Introduction to Parachute Systems

Components of a Parachute System

Canopy: the major drag producing
member of the parachute
Vent: very upper region of the
canopy, open to airflow
Suspension Lines: load bearing
members extending from the canopy
to the payload
Radials: load bearing member
running from the suspension lines at
the skirt to the vent lines

Behr, V. and Potvin, J., Parachute

Definitions, Nomenclature and Types,
H.G. Heinrich Parachute Systems
Short Course, 15-19 May 2006.

Gore: section of a parachute canopy

between two radials

Space Systems Engineering

Components of a Parachute System

Pilot Parachute: a small parachute which is attached to a deployment bag or the
vent of a larger parachute and is used to provide the force required to deploy a
larger parachute.
Drogue Parachute: a parachute which is attached
to the payload and is used to provide stabilization
or initial deceleration or both. Usually implies a
larger parachute will be deployed later in the event
sequence. Frequently used as the pilot parachute
for the main parachute.

Mars Pathfinder
Drop Test
canopy

suspension
lines

backshell

riser

Riser: a line connecting a parachute to its

payload. May utilize a single or multi-point
attachment scheme.
bridle

Bridle: a means of providing a multi-point

connection to a deployment bag or a vehicle
from a parachute or riser.
Space Systems Engineering

MPF lander
Witkowski, A., Mars Pathfinder Parachute
System Performance, AIAA 99-1701.

Components of a Parachute System

Behr, V. and Potvin, J., Parachute Definitions, Nomenclature and Types,

H.G. Heinrich Parachute Systems Short Course, 15-19 May 2006.

Cruz, J.R., Parachutes for Planetary Entry Systems, AE8803 /

Planetary Entry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Spring 2007.

Deployment Bag: a textile container for a parachute from which the parachute
deploys. Its main purpose is to effect an organized deployment

Space Systems Engineering

Components of a Parachute System

Mortar: a deployment device used to eject a
packed parachute from the payload as one
mass to begin the deployment process.
Mortars are the most common method of
parachute deployment for
spacecraft planetary entry.

Example: Mortar Assembly

for the Apollo Drogue Chute

Knacke, T.W., Parachute Recovery Systems

Design Manual, Para Publishing, 1992.

Space Systems Engineering

Typical Parachute Deployment Sequence

Example from
Mars Pathfinder
Cruz, J.R.,
Parachutes for
Planetary Entry
Systems, AE8803 /
Planetary Entry,
Georgia Institute of
Technology, Spring
2007.

Knacke, T.W., Parachute Recovery Systems

Design Manual, Para Publishing, 1992.

Space Systems Engineering

Common Type of Parachutes & Their Uses

Disk-Gap-Band (DGB)

Ringsail

Example spacecraft uses:

Example spacecraft uses:

Viking Landers
Mars Pathfinder
Mars Exploration Rovers
Mars Phoenix
Huygens

Mercury main chutes

Gemini main chutes
Apollo CM main chutes

Image from Mercury program

Example spacecraft uses:

Pioneer Venus
Galileo
Mercury drogue chutes
Gemini drogue chutes
Apollo CM drogue chutes
Space Shuttle SRB chutes
Image from Galileo wind tunnel test

Image from MER wind tunnel test

Cruz, J.R., Parachutes for Planetary Entry

Systems, AE8803 / Planetary Entry, Georgia
Institute of Technology, Spring 2007.

Ribbon

http:// history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/images/fig18.jpg

Space Systems Engineering

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/
Galileo_WindTest.jpg

Successful Parachute Deployment

Here are two videos that demonstrate successful
parachute in a spacecraft related context:

1. Successful drop test from NASA Supersonic Planetary Entry

Decelerator Program, SPED-1 (well see some unsuccessful tests
from this program a little later) (LV-2007-00059)

2. Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) parachute deployment

Space Systems Engineering

Potential Failures (a partial list)

There are many things that can lead to a parachute system failure. To help you
gain a feel for the types of failure that may occur, lets look at the following
potential failure modes:

