ESA resumes ExoMars parachute assessments – SpaceNews
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has resumed checks of the parachutes for its ExoMars lander, a program whose issues contributed to a two-12 months hold off in the mission’s start.
ESA done two higher-altitude drop tests applying balloons flown from Kiruna, Sweden, in late June. All those tests ended up made to see if the parachutes could be extracted from their containers and deployed in atmospheric ailments very similar to all those discovered on Mars.
ExoMars works by using two major parachutes, each and every with a more compact “pilot” parachute utilized as part of the extraction course of action. 1 parachute, 15 meters in diameter, will be deployed though the ExoMars entry car or truck is touring at supersonic speeds. As soon as the automobile slows to subsonic speeds, it releases that parachute and deploys a 35-meter parachute.
One particular of the tests final thirty day period, of a 15-meter parachute made by Airborne Techniques, a U.S. business that developed the parachute NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, went as prepared. “We’re pretty content to report that the initial primary parachute carried out completely: we have a supersonic parachute layout that can fly to Mars,” Thierry Blancquaert, ExoMars method workforce leader, said in an ESA assertion.
The second test involved a 35-meter parachute manufactured by Italian corporation Arescosmo. In that take a look at, the pilot parachute unexpectedly detached all through deployment of the much larger parachute, triggering a tear. Blancquaert claimed that, even with the tear, the parachute nevertheless adequately decelerated a mockup of the first rate module.
“We have to know why this problem with the drogue occurred, but the key parachute decelerated as predicted and did its work,” claimed David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration at ESA, in a July 6 job interview. “But we really don’t want that to occur all over again.”
In 2019, a related sequence of drop assessments uncovered complications with the extraction procedure, tearing the parachutes. Those difficulties contributed to ESA’s decision in March 2020 to delay the start of ExoMars, which had been scheduled for July of that 12 months, to the following launch window in September 2022.
With assistance from NASA, ESA has been doing work to modify the extraction method, conducting ground exams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Individuals earlier troubles, involving friction among the parachute cover and the bag that contained it, are not connected to the most current exam anomaly and show up to be fixed, ESA famous in its assertion.
Yet another improve has been the addition of the Airborne Devices parachute as a backup to the original European-made parachute. “That came out of the before problems. We believed we wanted to set some risk mitigations in spot and give ourselves some selections,” Parker claimed.
Another spherical of parachute drop checks, two of each parachute, is scheduled for late this year in Oregon. A remaining collection of parachute checks will acquire spot up coming summer months, all over the time the spacecraft is headed to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch on a Proton rocket. “We have some prospect for self esteem checks very late in advance of start,” he reported.
The other technological situation that delayed the ExoMars start previous calendar year, beyond issues prompted by the pandemic, associated Russian electronics in the descent module. Parker reported all those parts are becoming rebuilt in Russia and will be shipped back again to Europe for integrated process tests on equally a testbed and then on the spacecraft alone.
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has resumed checks of the parachutes for its ExoMars lander, a program whose issues contributed to a two-12 months hold off in the mission’s start.
ESA done two higher-altitude drop tests applying balloons flown from Kiruna, Sweden, in late June. All those tests ended up made to see if the parachutes could be extracted from their containers and deployed in atmospheric ailments very similar to all those discovered on Mars.
ExoMars works by using two major parachutes, each and every with a more compact “pilot” parachute utilized as part of the extraction course of action. 1 parachute, 15 meters in diameter, will be deployed though the ExoMars entry car or truck is touring at supersonic speeds. As soon as the automobile slows to subsonic speeds, it releases that parachute and deploys a 35-meter parachute.
One particular of the tests final thirty day period, of a 15-meter parachute made by Airborne Techniques, a U.S. business that developed the parachute NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, went as prepared. “We’re pretty content to report that the initial primary parachute carried out completely: we have a supersonic parachute layout that can fly to Mars,” Thierry Blancquaert, ExoMars method workforce leader, said in an ESA assertion.
The second test involved a 35-meter parachute manufactured by Italian corporation Arescosmo. In that take a look at, the pilot parachute unexpectedly detached all through deployment of the much larger parachute, triggering a tear. Blancquaert claimed that, even with the tear, the parachute nevertheless adequately decelerated a mockup of the first rate module.
“We have to know why this problem with the drogue occurred, but the key parachute decelerated as predicted and did its work,” claimed David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration at ESA, in a July 6 job interview. “But we really don’t want that to occur all over again.”
In 2019, a related sequence of drop assessments uncovered complications with the extraction procedure, tearing the parachutes. Those difficulties contributed to ESA’s decision in March 2020 to delay the start of ExoMars, which had been scheduled for July of that 12 months, to the following launch window in September 2022.
With assistance from NASA, ESA has been doing work to modify the extraction method, conducting ground exams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Individuals earlier troubles, involving friction among the parachute cover and the bag that contained it, are not connected to the most current exam anomaly and show up to be fixed, ESA famous in its assertion.
Yet another improve has been the addition of the Airborne Devices parachute as a backup to the original European-made parachute. “That came out of the before problems. We believed we wanted to set some risk mitigations in spot and give ourselves some selections,” Parker claimed.
Another spherical of parachute drop checks, two of each parachute, is scheduled for late this year in Oregon. A remaining collection of parachute checks will acquire spot up coming summer months, all over the time the spacecraft is headed to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch on a Proton rocket. “We have some prospect for self esteem checks very late in advance of start,” he reported.
The other technological situation that delayed the ExoMars start previous calendar year, beyond issues prompted by the pandemic, associated Russian electronics in the descent module. Parker reported all those parts are becoming rebuilt in Russia and will be shipped back again to Europe for integrated process tests on equally a testbed and then on the spacecraft alone.