Drogue Deceleration Success For Ares I Vehicle

NASA and industry engineers have successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage motor, cast off by the Ares I rocket during its climb to space. The successful test is a key early milestone in development and production of the Ares I rocket, the first launch vehicle for NASA‘s Constellation Program that will send explorers to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond in coming decades. The drogue parachute is a vital element of the Ares I deceleration system and will permit recovery of the reusable first-stage motor for use on future Ares I flights.


Engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, managed the team that conducted the first Ares I drogue chute test on July 24th at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Arizona. Researchers dropped the 68-foot-diameter drogue parachute and its 36,000-pound load — simulating the first-stage motor — from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The parachute and all test hardware functioned properly and landed safely. This is the sixth in an ongoing series of tests supporting development of the Ares I parachute recovery system, which includes a pilot chute, drogue and three main parachutes. The next drogue parachute test is scheduled for October, and testing will continue through 2010. The drogue parachute also will be used during NASA’s first test flight for the Ares rocket, the Ares I-X, scheduled to take place in 2009.