Optimization of Earth Flight Test Trajectories to Qualify Parachutes for Use on Mars
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Tanner, Christopher L.
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Abstract
This paper presents a simulation designed to optimize Earth flight test trajectories of parachute-payload systems. These trajectories attempt to replicate the conditions experienced by a parachute during supersonic descent through the Martian atmosphere. The critical parameters that need to be closely matched in a supersonic flight test are the peak opening load and the parachute load time history, both of which are key parameters to parachute structural qualification. To investigate the associated Earth flight test requirements, descent trajectories and parachute loading profiles are generated for a 4,000 kg payload using a 30 m nominal diameter disk-gap-band parachute deployed at Mach 3 on Mars. Subsequent Earth flight test trajectories are optimized and compared to the reference Mars cases. Both Mars and Earth simulations use two different parachute loading models: an inflation curve and an apparent mass model. Given the same initial conditions, both models generate similar results, but trajectory optimization using each model generates different Earth flight conditions. Finally, a brief investigation into the aerodynamic heating experienced by a supersonic parachute on both Earth and Mars is performed and compared to observed DGB heating profiles.
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2007-06
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