14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at NASA announce that a test variant of the Dragon spacecraft developed by the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) in Hawthorne, California, has recently completed a successful assessment of its parachute system.
During the tests, which were an optional part of the commitment the company took under the NASA Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, the capsule was raised at medium altitudes in the atmosphere and then dropped from the sky over the Pacific Ocean.
The tests took place in Morro Bay, California, in late December 2013. An Erickson Sky Crane helicopter was used to hoist the Dragon to an altitude of nearly 2,500 meters (8,000 feet). The goal was to analyze how the parachute system would respond to unforeseen events during ascent.
After the vehicle was dropped from the helicopter, the parachute system was activated and it first deployed two drag chutes. Shortly afterwards, Dragon's three main parachutes were successfully deployed, before the capsule touched down in the Pacific Ocean.
During normal operations, the Dragon would also fire a series of SuperDraco thrusters to make landing even softer. This version of the Dragon is being developed under a $1.6 billion (€1.2 billion) contract with NASA.
The agreement, which calls for the development of a spacecraft capable of taking American astronauts to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station, is being pursued by SpaceX with an advanced version of the unmanned capsule that is already being using to resupply the space lab.
Dragon weighs around 5,443 kilograms (12,000 pounds) and will be capable of taking three or four astronauts to space. Until its first test flight, scheduled for no earlier than mid-2015, SpaceX needs to develop a critical Launch Abort System (LAS), which would whisk the capsule away from its delivery system, should something happen at launch or during ascent.
“The parachute test is essential for the commercial crew effort because it helps us better understand how SpaceX's system performs as it safely returns crew. Like all of our partners, SpaceX continues to provide innovative solutions based on NASA's lessons learned that could make spaceflight safer,” says the Deputy Manager of the NASA Partner Integration initiative, Jon Cowart.
According to current SpaceX plans, manned Dragon spacecraft will make soft landings on Earth, aided by both parachutes and SuperDraco thrusters. The latter would fire in reverse as the spacecraft nears the ground, allowing for a very smooth touchdown.
“SpaceX is working diligently to make the Dragon spacecraft the safest vehicle ever flown,” explains SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.
“The parachute system is an integral part of Dragon’s ability to provide a safe landing for nominal and abort conditions – with this successful test we are well-positioned to execute a full end-to-end test of the launch escape system later this year,” the company official concludes.