Fraser Cain on Nostr: In the 1960s, NASA engineers developed a series of lifting-body aircraft that could ...

In the 1960s, NASA engineers developed a series of lifting-body aircraft that could be dropped into the atmosphere of a giant planet, measuring the environment as they fell. Although it's a one-way trip to destruction, the form factor would allow a probe to glide around in different atmospheric layers, delivering data home. An updated version of the 1960s design is being tested at NASA now, and larger versions will be drop-tested from a helicopter later this month.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/nasa-armstrong-updates-1960s-concept-to-study-giant-planets/