NASA and SpaceX say they’re trying right into a recurring concern with lagging parachutes on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule — crucial options the spacecraft must land when it returns from orbit. Nevertheless, the 2 spaceflight companions are downplaying the seriousness of the issue, claiming that the parachutes are nonetheless behaving safely regardless of the habits.
The parachute concern cropped up throughout the two most up-to-date landings of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Throughout every of these descents to Earth, one of many 4 major parachutes on the spacecraft was slower to completely inflate than the opposite three. The lagging parachute was clearly seen throughout a livestream of a November touchdown, through which the Crew Dragon carried 4 astronauts residence from the Worldwide House Station. A January touchdown, which returned cargo from the ISS, was not livestreamed, however a report in House Information revealed that one of many Dragon’s parachutes lagged there as properly.
At present, personnel from each NASA and SpaceX held a press convention to debate the parachutes forward of SpaceX’s subsequent crew launch on the Dragon. NASA and SpaceX claimed that they’re reviewing the information to grasp the habits higher.
Throughout the November touchdown, the fourth parachute took 75 seconds longer to inflate than the opposite three, whereas the sluggish parachute on the January touchdown took 63 seconds longer to inflate. Regardless of that, NASA stated the automobiles descended at a charge that was thought of regular. NASA and SpaceX additionally declare that the Dragon can land simply advantageous even when the fourth parachute by no means inflated in any respect. “You can have one parachute absolutely lacking and nonetheless be licensed to land,” Steve Stich, supervisor of NASA’s Business Crew Program, which oversees Dragon, stated throughout the press convention.
Whereas the Dragon groups plan to do a full evaluate of the parachutes, they don’t anticipate needing to make any main {hardware} or design modifications to the Dragon automobiles. “That is extra of a studying train of how we are able to enhance our design and engineering understanding of parachute operation,” Invoice Gerstenmaier, vice chairman for construct and flight reliability at SpaceX, stated throughout the presser.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is an important piece of {hardware} for NASA, used to take care of the Worldwide House Station. The capsule is only one of two spacecraft able to carrying astronauts to and from the ISS for the time being. An analogous model of the spacecraft can be liable for ferrying cargo to the station.
Regardless of a failed cargo mission in 2015, SpaceX has been safely delivering Dragon capsules to and from the station for years now, with its first passengers flying on the automobile in Might of 2020. In November, SpaceX efficiently launched a brand new four-person crew, referred to as Crew-3, to the station on Crew Dragon, just some days after bringing residence one other crew, referred to as Crew-2. Throughout the nighttime touchdown of Crew-2, viewers seen that one of many 4 parachutes was extra sluggish to inflate than the others because the automobile dropped by means of the air. The sluggish chute ultimately inflated earlier than the Crew Dragon splashed down within the Gulf of Mexico, and all 4 of the astronauts exited the automobile in good well being.
After the splashdown, NASA and SpaceX implied the habits was regular. “These parachutes have exhibited this habits,” Stich stated throughout a press convention following the splashdown, including that NASA “checked out that knowledge, and it was inside the household of a few of our testing.” SpaceX additionally stated it reviewed video and knowledge from the touchdown extensively earlier than launching Crew-3 however stated the habits was anticipated. “It carried out primarily the best way it was designed to carry out,” Gerstenmaier stated throughout the November press convention after that touchdown.
The difficulty arose once more throughout the latest return of a cargo model of the Dragon, a mission often known as CRS-24, which got here again from the ISS on January twenty fourth. NASA didn’t present a livestream of that touchdown, so the lagging parachute was not public information for a couple of week. Kathy Lueders, the affiliate administrator for house operations at NASA, stated throughout right this moment’s press convention that the house company stopped doing livestreams of the cargo landings due to prices, however the company now plans to do press conferences following the top of cargo missions sooner or later.
At right this moment’s presser, NASA and SpaceX doubled down on the declare that they’ve seen this occur earlier than. “This lagging parachute phenomenon is one thing that we see with these giant ring-cell parachutes,” Stich stated. “We’ve really seen it in different assessments and different [cargo] flights, as properly.” Personnel consider it’s potential that when the parachutes deploy, three of the chutes aerodynamically “shade” the opposite parachute, inflicting it to deploy extra slowly.
Along with reviewing the information once more to grasp the habits higher, NASA and SpaceX say they plan to go to the seller that provides SpaceX’s parachutes and lay out the chutes to see if something seems to be off. In addition they plan to do an “inflation evaluation” to see if the entire cargo touchdown parameters have been properly inside expectations. If that every one goes properly, NASA will work to clear SpaceX to fly its subsequent crewed mission, referred to as Crew-4, which is focusing on a launch on April fifteenth. SpaceX additionally plans to fly a personal crew of astronauts to the Worldwide House Station for the corporate Axiom on the finish of March.
As for the Crew-3 Crew Dragon capsule at the moment docked with the Worldwide House Station, SpaceX and NASA don’t see any modifications wanted. That capsule, whose parachutes couldn’t actually be modified anyway, will likely be bringing residence a crew of 4 this spring.
When requested if the Crew Dragon was able to touchdown with two parachutes, Gerstenmaier declined to reply. As a substitute, he famous that in testing of the parachutes, SpaceX simulated the failure of 1 parachute and located that the three different parachutes picked up the slack. In truth, the failed parachute helped to make sure that the three different parachutes did inflate, he argued. “We don’t see this as a worsening situation,” he stated. “In truth, it’s probably a self-correcting situation.”
