Questions tagged [parachute]
A parachute is an object used to slow down objects. It's often found in either a round or rectangular shape. In regards to space travel it's often used to slow down capsules after re-entry allowing for safe landing or to slow down space shuttles after landing.
55 questions
3votes
1answer
135views
Spring release system 2.1m long rocket with a weight of 20kg
We have been searching for a trustworthy source to help us design the recovery sytem for a rocket which is going to fly 2600m high with a weight of 22.6kg in the beginning and 17kg in the end (at the ...
8votes
1answer
596views
How are parachutes attached to capsule spacecraft?
Spacecraft capsules (Apollo, Orion, Dragon, Starliner, Soyuz, etc) use an arrangement of pilot, drogue, and main parachutes to land. I'm looking for details regarding how and where these parachutes (...
- 151
6votes
0answers
190views
Why was the ExoMars Rover to use such as complex parachute system?
American Mars landers use a single, supersonic main parachute. The European/ Russian ExoMars rover was to use a much more complex 4 parachute system consisting of a drogue, a main and a pilot for each ...
- 920
1vote
1answer
236views
cross parachute - drag coefficient
I would like to know whether there is a mathematical formula which gives the drag coefficient of a parachute. I suppose that the drag coefficient is a constant depending only on the geometry of the ...
- 113
5votes
2answers
209views
Are any more details on the September 5, 2007 "Ares-1X Steel Rod Mishap During Static Strip Test at KSC Parachute Refurbishment Facility" available?
The presentation Recurring Themes from Human Spaceflight Mishaps During Flight Tests and Early Operations contains several rather "hinty" references to a mishap that occurred in September ...
- 194k
2votes
2answers
340views
Why do New Shepard's drogue chutes just "hang there" for ten seconds before deploying the main parachutes? What happens during that time?
The cropped and sharpened screenshots below are from the Blue Origin video Replay: New Shepard Mission NS-19 Webcast after about 02:03:16 (T+08:07) and show a ...
- 153k
1vote
1answer
203views
Why does the New Shepard Crew Capsule sometimes deploy 3 parachutes and sometimes deploys only 2 parachutes?
The NS-18 capsule on Oct 13 2021 (with William Shatner aboard) landed with 3 parachutes deployed. In contrast, The NS-12 capsule on Dec 11 2019 landed with 2 parachutes deployed. Strangely in both ...
14votes
2answers
7kviews
Why does Blue Origin claim Virgin Galactic's spaceplane doesn’t have an escape system whereas Virgin Galactic's passengers are wearing parachutes?
https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1413521631717122059 (mirror): vs. https://space.stackexchange.com/a/54072/1111 by John Thomas: [Virgin Galactic's passengers] do appear to be wearing parachutes....
- 1,352
2votes
1answer
169views
Dragon launch escape: is nose cone ejected for parachute deployment?
Dragon’s landing parachute is stowed roughly in the nose cone hinge area, and this leads me to believe the nose cone has to open for the chute to deploy. In normal operations, I believe the nose cone ...
user39728
8votes
2answers
487views
What is the heaviest object to have been returned to Earth with a parachute?
Per What were the biggest and heaviest spacecrafts to safely return from orbit?, the biggest and heaviest spacecrafts to safely return from orbit were space shuttles and space planes. What were the ...
- 5,128
5votes
1answer
814views
Do the passengers in Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft have a parachute or some other way to escape the spacecraft if needs be?
Do the passengers in Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft have a parachute or some other way to escape the spacecraft if needs be? In the VSS Enterprise crash that occurred on October 31, 2014, the ...
- 1,352
26votes
1answer
3kviews
What skipped test on Genesis would have detected the backwards-inserted accelerometer which didn't deploy the parachute?
What precautions are planned to prevent samples returned from Mars crashing and releasing organisms on Earth? and this answer to Why would bringing samples from Mars back to Earth be a “civilization-...
- 153k
4votes
1answer
169views
Have lasers ever been used to track laser-reflective parachute cloth for spaceflight missions? And what is it by the way?
In the JAXA PDF Hayabusa2 Information Fact Sheet (Ver. 2. 3, 2018. 07. 05, found here) on slide/page number 53 there is a diagram labeled Re-entry sequence overview and in the top right corner is ...
- 153k
11votes
2answers
317views
Why did Hayabusa-2's capsule's parachute have transparent panels?
JAXA's photo of Hayabusa-2's capsule, at its landing on 2020 Dec 6, shows that its parachute canopy had some non-opaque sections. Why? Transparency has no advantage for this mission. Compared to ...
- 12.4k
4votes
0answers
93views
Parachutes of Apollo and Crew Dragon capsules, what is different and what is the same?
The number of main chutes is different, Apollo three, Crew Dragon four. Both capsules used drogue and main chutes. Apollo had two drogue chutes with single stage reefing. Apollo used a two stage ...
- 49.7k
