The US space agency NASA has announced that it will test a flying saucer spacecraft later this year. In June 2015, NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project will fly its rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.

The public is invited to tune in to an hour-long live, interactive video broadcast at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where this near-space experimental test vehicle is being prepared for shipment to Hawaii.

During the broadcast, the 15-foot-wide, 7,000-pound vehicle is expected to be undergoing a spin-table test. The LDSD mission is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is developing, testing and flying hardware for use in future missions.

The mission will test advance technologies, which will allow large payloads and safely on the surface of Mars, or other planetary bodies.

The flying saucer will make use of a planet's atmospheric drag to slow down. This will help to save rocket engines and fuel for the landing and could translate into larger payloads.

NASA said, "The LDSD crosscutting demonstration mission will test breakthrough technologies that will enable large payloads to be safely landed on the surface of Mars, or other planetary bodies with atmospheres, including Earth”.

The agency added that apart from larger payloads, the technology will also facilitate landings at high-altitude surfaces. The LDSD resembles the alien discs and specializes in slowing down.

According to conspiracy theorists, NASA has been working to develop a flying saucer to impress advanced alien civilizations. However, the object uses technology that's terrestrial in origin.

The experimental craft uses a doughnut-shaped air brake called the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator to slow the speed of its flight dramatically before deploying the largest parachute ever used at supersonic speeds.