July 24, 2008 -- NASA and industry engineers have
successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue
parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is
designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent
first-stage motor, cast off by the Ares I rocket during
its climb to space.
The successful test is a key early milestone in
development and production of the Ares I rocket, the
first launch vehicle for NASA's Constellation Program
that will send explorers to the International Space
Station, the moon and beyond in coming decades. The
drogue parachute is a vital element of the Ares I
deceleration system and will permit recovery of the
reusable first-stage motor for use on future Ares I
flights.
Engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala., managed the team that conducted the
first Ares I drogue chute test on July 24 at the U.S.
Army's Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Ariz. This is the
sixth in an ongoing series of tests supporting
development of the Ares I parachute recovery system,
which includes a pilot chute, drogue and three main
parachutes. The next drogue parachute test is scheduled
for October, and testing will continue through 2010. The
drogue parachute also will be used during NASA's first
test flight for the Ares rocket, the Ares I-X, scheduled
to take place in 2009.
Researchers dropped the 68-foot-diameter drogue
parachute and its 36,000-pound load -- simulating the
first-stage motor -- from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft
flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The parachute and
all test hardware functioned properly and landed safely.
The parachutes that serve as the Ares I recovery system
are similar to the four-segment space shuttle boosters,
but they have been redesigned to accommodate new
requirements of the Ares I first stage. Dramatically
larger and more powerful than the shuttle's boosters,
the Ares I will have a five-segment solid rocket booster
-- causing it to fall faster from a much higher altitude
after separation from the launch vehicle.
During launch, the Ares I first-stage booster will
separate from the upper stage at an elevation of 189,000
feet, approximately 126 seconds into flight. After
freefalling to approximately 15,740 feet, the booster's
nose cap will be jettisoned, releasing the pilot
parachute, which in turn releases the drogue, slowing
the stage's descent from 402 mph to 210 mph and
maneuvering the booster into a vertical position.
Finally, a cluster of three main parachutes, each 150
feet in diameter, will be deployed. The main parachutes
continue to slow the booster to splashdown in the
Atlantic Ocean.
Beginning in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the
Orion crew capsule and six astronauts, and small
pressurized cargo payloads, to the International Space
Station. The Ares I rocket, an in-line, two-stage rocket
configuration, will be powered by the first stage solid
rocket motor for the first two minutes of launch.
ATK Launch Systems near Promontory, Utah, is the prime
contractor for the first stage booster. ATK's
subcontractor, United Space Alliance of Houston, is
responsible for design, development and testing of the
parachutes at its facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the
Constellation Program, which includes the Ares I rocket,
the Ares V heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Orion crew
capsule, the Altair lunar lander. Marshall Space Flight
Center manages the Ares Projects. The U.S. Army's Yuma
Proving Ground provides the test range, support
facilities and equipment to NASA for parachute testing.
