NASA engineers tested a vehicle designed to land astronauts on Mars with mixed results, but nonetheless insisted Friday it was a success.

A parachute fell apart while being tested at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use in the Low-Density Supersonic Deceleration project. It disintegrated almost immediately after being employed. NASA officials termed the incident a learning experience.

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Findings from six weeks of module testing for a flying saucer-type craft were disclosed during a Friday news conference at the Pasadena facility. High-altitude testing for the mission to Mars is estimated to have cost USD$150 million. It's all designed to transport humans to Mars and back.

Testing in the last few weeks went well because engineers achieved major goals, namely getting the vehicle shaped like a flying saucer up to 190,000 feet above Earth in test conditions resembling those on Mars while operating at as much as four times the speed of sound. Scientists said the saucer handled the speed and altitude with aplomb.

While the test in the sky went swimmingly, problems occurred as the vehicle simulated a fall back to Earth. It has a parachute designed to work like a puffer fish, deploying expanding chutes to slow down the craft through atmospheric pull. The craft has to slow quickly and safely from its Mach 4.3 speed to get to the Mars surface without crashing

Project managers said this was the first of a scheduled three tests for the vehicle. it achieved most of what engineers wanted to prove. Two more tests are planned for 2014 as engineers try to determine how to use the parachute without it tangling and tearing as it did during the test. The last few weeks of testing showed there was more work to be done in that regard, NASA officials said.

The proposed parachute is humongous and delicate at the same time. It's 200 pounds of Kevlar material that must be used under extreme conditions at 2,500 miles per hour n space. When inflated, the chute is the size of a small warehouse, engineers said, which put a strain on the material.

TagsNASA, Mars, Science, space exploration, technology