NASA and industry engineers successfully completed the second drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The test took place February 28th at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
The Ares I, the first launch vehicle in NASA‘s Constellation Program, will send explorers to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond in coming decades. The drogue parachute is a vital element of the rocket’s deceleration system; it is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage motor that will be jettisoned by the Ares I during its climb to space. The parachute will permit recovery of the reusable first-stage motor for use on future Ares I flights. The first-stage solid rocket motor will power the Ares I rocket for the first two minutes of launch. This was the seventh in an ongoing series of flight tests supporting development of the Ares I parachute recovery system, which includes a pilot chute, drogue and three main parachutes. Researchers dropped the 68-foot-diameter drogue parachute and its 50,000-pound load, which simulates the rocket’s spent 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.
(Photo: At the Army’s Yuma Proving Grounds, the Ares drogue parachute successfully extracted the main parachute, which enabled the recovery of the 50,000-pound test drop article. Credit: NASA/ATK )
