NASA's Orion aces final parachute test ahead of Moon mission

NASA has successfully completed the final test to qualify Orions space capsules parachute system for flights with astronauts ahead of its mission to send humans to the Moon and beyond the US space agency saidEngineers evaluated the performance of Orions parachute system during normal landing sequences as well as several failure scenarios and a variety of potential aerodynamic conditions to ensure astronauts can return safely from deep space missions over the course of eight tests at the US Armys Yuma Proving Ground in ArizonaWere working incredibly hard not only to make sure Orions ready to take our astronauts farther than weve been before but to make sure they come home safely Orion Programme Manager Mark Kirasich said in a statementThe parachute system is complex and evaluating the parachutes repeatedly through our test series gives us confidence that well be ready for any kind of landing day situationDuring the final test which took place on September 12 a mock Orion was pulled out from the cargo bay of a C17 aircraft flying higher than 65 milesThe protective ring around the top of Orion that covers the parachute system was jettisoned and pulled away by the first set of Orions parachutes then the remaining parachutes were deployed in precise sequenceThe Orion system has 11 parachutes a series of cannonlike mortars pyrotechnic bolt cutters and more than 30 miles of Kevlar lines attaching the top of the spacecraft to the 36000 square feet of parachute canopy materialIn about 10 minutes of descent through Earths atmosphere everything must deploy in precise sequence to slow Orion and its crew from about 300 mph to a relatively gentle 20 mph for splashdown in the Pacific OceanThe parachute system is the only system that must assemble itself in midair and must be able to keep the crew safe in several failure scenarios such as mortar failures that prevent a single parachute type to deploy or conditions that cause some of the parachute textile components to failOrion will first fly with astronauts aboard during Exploration Mission2 a mission that will venture near the Moon and farther from Earth than ever before launching atop NASAs Space Launch System rocket which will be the worlds most powerful rocket The parachutes for Orions upcoming uncrewed flight test Exploration Mission1 are already installed on the vehicle at Kennedy Space Centre in FloridaThe knowledge gained through the Orion programme has enabled NASA to mature computer modelling of how the system works in various scenarios and help partner companies understand certain elements of parachute systemsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever