14 DAY TRIAL // On February 29, the skies above the US Army’s Proving Grounds in Yuma, Arizona were bustling with activity. A test model of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) was just about to be parachuted out of an airplane, in order for engineers to test its parachutes.
The purpose of the exercise was to investigate how entry, descent and landing parachutes behaved under real-life stress, as opposed to conditions in a wind tunnel, or simulations. NASA is getting ready to fly the first MPCV in 2014, so development needed to be accelerated.
Achieving success in this test marked a milestone for the project, especially considering that this was the third time the Orion model was dropped out of an airplane. Thus far, the parachute system has behaved admirably.
The space capsule is being developed for missions to Mars and near-Earth asteroids, and is designed to work with the American space agency's next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System, Universe Today reports.
