ARES I Parachute System Tested at NASA

NASA's ARES I rocket will be a two-stage launch vehicle, designed to carry the future Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle to Earth's orbit. But its engineers envisioned the spacecraft as having a reusable first-stage motor, which means that it would have to somehow be recovered after each launch. Experts agree to do this through the largest rocket parachute system ever created. The devices would have to stop the extremely rapid decent of the spent first stage from more or less 10,000 feet. On Wednesday, the first tests of the new breaking system were done, and the results were nearly perfect, NASA said.

Measuring 150 feet in diameter each, the three parachutes making up the system have a combined weight of about 6,000 pounds, and deploy all at the same time. Before the sequence is initiated, a drogue parachute is deployed first, to ensure that the spent booster is oriented in the correct position before the main system is activated. Such a precaution is necessary, as the ARES I segment will weigh at least 41,500 pounds, and the landing has to be soft enough to allow for the reuse of the stage.

“The successful main chute cluster test today confirms the development and design changes we have implemented for the Ares I first stage recovery system. Thanks to our great, collaborative team, the test went as anticipated, and all of our design objectives were met,” ARES I first stage Deceleration Subsystem Manager Ron King said yesterday. The expert is based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The tests were conducted at the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Arizona, and consisted of the 41,500-pound load being dropped from a US Air Force C-17 aircraft flying at about 10,000 feet. According to sources present at the event, the drogue chute deployed in time, shortly followed by the entire main system. The payload was seated on the ground softly, and the damage that came to the module was deemed to be within the expected limits, which meant that, in real-life situations, NASA engineers would have been able to repair it and use it for another flight.