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Furiosa

The largest parachute ever deployed

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They're building it like a traditional canopy. They're doing it that way be cause that's how it's always been done. Even the super sonic disk/gap/band parachute were really just the same technology ported over. And they've gotten away with it for the most part. Please note that their hasn't actually been that many systems deployed in comparison to all other areas. Things get weird super sonic. It becomes all about the shock waves. If you're ever seen high speed video of the shocks on these traditional canopies. it's brutal. The shock can explode upwards along the lines and then collapse again in these huge pulses causing spikes in the load. That's how these things blow up. They should be focusing on stabilizing the formation of the shock wave. This can be done but it requires fundamentally different designs.

This is actually one of the things I'm trying to get my boss to patent, so forgive me if I'm a little vague. We know these guys over at JPL. I would love to see them cut a development deal with Exos but all that is above my pay grade. Their is a lot of politics involved where these groups are doing their best to keep money in house to support their existing staff. NASA used to out source a lot and we did several contracts with them but that all changed back when the shuttle shut down and it became a scramble to maintain employment. So for now they are milking this $200 M program for all it's worth just to try and keep their doors open and every one their busy. And we'll just keep on doing our own thing. But don't be surprised when you see us doing reentries with inflatables half the weight of their system.

Lee
Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

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RiggerLee

So for now they are milking this $200 M program for all it's worth.



And this is why the whole industry should be completely privatized. If eating up the budget is their goal, the ultimate product ends up having no practical value..
This is why so many people have such a bad taste in their mouths towards space exploration... shit has to change

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Furiosa

News:

"The parachute, described by NASA's JPL as "the largest parachute ever deployed," is 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter. The goal is for the chute to "slow the entry vehicle from Mach 2 to subsonic speeds," NASA said."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasa-test-supersonic-parachutes-flying-saucer-launch-200311597.html


Hey Furry!!,
100feet dia. eh?? Small Potatoes!! When I worked for Scurvy Irvin we had a "Project' for Kissler Aerospace, they wanted to be the "Fed Ex" of the "Sattelite Launch" business! They wanted to recover their bosters, 2nd stage and payload release vehicle!! Things went fine for a while till they ran out of money. "But" to recover their 42,000 lb. booster we made a "6 Pak" of (6) ea. (156 food dia. ringsail canopies!) Yes that's right, 156' dia.!! Any more questions?? 156' dia....put the apex on the center of the 50 yard line on any football field and "stretch it out!!!" 'Got vids!!
SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

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You can buy your own hundred footer.;)
http://www.armysurplus.com/store/parachute-g11-100-ft-dia-cargo-chute-heavy-drop/dp/7747

They must mean largest supersonic. We've got one of the G11's out at the old dz. Had it inflated on the ground once. Space Shuttle SRB recovery chute we're list as 113' I think.

A while.back there was a tv special.on landing the Mars rover. The we're testing the parachute deployment.in a high speed test wind tunnel. It kept shredding too. As I watched it my guess/observation was that it was partially inverting. Even told my wife. They.made a big deal about all the engineers sitting around a conference table trying to.fix it. After high drama and maybe dramatic editing.they "eventually" put high speed cameras on it just before they were going.to delay the program. And yes, it was partially inverting then failing. They need at least one oldtime rigger sitting around the table with.the PhD's.;)

Lee, I envy you being.envolved in this stuff.>:(

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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They previously announced the intention to shut off the cameras to preserve the data. That video looked to me when it happened like the canopy got shredded again.

Question for someone who may know: why isn't it being reefed?


My wife is hotter than your wife.

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I think that this may be a slightly different problem then the wind tunnel deployment. They did have an inversion but they basically convened them selves that it was do to the horizontal deployment in the wind tunnel gravity being cross to the wind stream causing the cross wind and inversion. It's plausible but canopies can also just invert.

This may be a different issue. The instability causes the canopy to waffle creating dramatic changes in it's area and big spikes and pulses in the load. I couldn't really tell much from their low res video. They may know more once they recover the high speed data from on board and have a chance to look at the remains of the canopy but frankly their wont be much left.

I note that their budget is up to $230 million now. What I wouldn't give for 1% of that money for our budget. Angry face. >:(

Lee

Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

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This is not a cross wind issue. The wind tunnel with the container supported on a pylon might have been an issue but it's not relevant here.

I don't know enough about the exact deployment system they are using. I couldn't tell much. It might be an inversion but I think a gore just blew out. Their are some things that can be done to keep the load at the reinforced apex. There are systems where they keep load on the Apex as it begins to inflate. They have used basically long screamers to maintain load on the apex and keep every thing under tension and even during the early part of the inflation. That's an example of a rather conventional system that might help to prevent a gore from blowing out of the side.

Even better might be to control the rate of inflation and stabilize the shock wave at the mouth of the canopy so that the loading is not as erratic and you don't have high load points to begin with.

Lee
Lee
[email protected]
www.velocitysportswear.com

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