An artist concept of the test vehicle for NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator, designed to test landing technologies for future Mars missions. On March 31, 2015, NASA tested the machine's balance. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Early this summer, reports of flying saucers may spike — and observers wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. That’s when NASA plans to fly its Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD), which looks eerily like a UFO, over the Pacific Ocean outside of Kauai, Hawaii. Yesterday, March 31, the agency spun all 15 feet and 7,000 pounds of the machine up to speeds of 30 rpm to .

To get a sense of what the LDSD looks like when it spins, picture of one of those carnival rides with dozens of swings hanging from long chains, then remove the swings. When put into the NASA rotation for real, this flying apparatus could eventually help get humans to the Red Planet. It’s testing future technologies that could carry heavier, bigger loads.

Currently, NASA equipment can lift about 1 metric ton; it handled the Curiosity with ease, for example. But to get people onto Mars, NASA needs to be able to hoist at least 10 times that. “If we want to do more capable science missions or eventually to put humans on the surface of Mars, we’re gonna have to be able to put much larger payloads to the surface of Mars than we can today,” James Reuther, of NASA’s Space Technology Directorate, said during a press briefing.

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The LDSD — and its — is the next step in making this a reality. “If you’ve ever seen a mechanic balance a wheel … he’ll actually spin the wheel and measure the amount of wobble in the wheel as it spins. Then the mechanic will install small masses around the perimeter of the rim in order to balance out the wheel so that it spins smoothly,” Paul Lytal, a JPL engineer working on the project, said during a press briefing. “We’re doing something very analogous here, with our 15-foot-diameter version of a wheel.”

This spin test is a prelude to the second real test of the LDSD, which will happen in June. An initial test took place on June 28, 2014, and a third will follow later, according to Ian Clark, LDSD principal investigator.

During the upcoming trial, “a balloon will carry the test vehicle from the naval facility to an altitude of about 120,000 feet. There, over the Pacific, it will be dropped and its booster rocket will kick in and carry it to 180,000 feet, accelerating to Mach 4,” JPL reports. “Once in the very rarified air high above the Pacific, the saucer will begin a series of automated tests of two breakthrough technologies.” Namely, the supersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, an “inflatable doughnut” that expands LDSD’s drag, and the supersonic parachute.

For a video of the full spin test, click .

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The NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera during the mission's 120th Martian day, or sol (Dec. 7, 2012), to record this view of a rock outcrop informally named Shaler. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS