Parachute Decelerator System Performance During the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator Program's First Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test
During the first Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test (SFDT-1) for NASA's Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) Program, the Parachute Decelerator System (PDS) was successfully tested. The main parachute in the PDS was a 30.5-meter supersonic Disksail parachute. The term Disksail is derived from the canopy's constructional geometry, as it combined the aspects of a ringsail and a flat circular round (disk) canopy. The crown area of the canopy contained the disk feature, as a large flat circular disk that extended from the canopy's vent down to the upper gap. From this upper gap to the skirt-band the canopy was constructed with characteristics of sails seen in a ringsail. There was a second lower gap present in this sail region. The canopy maintained a nearly 10x forebody diameter trailing distance with 1.7 Do suspension line lengths. During the test, the parachute was deployed at the targeted Mach and dynamic pressure. Although the supersonic Disksail parachute experienced an anomaly during the inflation process, the system was tested successfully in the environment it was designed to operate within. The nature of the failure seen originated in the disk portion of the canopy. High-speed and high-resolution imagery of the anomaly was captured and has been used to aid in the forensics of the failure cause. In addition to the imagery, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) recorded test vehicle dynamics and loadcells captured the bridle termination forces. In reviewing the imagery and load data a number of hypothesizes have been generated in an attempt to explain the cause of the anomaly.