The most complex parachute system to ever deploy on Mars has successfully slowed down an ExoMars mock-up landing platform for a safe touchdown on Earth.
A stratospheric helium balloon lifted a dummy descent module and released it above the Arctic Circle at an altitude of nearly 30 km, triggering the deployment of two large parachutes from their doughnut bags.
“We are happy to confirm that we have a parachute design that can work on Mars – an ambitious system with the largest parachute ever to be flown outside Earth,” says Luca Ferracina, ESA’s ExoMars Entry Descent and Landing Module system engineer.
This high-altitude drop test campaign took place at the Swedish Space Corporation’s Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, northern Sweden, on 7 July.
To match the combination of density and speed that the capsule will experience when diving into the thin martian atmosphere – about 1% of the density of Earth's atmosphere at sea level – the balloon had to fly very high.
The ExoMars parachutes dropped from an altitude of 29 km, or about three times the altitude where commercial aircraft cruise.
The second stage main parachute is 35 m-wide and it is formed from a series of rings with gaps in between them. This will be the largest parachute to ever fly on Mars or anywhere in the Solar System besides Earth. Made from over 800 square metres of fabric and more than four kilometres of cord for the suspension lines, it takes around three days to fold it inside its bag.
The meticulous folding of each parachute inside its bag is essential to guarantee a correct deployment.
The parachute system tested in Sweden was already qualified to fly to Mars in 2021, but was stored when the mission was put to a halt due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Landing on Mars is a high-risk endeavour. In just six minutes, the descent module has to decelerate from 21 000 km/h at the top of the planet’s atmosphere to a soft landing to keep its precious cargo, the Rosalind Franklin rover, fit for surface exploration.
The second stage main parachute is 35 m-wide and it is formed from a series of rings with gaps in between them. This will be the largest parachute to ever fly on Mars or anywhere in the Solar System besides Earth. Made from over 800 square metres of fabric and more than four kilometres of cord for the suspension lines, it takes around three days to fold it inside its bag.
The meticulous folding of each parachute inside its bag is essential to guarantee a correct deployment.
The parachute system tested in Sweden was already qualified to fly to Mars in 2021, but was stored when the mission was put to a halt due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The second stage main parachute is 35 m-wide and it is formed from a series of rings with gaps in between them. This will be the largest parachute to ever fly on Mars or anywhere in the Solar System besides Earth. Made from over 800 square metres of fabric and more than four kilometres of cord for the suspension lines, it takes around three days to fold it inside its bag.
The meticulous folding of each parachute inside its bag is essential to guarantee a correct deployment.
The parachute system tested in Sweden was already qualified to fly to Mars in 2021, but was stored when the mission was put to a halt due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The second stage main parachute is 35 m-wide and it is formed from a series of rings with gaps in between them. This will be the largest parachute to ever fly on Mars or anywhere in the Solar System besides Earth. Made from over 800 square metres of fabric and more than four kilometres of cord for the suspension lines, it takes around three days to fold it inside its bag.
The meticulous folding of each parachute inside its bag is essential to guarantee a correct deployment.
The parachute system tested in Sweden was already qualified to fly to Mars in 2021, but was stored when the mission was put to a halt due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While telemetry was delivered in real time during the drop, the Vorticity team will now analyse the data together with high-speed video footage to evaluate the deceleration profile and inflation models.
The second stage main parachute is 35 m-wide and it is formed from a series of rings with gaps in between them. This will be the largest parachute to ever fly on Mars or anywhere in the Solar System besides Earth. Made from over 800 square metres of fabric and more than four kilometres of cord for the suspension lines, it takes around three days to fold it inside its bag.
The meticulous folding of each parachute inside its bag is essential to guarantee a correct deployment.
The parachute system tested in Sweden was already qualified to fly to Mars in 2021, but was stored when the mission was put to a halt due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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