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<\/p>\nThe Orion Program has concluded its drop test series for the spacecraft\u2019s parachute system, with a successful return to terra firma on Wednesday. The three chutes will allow Orion to conclude its mission with a gentle splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Ensuring the system was safe, including during the loss of a chute, has been the main goal of the test series that has been ongoing for around a decade.<\/p>\n
The test series \u2013 conducted in Yuma\u2019s proving grounds for the US Army in Arizona \u2013 has mainly used a boilerplate Orion spacecraft dropped out of the back of a C-17 plane.<\/p>\n
These tests have been conducted since the early days of the Constellation Program (CxP).<\/p>\n
The tests use a Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV) system \u2013 better known as CPAS \u2013 that consists of numerous additional parachutes, required to drag the test vehicle out of the C-17 aircraft via a sledge or pallet system at altitudes ranging from 25,000 to 35,000 feet, providing the correct orientation, altitude and speed, whilst also allowing for the pallet to land safely on the ground under its own dedicated parachutes.<\/p>\n
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CPAS on the C-17 \u2013 via L2<\/p>\n
The test series has not been without its failures.<\/p>\n
The Orion PTV (Parachute Test Vehicle \u2013 first generation) suffered a failure back in 2008 when the programmer chute failed to inflate after deployment, critically removing the requirement for the vehicle\u2019s descent rate to be slowed down and to be correctly orientated for drogue chute deployment.<\/p>\n
This failure resulted in the vehicle falling upside down at high speed. With the increased velocity, when the two drogue chutes deployed, they were ripped off almost immediately due to the higher loads.<\/p>\n
The one remaining parachute valiantly remained attached but was obviously unable to stop the vehicle crashing to Earth at high speed on its own, resulting in the destruction of most of the test hardware.<\/p>\n
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Result of the 2008 failure \u2013 via L2<\/p>\n
Another failure in 2010 was believed to be the fault of the pallet system itself, which allows the test vehicle to slide out of the back of the C-17.<\/p>\n
NASA mission updates (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The pallet apparently remained attached to the test vehicle, causing the duo to crash into the ground, again destroying most of the hardware.<\/p>\n The 2010 parachute test failure occurred during the period Orion was being canceled by President Obama\u2019s FY2011 budget proposal, prior to being fully reinstated, primarily as a Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) vehicle, by the 2010 Authorization Act.<\/p>\n Testing since then has proceeded with numerous successes, as Orion found her new role as an exploration vehicle, with objectives ranging from drop tests that examine how Orion\u2019s wake \u2013 the disturbance of the airflow behind the vehicle \u2013 impacts the performance of the parachute system, through to examining the effects of one main parachute skipping the first reefing stage.<\/p>\n Tests on how Orion would cope during a return with only two of her three main parachutes deployed has been a major part of the test series.<\/p>\n With the C-17 aircraft 35,000 feet above the drop zone, tests have included a scenario in which one of Orion\u2019s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize her in the air, do not deploy, and one of her three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy.<\/p>\n PTV\/CPAS test vehicle being loaded on to the C-17 \u2013 via L2<\/p>\n These tests have been classed as the \u201criskiest tests ever conducted by Orion\u201d \u2013 however, they have been deemed a success and provided data to engineers that they will use to qualify Orion\u2019s parachutes for missions with astronauts.<\/p>\n Notably, the system is designed to provide the End Of Mission (EOM) success to a crew\u2019s trip into space, requiring a large amount of evaluation to ensure that goal \u2013 of bringing the crew to a safe landing in the ocean \u2013 is accomplished.<\/p>\n Some valuable data was gained via the successful mission of the Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1) Orion in 2014. Another requirement was to deal with the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) concern called \u2018pendulum risk\u2019.<\/p>\n Notably, that issue relates to a scenario where one of the three Orion parachutes fails, but the vehicle is then in an unstable return to the splashdown under the two remaining chutes, risking additional complications, not least for the crew onboard.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSee Also<\/h4>\n
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