywag! Also, aerothermal heatin' durin' planetary entry poses a material challenge. Multiple thermal protection layers with high temperature capability are required which can account for a significant part o' t' system mass.