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By NASA // October 28, 2018
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inflation in history of a parachute this size
ABOVE VIDEO: Watch as NASA tests a new parachute for the March 2020 rover on the Red Planet.
(NASA) – In the early hours of Sept. 7, NASA broke a world record.
Less than 2 minutes after the launch of a 58-foot-tall (17.7-meter) Black Brant sounding rocket IX, a payload separated and began its dive back through Earth's atmosphere. When onboard the sensors, the payload was reached and Mach number (38 kilometers altitude, Mach 1.8), the payload deployed parachute.
Within four-tenths of a second, the 180-pound parachute billowed out of being a solid cylinder to being fully inflated.
It was the highest inflation in history of a parachute and a peak load of almost 70,000 pounds of force.
This high-definition image was taken on Sept. 7, 2018, during the third and final test of the ASPIRE payload. It has the highest inflation of this size and has a peak load of almost 70,000 pounds of force. (NASA Image)
This was not just any parachute. NASA's state-of-the-art Mars 2020 rover on the Red Planet in February 2021. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) project conducted a series of sounding rocket tests to help with which mission 2020.
Two different parachutes were evaluated during ASPIRE. The first and second test of the NASA's Mars Science Laboratory on the Red Planet in 2012. The second and third tests
In this image, the second stage of the Black Brant IX sounding rocket separates from the ASPIRE payload. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Sept. 7, 2018. NASA Image
On Oct. 3, NASA's March 2020 mission management and members of its Entry, Descent, and Landing Teams at JPL in Pasadena, California, and determined that the parachute had pbaded its tests and was ready for its Martian debut.
"March 2020 will be carrying the heaviest payload yet to the surface of Mars," said John McNamee, project manager of Mars 2020 at JPL.
"The ASPIRE tests have been shown in supersonic for high above March. And let me tell you, it looks beautiful. "
The 67,000-pound (37,000-kilogram) load is the highest ever survived by a supersonic parachute. That's about an 85-percent higher load than what scientists would expect the March 2020 parachute to meet during its deployment in Mars' atmosphere.
"Earth's atmosphere is much more than the Martian surface, by about 100 times," said Ian Clark, the test's technical lead from JPL. "But high up – around 23 miles (37 kilometers) – the atmospheric density on Earth is very similar to 6 miles (10 kilometers) above Mars, which happens to be the altitude that March 2020 will deploy its parachute."
With the ASPIRE tests complete, the endeavors of Clark and his compatriots will be confined to the lower part of the stratosphere for the time being. But that does not mean the fun times are over.
"We're all about helping 2020," Clark said.
"I can not get to rockets to the edge of space for a while, but when it comes to Mars – and when it comes to getting there and getting down to a safe place."
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