Orion parachutes a full series of tests upstream of the EM-1

The parachute of the Orion spacecraft performed a series of eight tests on Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Photo credit: NASA

After years of development and infrastructure for a deep space exploration program, NASA and Lockheed Martin have completed a series of tests of the Orion parachute system in the deserts of Arizona Wednesday, September 12th.

Eight of eight

A test article from Orion spacecraft were deployed from a US Air Force C-17 aircraft over the US Army test yard at Yuma, just over 155 miles from Phoenix .

The test article was dropped to a height of more than six miles. This last test was a series of carefully choreographed events that proved that the 11 parachutes would deploy, that the pyrotechnics, mortars and other required systems would unfold as advertised.

Orion's parachutes are very different from the ones people use to jump planes. Their size alone separates them from other parachutes. Those who used to slow the descent of Orion measure about 36,000 square feet and thirty miles of Kevlar lines connect the top of the spacecraft to the parachutes.

The test article was deployed at an altitude of about 6.5 miles. Photo credit: US Army

NASA has conducted a vast program of development and testing to get the Orion spacecraft ready so that astronauts can once again travel beyond the low Earth orbit. Part of the test regime has verified that the parachutes that will be used to see the crews land softly on land will behave properly before the crews use them to descend to the Pacific Ocean. The parachute system is designed to slow Orion's speed from about 300 miles to 20 miles an hour.

The series of tests helped engineers to examine a range of aspects of the parachute system. Normal deployment, failure scenarios, weather and potential environmental episodes have been studied to improve crew safety.

Watch and wait

Several NASA astronauts and other agency officials were present to mark this crucial step. Orion program director Mark Kirasich, astronauts Randy Bresnik and Tracy Caldwell-Dyson were on hand to witness the main test of one of Orion's most critical security systems.

"We are working very hard so that Orion is ready to take our astronauts farther than we have been before, but to make sure they return home safely," said Mark Kirasich, responsible for the Orion program. "The parachute system is complex and the evaluation of the parachutes several times during our test series gives us confidence that we will be ready for all types of landing days.

NASA plans to perform the first combined flight for the Orion spacecraft and launch vehicle that was developed to send astronauts to distant destinations such as the Moon and perhaps a March day. This flight, dubbed Exploration Mission-1, is expected to launch from Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B in 2020. The parachutes of this unmanned flight have already been installed on Orion.

Video courtesy of NASA Johnson

Tagged: Arizona C-17 Exploration System 1 Exploration System 2 Lockheed-Martin NASA Head Stories Orion Rocket SLS Space Launch System

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Jason Rhian

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills with internships at NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content for sales outlets such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.