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This high definition image was taken on September 7, 2018 during the third and final test flight of the ASPIRE payload. It was the fastest inflation in history for this parachute of this size, which created a maximum load of nearly 70,000 pounds. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
In the early hours of September 7, NASA broke a world record.
Less than 2 minutes after the launch of a 17.7 meter high Black Brant IX rocket, a payload separates and begins to dive into the Earth's atmosphere. When the onboard sensors determined that the payload had reached the appropriate height and Mach number (38 km altitude, Mach 1.8), they deployed a parachute. In less than four tenths of a second, the 180-pound parachute became a solid, fully inflated cylinder.
It was the fastest inflation in the history of a parachute of this size and it created a maximum load of nearly 70,000 pounds.
This was not any parachute. The mass of nylon, technora and kevlar fibers constituting the parachute will be integral to the landing of NASA's ultra-modern Mars 2020 aircraft on the Red Planet in February 2021. L & # 39; Jet Supulsion's Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment is (ASPIRE) conducted a series of rocket probe tests to determine the type of parachute to be used for the Mars 2020 mission.
Two different parachutes were evaluated during ASPIRE. The first test flight included an almost exact copy of the parachute used to land at NASA's Mars Science Laboratory.
On October 3, NASA's Mars 2020 mission management and members of its Entry, Descent, and Landing team met at JPL in Pasadena, California, and determined that the reinforced parachute had passed its tests and was ready for his Martian debut.
"March 2020 will carry the heavier payload to the surface of Mars now, like all our previous missions on Mars, we have only one parachute and it has to work," he said. said John McNamee, Mars 2020 Project Manager at JPL. "The ASPIRE tests have shown with remarkable accuracy the reaction of our parachute when it will be deployed for the first time in a supersonic flow over Mars – and let me tell you that it is beautiful. "
The 67,000-pound load (37,000 kilograms) was the highest ever survived with a supersonic parachute. This represents about 85% more load compared to what scientists expect the Mars 2020 parachute to meet when deployed in the March atmosphere.
"The Earth's atmosphere near the surface is much denser than the one near the Martian surface, about 100 times more," said Ian Clark, Technical Test Manager at JPL. "But in the heights – about 37 km – the atmospheric density on Earth is very similar to that of Mars (10 km), which corresponds to the altitude at which Mars 2020 will deploy its parachute."
The ASPIRE tests being completed, the efforts of Clark and his compatriots will be limited for the moment to the lower part of the stratosphere. But that does not mean that the moments of pleasure are over.
"We all want to help 2020 achieve a successful landing in 28 months," Clark said. "I may not be able to launch rockets at the edge of space for a while, but when it comes to Mars – and when it's time to go there- down and make it safe – there are always exciting challenges to work here. "
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NASA's Mars 2020 mission performs its first supersonic parachute test
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