Mortar doesnt fire

Aerodynamic loads exceed design
Suspension lines become twisted or tangled
Recontact with reentry and/or parachute hardware
Dumping the canopy
Asynchronous inflation of parachute clusters
Squidding
Wake recontact

And many more

Space Systems Engineering

Example:
Genesis Earth entry

Genesis Failure
When the Genesis spacecraft returned to
Earth on September 8, 2004, the parachutes
failed to deploy.
The spacecraft plunged into the Utah desert
at 200 mph and broke apart.
The redundant sets of switches controlling
parachute deployment failed to respond to
reentry deceleration because both sets were
installed backwards as specified in the
Lockheed-Martin design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e875O0hSces

Text and images from the Design Fundamentals Lecture by L. Guerra

Space Systems Engineering

10

Potential Failures (a partial list)

There are many things that can lead to a parachute system failure. To help you
gain a feel for the types of failure that may occur, lets look at the following
potential failure modes:

Mortar doesnt fire

Aerodynamic loads exceed design
Example:
Drop test. After 1.07 seconds of
Suspension lines become twisted or tangled
operation, a large tear appeared
Recontact with reentry and/or parachute hardware in the cloth near the canopy
apex. This tear was followed by
Dumping the canopy
two additional tears shortly
thereafter. As a result of the
Asynchronous inflation of parachute clusters
damage to the disk area of the
Squidding
canopy, the parachute
performance was significantly
Wake recontact
reduced; however, the parachute
remained operationally intact
throughout the flight test and the
instrumented payload was
recovered undamaged.
(LV-2007-00064)

And many more

Space Systems Engineering

11

Potential Failures (a partial list)

There are many things that can lead to a parachute system failure. To help you
gain a feel for the types of failure that may occur, lets look at the following
potential failure modes:

Mortar doesnt fire

Aerodynamic loads exceed design
Suspension lines become twisted or tangled
Example:
Recontact with reentry and/or parachute hardware Drop test. Parachute suspension
lines get twisted because the
Dumping the canopy
partially inflated canopy could
not restrict the twisting to the
Asynchronous inflation of parachute clusters
attachment bridle and risers.
(LV-2007-00052)
Squidding
Wake recontact

And many more

Space Systems Engineering

12

Potential Failures (a partial list)

There are many things that can lead to a parachute system failure. To help you
gain a feel for the types of failure that may occur, lets look at the following
potential failure modes:

Mortar doesnt fire

Aerodynamic loads exceed design
Suspension lines become twisted or tangled
Recontact with reentry and/or parachute hardware Example:
a. Drop test. One gore of the test
Dumping the canopy
parachute was damaged when
Asynchronous inflation of parachute clusters
the deployment bag with mortar
lid passed through it from behind
Squidding
approximately 2 seconds after
deployment was initiated.
Wake recontact
(LV-2007-00061)

And many more

b. Apollo 15

Space Systems Engineering

13

Apollo 15 Main Parachute System Failure

All three main parachutes deployed without
incident at an altitude of 10,000 ft
One of the three parachutes deflated while
the Apollo 15 capsule was obscured by
clouds between 7,000 ft and 6,000 ft
According to the Apollo 15 Main Parachute
Failure Anomaly Report No. 1 (NASA-TMX-6835):
The most probably cause of the anomaly
was the burning of raw fuel (monomethyl
hydrazine) being expelled during the latter
portion of the depletion firing and this
resulted in exceeding the parachute-riser
and suspension-line temperature limits.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a15/ap15-S71-42217HR.jpg

Space Systems Engineering

14

Potential Failures (a partial list)

There are many things that can lead to a parachute system failure. To help you
gain a feel for the types of failure that may occur, lets look at the following
potential failure modes:

Mortar doesnt fire

Aerodynamic loads exceed design
Suspension lines become twisted or tangled
Recontact with reentry and/or parachute hardware
Dumping the canopy
Asynchronous inflation of parachute clusters
Squidding
Wake recontact

And many more

Space Systems Engineering

15

Example of Wake Recontact

Behr, V. and Potvin, J., Parachute Definitions, Nomenclature and Types,

H.G. Heinrich Parachute Systems Short Course, 15-19 May 2006.

Space Systems Engineering

16